It does not have the brown subcoat. Dale normally has adequate starch to give the sirup body but not enough to interfere with manufacture. The sirup made from dale has a mild sorghum flavor, good color and is of excellent quality. Dale is highly resistant to leaf anthracnose and stalk red rot which are major diseases of sweet sorghum. The stalks are virtually free from the external waxy bloom common to many sweet sorghum varieties.
Panicles are erect and semi-compact.
Pubescence on the black glumes are semi-deciduous except on the callus where the hairs are somewhat longer and more persistent. The glumes do not clasp the seed at maturity and are nonpersistent in the threshed seed. The large, brown, near-orbicular seeds are flatter on the dorsal side than on the ventral side. Theis has a soft chalky seed coat and mostly corneous endosperm. The brown subcoat is absent and the lemma is awnless.