Look for long, thick stems, which are more likely to produce healthy new plants. The stems have joints, and a new plant will sprout from each one. Keeping this in mind, buy as many stems as you need to produce the size crop you want.
Use a spade or hoe, rather than a shovel, to make it easier to dig the furrows.
Selecting sugar cane varieties that are resistant to diseases and viruses known to affect crops in your area is one of the best pest management strategies. The application of controlled amounts of appropriate fungicides or pesticides may help prevent the propagation of a pest or disease within your crop. If you do spot a plant that appears to be infected with pests or a disease, remove it immediately.
If you live in a place with long, cold winters, play it safe and harvest your sugar cane by the end of September. If you live in a place with mild winters, you may be able to let your sugar cane grow until late October. If you live in the United States, you can check your area’s frost dates by visiting http://www. almanac. com/gardening/frostdates/states.
If you had a commercial sugar cane press, chopping the stems wouldn’t be necessary. On large farms, juice is extracted from sugar cane using huge, heavy presses. There is no equivalent machine suitable for home use, so the chop-and-boil-method is used instead.
Another clue is to look at the sugar cane pieces. After a few hours, the color will turn to a light brown, which indicates the sugar has been extracted. Check the pot every half hour or so to make sure that the pieces are still covered with water; if not, add more.
If you like your syrup on the thin side, you can remove it from heat when it still easily slides from the back of the spoon. For thicker syrup, remove it from heat when it coats the back of the spoon instead of slipping right off.
