Winter wheat planting requires a depth of 1 to 1.5 inches, with the soil profile typically depleted in the fall. To ensure adequate moisture, it is crucial to sow seeds early and use drip irrigation to water the plants and keep excess moisture from the tops. Knowing when to plant winter wheat will provide roots that aerate soil and increase water absorption and retention.
Approximately 500mm of water is needed for winter wheat to reach its physiological maturity, with peak water use from 1.5 to 2mm per day before cold acclimation. If the soil is dry before seeding begins, it is recommended to apply light, frequent irrigations. The maximum water use by wheat and most small grains is 0.19 inch per day during the grain fill period (flowering to hard dough).
The total seasonal water requirement for both spring and winter wheat is about 18 to 24 inches, depending on location and weather variations. The goal is to ensure water availability at germination and early development by applying light, frequent irrigations. Winter wheat requires about 18 inches of moisture, and a pre-irrigation in the fall can help maintain it through the winter.
Supplemental irrigation is required due to the water consumption of 450-500 mm. Farmers generally irrigate winter wheat three to five times, with 180-300 mm of water consumed. Precipitation in the fall and winter helps meet water needs. Irrigation scheduling at the regreening, jointing, flowering, and filling stages (I240, 60 mm per stage, 240 mm in total) is recommended to maintain high water quality.
📹 High Yield Wheat Tips #984 (Air Date 2-12-17)
Brian and Darren Hefty share some of the tips they’ve received over the years from some of the highest yielding wheat farmers …
Does wheat need to be watered daily?
The watering requirements of wheat are contingent upon its geographical location. In hot climates, it is necessary to water the crop on a weekly basis, whereas in more moderate climates, irrigation may be required once every seven days or more. It is therefore generally recommended that wheat be watered on a weekly basis.
How do you water wheat?
Wheat and most small grains require a maximum water use of 0. 19 inch per day during the grain fill period, which lasts for over five days. Adequate water during this critical period is necessary for high yield potential in wheat. The chart shows how wheat ET increases, peaks, and declines as the crop matures and how crop water use increases as average daily temperatures increase. Irrigation scheduling for spring green-up of winter wheat and rye is equivalent to emergence.
A more accurate method of irrigation scheduling is available through reference ET values from Michigan State University Enviroweather stations. The reference ET value is the estimated water use by a reference 6-inch grass at your location, with the crop coefficient, K c, used as a multiplier to make up the difference between 6-inch grass and the crop being grown.
What moisture for winter wheat?
Wheat kernels with a moisture content of 14 or 20 can be safely combined without drying, and can be stored at 14. 5. Winter wheat survival, decision-making for poor stands, leaf rust, preparation for next year’s crop, spring germinating, and scouting should be done in standing stubble to ensure successful overwintering. To avoid conflict with spring harvest, grow an early-maturing spring crop in the field where winter wheat is intended, such as canola stubble, barley, or oat stubble. It is important to keep in mind the physiological leaf spot when scouting winter wheat.
What are the best conditions for winter wheat?
Winter wheat is a cash crop or cover crop that is typically grown in high-drainage soil with medium texture. It is a strain of wheat that germinates and develops into young plants that remain in the vegetative phase during winter and resume growth in early spring. Winter wheat is typically planted from September to November in the Northern Hemisphere and harvested in the summer or early autumn of the next year. In the Southern Hemisphere, the crop fully completes a year before harvest.
Winter wheat usually yields more than spring wheat. “Facultative” wheat varieties require shorter vernalization periods and temperatures of 3 to 15°C (37 to 59°F) and can be grown either as winter or as a spring crop depending on the time of sowing.
How much moisture does wheat need?
The optimal moisture content for harvesting wheat is 18-20 percent, as this preserves grain quality and allows for earlier double-crop planting. However, this is considerably higher than the optimal moisture content for selling wheat at the best price after harvest, which is 13. 5. In the event that farmers intend to store wheat for a period of one year or longer, it is recommended that the moisture content be decreased to 12. 5.
How do you increase winter wheat yield?
The cultivation of winter wheat necessitates the provision of substantial quantities of nitrogen and potassium, with the latter requiring 60 times more than the former. While the requirements for phosphate and sulfur are less significant, they nevertheless represent a notable demand. The rapid spring growth phase requires the full complement of macronutrients. The quantity of nutrients removed varies depending on the specific field in question. For instance, a wheat crop with a yield of 10 tons per hectare can remove over 230 kilograms per hectare of nitrogen and 57 kilograms per hectare of potassium in the grain alone.
How much water should I give wheat?
Wheat requires a minimum of 31 to 38 centimeters of water per growing season to produce a satisfactory yield.
Does wheat take a lot of water?
Freshwater is a vital natural resource for wheat production. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the water requirements for a one-pound loaf of bread are 731 liters, with approximately 80 liters (~584 liters/154 gallons) going into wheat cultivation.
What is the best irrigation method for wheat?
The application of drip irrigation at a low rate prevents saturation of the root zone with water, maintains field capacity, and promotes plant growth. Additionally, it enhances the efficiency of fertilizer use.
How much water is required for wheat?
Wheat requires a minimum of 31 to 38 centimeters of water per growing season to produce a satisfactory yield.
How much water do I add to whole wheat?
Hydration refers to the amount of water needed per 100 grams of flour, also known as Baker’s Math or Baker’s Percentages. For example, a recipe with 60 hydration for bread flour would require 600 grams of water, while a recipe with whole wheat flour would require 78 hydration or 780 grams of water. Whole-wheat dough can be dry and lumpy during the autolyse process, making it difficult to handle. To avoid this, it is recommended to add only a quarter cup of water or less.
As the gluten develops, it releases moisture back into itself, making the dough wet and sticky. However, by the third turn of stretching and folding, the dough usually comes back together, albeit with a wet and sometimes hard-to-handle dough.
📹 How to Grow Wheat (From Seed to Harvest) 🌾
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21 years ago, I grew crops only 1% of consumers would buy. 10 years ago, about 10% of the market wanted to avoid ingesting food sprayed with chemicals that came in containers with skull and cross bone markings. It’s growing 1% per year, and 20% of consumers will reach past the cheaper wheat products for the organic stuff even though it’s 3 times higher priced as long as it’s “ancient grain” low chromosome, without the genetics naturally introduced over 100 plus years of plant breeding. Wheat ground is my most profitable, because wheat products are cheap, so doing it right still results in a cheap product, even if it costs more than conventionally grown counterparts. Adding in the pounds of beef gained grazing in the fall is icing on the cake. If I sprayed my wheat with fungicide it would undue 2 decades of balance achieved between the good and bad. I’d need more every year to get the same results. Then it would require a more expensive product, because the old one doesn’t work anymore. This is why farmers kill themselves at a rate far higher than most professions.
For so many years wheat was a Redheaded stepchildren in the south. If it was a good dry harvest and time permitted some wheat was planted no seed treatment no NPK was enough residual PK for it then in late Feb early March fly on 100 to 200 lbs. Urea no fungicides or insecticides (SRSW)in arkansas yields 30 to 60 bushels. like I said Redheaded stepchild.
Good article. As someone who has grown wheat and learned a bit, have some suggestions for anyone growing wheat. Spacing matters! I did this my first time too, just spreading it and letting it grow. Wheat likes to be about 8-12″ apart per plant, I have found 8 inches in row and 12 inches between rows to be a good way to get most out space while not crowding the plants. Trust me you will see the results, the individual plants will be a lot more vigorous and produce lots of tillers. The seed heads will be larger and better quality.
I did this project last year, did 1X1metre plot and used 50grams of wheat seed in it. I planted this in Autumn (Western Australia) and it grew beautifully, 1metre tall and lovely dark green. Seed heads didn’t appear til mid-late winter big heads they started to dry into spring and once the heads started to droop over and dry off completely it was ready. Winnowed and cured result was 500grams from the 50grams planted!
On the yield of a 1/2lb from 1lb of seed: Kevin mentions that ~40 seeds per square foot was the recommendation, with the Johnny’s seed website recommending ~56 seed/sqft. Yet for the 4*8=32sqft bed Kevin planted in, optimally he would have planted somewhere in the 0.09-0.13 lb range. But Kevin spent the bag. That means Kevin overplanted by almost 10x his space 😂. The lesson is clear to me: plant with space and let your seeds breath!
I have a mini field of Kamut wheat growing in my back yard, which is in Concord, California. I planted it in the late fall, so it went through a fair amount of 30° nights. The berries are well formed at this point (31 March). Naturally when just happened to come across this article, I was thrilled!!! Thank you Kevin Espiritu.
Well done mate. I really do appreciate creators putting some time and effort into their articles. Putting down the camera into a stable position, making sure there is good sound, the subject is visible and taking LITERALLY months to compile one single article is something that you barely ever see on youtube. This is the stuff that I appreciate about Charles Dowding. It would be so easy to just take a camera, shakily hold it in front of your face and just talk…. like so many people do. Heads off to you, please keep it up.
I’ve been growing little patches of barley for the past two and a half years. I do it more for fun. My chickens eat the leaves early on, but then I protect it to let it grow out, and then I throw half the seeds to the birds and half into bare patches to be grown again. Winnowing always seemed tedious when seed saving, but I have the same exact fan, as well as several burlap sacks I picked up from my local coffee shop, so I’ll need to try out your method!
Nice quality article as always! Good tips for beginners! Just a couple things to note for new backyard growers: – Allow the wheat grass to all become gold/yellow before harvest. Just dont wait until all the seed heads face down and start sheding the seed. – Seems like a good yield average (depending on variety and climate) is around 1 pound per 10-15 sqaure feet. – Getting a return of a 1/2 lb for a 1 lb input may be a technical loss, but is a gain as long as you learned something for the next season.
hi Kevin. I’m from South Africa. Still Winter here. I got hold of Buckwheat seeds, gluten free and wheat free. I will be growing it for the first time. I started my gardening during 2020 Lockdown. Now its my hobby I do the garden route every morning. At the moment I have a buckwheat bread baking and hope it will taste good, thx for the article.
You can utilize a food processor to thresh small quantities of wheat…use a standard processor blade and pulse the processor until all seed heads are broken up. An easier method for threshing larger quantities is to chop the stalks off an inch under the seed head, place all seed heads into a rubbermaid tub. Use a string trimmer with a light weight line and pulse the trimmer throttle letting the trimmer line breaking up the heads. We use a homemade sieve screen to help seperate the seed from chaff, which makes winnowing more efficient. Neither the processor blade nor the trimmer line damages the seeds.
Wheat original semi nomadic crop. Throw the seeds down before the first snow and let nature take over. Only returning for a sustained period for the harvest. With sporadic visit to site. Often only to walk through site. Grow wheat in San Diego, only because of modern seeds development. Common wheat can grow anywhere, ground doesn’t need to freeze to plant.
Nice job trying something new, showing people the process, and being positive about experimenting! I think it is important, though, for people, whether they are inspired to try growing wheat or they think it is too difficult, to realize that the yield should be much higher than what we saw here. Did I miss something, or did you plant 1 pound of wheat for a yield of just over 1/2 pound of wheat? For a better expectation, if each head produces, on the low end, 20 wheat berries, even accounting for only a 50% germination rate and not counting multiple heads possible per plant, then one would hope to have at least a yield of 10x, ie 10 pounds of wheat harvested from 1 pound planted. I totally understand that there is a learning curve, and that average yields are harder to determine with such a small sized plot (though a small plot is easier to manage well). My 14 year old son planted about 10,000 sq ft. of winter wheat last year and got a little better than a 2x return. He was disappointed it wasn’t a better yield, but he did know a lot of things he did wrong, including chickens getting into the field early on and the fact that he is trying to grow a wheat that we like but that is not suited for our climate. 🙂 I hope more people will try their hand at growing grains! “Small-Scale Grain Raising” is a great book, if you are interested.
I love the fact that you experimented with growing wheat. A wrap up of lessons learned would be very helpful for viewers and make the next crop even better. 1. More seed is not better. Plant at recommended rates for the variety and your climate. Overseeding means more competition for the limited resources and much of the growth will be vegetative. 2. Wheat does need water, especially in dry areas. 3. Wheat will respond favorably to fertility. It takes 2.5-2.7 lbs of nitrogen to make one bushel (60 lbs) of wheat.
I live in South Dakota. Lots of acres of hard red wheat, both winter and spring wheat. Your dead spots were due to over planting. You harvested too early. Wait till the wheat turns completely golden then wait another couple of weeks. Try using an elevated location like a deck during a windy day and put a weighted tarp beneath you to catch the kernels. Experimentation will determine how windy it should be. I think you’ll find it a very efficient method for winnowing.
Haha, last year I decided to mulch my garden beds over the winter with straw, so I got a couple of bales from the farm store up the street. Within a few weeks I had dense foot-tall grass in all of my beds and paths…those bales were full of barley seed, lol. I do have hops growing on a fence, so I could have brewed some beer I guess. But I needed my garden beds for veggies, so I yanked all of the barley out before it could go to seed. It did make for great mulch and it choked out a lot of weeds. I just wasn’t expecting bales of straw to turn into an unwanted crop. 🤣
I grew wheat by accident! I bought some straw from my local feed supply for mulching and chicken nesting boxes. I put down a 6″ layer of straw between my raised beds to help control mud and weeds. Imagine my frustration when “weeds” started growing out of my straw. Now I have really tough Johnson grass around that is almost impossible to stop so I was thinking it’s the Johnson grass again! But as I took a closer look I realized that this was not a weed from my yard. I know my flora around here and this was something I had not seen. So I let I grow. Not a month later I identified the invader as wheat. So now I have wheat sprouts growing everywhere between my raised beds….Lol. It’s spring here so I can only assume I have spring wheat growing for free. Now I’m thinking about transplanted it or growing more in another piece of land where I can’t get irrigation. Sounds like a match!
This was very interesting and timely. I decided to plant crimson clover this year as a winter cover crop in the unused pockets of my greenstalk planters, but had been thinking about wheat. Next winter I might attempt to grow winter wheat in them. My cat would appreciate the grass early on, I wouldn’t mind feeding the birds with it, and if I got any wheat at the end it would be a bonus.
Whitman County in Washington is one of the leading produces in the country for wheat. During the growing season it beautiful to drive through because all you see is rolling green hills. Being able to see the wind rustle the large patches is like perusal an ocean wave. Then when it is time to harvest, driving through it gets pretty dusty from the farmers working day and night to harvest their thousands of acres of wheat fields!
4×8 plot yeilds a ½ loaf of bread… love the idea of growing the wheat, knowing what’s gone into my food! Doing my math… 1 homemade loaf for my family every week, I’d need 52 8×8 plots, or a minimum of 416×416 plot. Which is a third larger than a football field length. I’m not sure on acreage. Or, ⅔ of the field twice a year. Not being a smarta$$, just calculating space if someone wants a loaf a week. Right now, I REALLY appreciate the organic farmers that grow the wheat to make the flour I bake with. Thank you!
Hey Kevin and all- I was inspired to try wheat after perusal your articles. Threshing is the hardest part. SO…I tried running it through my leaf shredder after removing the cutting blades. I only had to put it through twice. Then winnowing with a fan was a breeze! (Pun intended). I used the pour it back and forth between two buckets method. Just wanted to share.
I hope you will continue to show us your traditional cooking. It’s better than perusal all those world famous chefs . Also your traditional attire and lifestyle are so wholesome, healthy and peaceful. It’s very soothing perusal your articles . And it’s an honor to have you visit our website, we can discuss more about our experiences in harvesting and building farms.
You know, the whole episode I was cracking up at all the “that’s what she said” lines… “I have a special tool for doing it with”, “nothing huge, just 3-4 inches”, etc. But I thought to myself “nah, I’m just being a perv.” But then he says “sometimes you’ve just got to beat your wheat” and then I just knew he knew. 🤣
I grow wheat all the time! I place a small handful in a bowl containing potting mix, cover them with more soil, water them, and boom! I have a thick bowl of wheat grass, which the cats absolutely love. One of them gets so excited every time I show him a bowl of it that he jumps up and down until its on the floor. And boy, does he tear into it!
You have to grow quite a bit of wheat berries to get a decent enough crop to make a loaf of bread. Keep an eye out for ergot grains because it can be dangerous. I decided to steer clear of growing wheat because you have to grow so much to get so little and I didn’t like the idea of going crazy from consuming a myceliated grain.
Grow wheat? Yep easiest thing in the world. just throw a heap of my leftover parrot seed in the compost and wheat comes up everywhere. I just let it grow and could harvest for myself as there’s a ton of it but I keep it for my parrots as the they enjoy picking the wheat out of the heads and chewing stalks both fresh and dried. I couldn’t stop the stuff from coming up and growing here if I tried.
So, cool vid, but, I grew up in ND and they leave their wheat in the field until it is completely dry (no green at all). I’m not sure how many grams of wheat seeds you sowed, but your harvest yield seems quite low. Wheat yields are usually between 9 to 15 times more than what is sown. Thanks for sharing!
Kevin, I feel like the topics you’ve been focusing on recently are RIGHT ON SCHEDULE. You brought up your water tank you got, the solar panels, growing your own wheat. Thank you for teaching people how to collect these things on our own (self-sufficiently). I don’t know if that’s your intent, but it looks like we may need to put these tips into practice down the line soon.
I would rather grow potatoes to get more calories per square foot, but I would love to plant some winter wheat to get a quick harvest in spring. I have a ruth stout garden and I love chewing the berries that are leftover in the straw. They also easily sprout in the straw once watered. I think I’ll try it.
I havent ever tried the wheats back to back to see which i prefer. I took a chance, purchased a hard red winter wheat, which i love. As well as a spring wheat, which is very good. I ferment the dough at least 3 days in fridge. before use. It seems to me that is best flavor, at least for the recipe i use. Enjoy your fresh bread. Thats great you grew your own. Take care.
Informative and well-done. I also noted that you mentioned planting 1 lb. of seed, for a harvest of about 1/2 lb. – which would be counter-productive, I’d think. It might also be noted that, of the many varieties of wheat, the ‘hard’ wheat is normally used for bread flour, while the ‘soft’ varieties are used in other applications such as cakes, pastries, etc.
harvesting and processing wheat is a hundred times more difficult than growing it. Its one of those crops that id rather let the proffesionals do it. Grew it twice but no more… Nice article tho You know what, i regret saying this. If you are a gardener i recommend you grow wheat, but just a few seeds. You can easily manage and separate the seeds from the husks by hand if its just 5 or 6 stalks. Each year select the seeds from the biggest and healthiest plant and voilà, you are slowly creating a variety suited for your climate. I think this is way funnier and healthy than to grow big patches of wheat, even more if you dont got much space like me
OMG I SO loved that you took the time throughout the months to put this article together – so that we (your followers) could really enjoy and learn from the ‘fruits of your labor’ from start-to-finish – so entertaining (as well as educational since you also teach us the correct names of our garden tools, etc.! 😅) very satisfying to watch (unlike so many other ‘long-winded’ gardening websites out there – which usually leave me hanging with no ‘sense-of-completion’ or ‘closure’ like yours do) “Sometimes we just gotta Beat Our Wheat” huh 🤣 LoL! We are so lucky to have you and your website 💘💘💘👏👏👏
I live in an area where turkey red wheat (used for bread) is commonly grown. It’s a neat crop, especially in the spring when you can stand in a literal sea of green grass. My farmer friends put in some pretty hard work, especially during harvest when it’s 100+F and they are dodging severe thunderstorms. It’s a race to get it to the elevator before hail flattens it or the fields flood (or get too muddy to work). If it gets wet, it can grow toxic mold and be ruined.
256g of wheat from 448g of wheat planted… totally missed the bar on that one. Next time I recommend using less seed per sq ft so you can actually get a higher yield. Also, when I harvest my wheat I put the heads in a 5 gallon bucket and beat the bajeezus out of it with a grout mixing tool on my power drill. Very effective!
When my dad grew acres of wheat in Michigan, it was planted in the fall and we snowmobiled on it in the winter and it turned golden and totally dry in summer. Your crop looks to green. We used to eat handfuls of wheat berries out of the bin on the combine. I had never heard of anyone spraying with roundup. That whole idea is just stupid. Poisoning the crop. We did not do that.
Hi Just found your website. I grew up with my family growing Wheat, Oats and Barley on a farm and we found broadcasting seeds and gently covering them with soil gave less yield than sowing them in rows about 1″ to 2″ apart and with a spacing of 1/4′ to 1/2″ per seed hope this helps with future attempts
I lived in Oklahoma for awhile with wheat fields surrounding us. I can say that the farmers only went to the fields 3 maybe 4 times a year, planting, using insecticide, water once (if it was a dry year) and harvest. most of their water came from the ice storms in the winter. it was the only thing i liked about the place lol. you could tell what time of year it was because of the fields.
Thanks for the article! I grew some kamut a couple of years ago, and some red fife. (Wheat varieties) The kamut stayed up in a wind where the fife bent over. (It did gradually straighten.) Both formed good heads. Kamut has the biggest kernels, I think of any wheat, so is it not the easiest one to process by hand? Barley also did well 3 or 4 years ago up here on the BC north coast (Haida Gwaii) with its cool summers. I’ve planted some more last month (seeds from that previous batch), just scratching some grooves on the lawn… to be seen how that works out. and some mor wheat. Part of my plan this year is making sprouted grains for chicken feed and I should be growing bigger patches. (Before they were in fenced garden spaces. Now in the open I fear the deer may come and eat them all just as they’re getting ripe. Hmm, I could fence it off with two sides already closed in.) I agree with another commenter – your plants were much too crowded. Sawing with the hand sickle makes me think of using an electric hedge trimmer. and then a rake – surely way faster. But I do like the threshing in bags and the wheelbarrow winnowing! I’ve been using a coffee grinder to turn quinoa (grew well in 2018 – especially sunny summer here) into meal/flour.
I assume you’re coastal California? If so, you have a dry season and a rainy season. Plant winter wheat during the rainy season. It’ll take longer, and it may be stroppy in the spring if there’s no frost, but it should yield a bit better and if the season is wet enough and starts early enough it may even not need irrigation for establishment. Although, in SD, you probably will…
I did similar to this this spring. Went from “new to me”poor dandelions/thistly lawn to 1.25gallons of cleaned einkorn. I cut 4 ” wide strips of sod, 10-12″ between rows. Pick axed the row to loosen hardpan. Added 3-4 pounds cricket manure, cal mag, 20 pounds sheep manure(directly over seed), half hand full of muriate of potash and 27-0-2 5% iron lawn fertilizer. Planted 40 grams in the rows over 96 sq ft. Next time im trying 60-80 grams(1/8 to 3/6 pound) seed per 100sq ft(9.25m2), early planted in my nice black sandy loam. 40 pounds manure and 1 pound 27-0-2 5% iron, calimagic, Lord know what else. Maybe Rhino Skin. Sturdy plants dare to put on big crops. Threahed in a drill press with stranded copper wire whisking in a bucket. Then 4″ exhaust fan to winnow the wheat. The plants we grow up here are left standing toll they are golden yellow. Rain can lower protein levels i guess when its standing ripe.
Great article…. Gotta love seeing wheat grown in a place where palm trees and citrus are the norm…hee As for growing “exotics”…one summer I decided to try 3 “very southern” crops… tobacco, cotton, peanuts. Crazy, different, and all were successful 👍😊 Cool to see here, yet another grow-experiment come to fruition. Cheers! JerBear Charlotte USA
I had to go back and check how much you seeded with vs how much you ended up with…… SO you said you were using about a pound of seed which is slightly rounded up to 454 grams and you ended up with 256 grams and that included some chaff so you had a loss of about 200 grams. Hope it was excellent bread and a good learning experience as we all need in our gardens
Got wheat straw bales that had wheat seed still in them, it grew. Got chicken feed that was heavy in wheat seed, it grew. I have Red winter wheat in #10 cans for sprouting if I need it. I’ll grow some, the birds and squirrels will love me for it. Get your wheat before the animals do. 1 seed can make lots more, be aware of your area’s animal population,
Great article and the first one i have come across . i find it important most people dont consider how important wheat is to their daily life and growing it just makes so much sense ! . its funny but have planted many acres of it farming but never tried a garden patch lol. but its way up there on my seed buying list this year and now that its early spring up north here . thanks its a well done test . take care
I researched wheat for a living history program at a California Mission. For the program, we planted some wheat but the squirrels and gophers and critters ate it. How do you put on a wheat program without wheat? Luckily a local farmer let me harvest some of their wheat by hand with a sickle. I wanted the hands on experience to describe it. I got about twenty nice sheaves. The sheaves were about five feet high and an armful. That I dried in upright stacks of about five sheaves in my driveway, it looked just like the old masters paintings until I started attracting every bird within the surrounding area. So change of plan, I dried it, stacked in the closed garage, oops, change of plan, layered it on a metal table separated by milk crates for air circulation. The metal legs kept it out of range of rodent predation. Anyway, it finally dried, next step threshing. Not having any burros on the payroll to do the threshing on a thrashing floor, I used a canvas tarp and did my best impression of a beast of burden. That worked great. Just walking on the dried wheat released the berries and broke up the straw. During the program, trodding on the wheat was one of the kids favorite activities at the wheat demonstration. Stomping across the wheat and then brushing the straw back to see all the grains was a revelation to everybody. The visitors were eager to gather handfuls that they threshed and put it in the winnowing basket. The wind cooperated and grain became plentiful. Next station grinding.
Few hints from an old wheat farmer. Nitrogen, nitrogen, nitrogen. Wait for the wheat to totally ripen before harvesting. For best yields, give it at least 1″ of water per week either from rain or irrigation. Apply a bit more nitrogen when it is in the flowering stage, you will improve the protein content and maximize yeild
So I actually grew a patch of wheat “on accident” by spreading soiled straw from my goats shed. I would put in a fresh flake and take about the same amount every day. Gonna keep buying their straw and do this on purpose in areas with not much grass, let wild wheat run on my property…. No idea how many wheat berries I may harvest from this wild batch of wheat. Wondering if I should let it go to seed and grow again by itself as an experiment to see how resilient it is… Or if root system will regrow without reseeding…?
Good article. Now I know I can grow wheat if I wanted too. Like a lot of people, I thought growing rice and wheat might be better left to those with professional equipment, but I know people have been growing these foods for centuries and people have grown everything imaginable… or edible long before modern equipment was invented.
Excellent article! Thank you! So grateful that you allow comments as well, as we all learn from each other! Could you please tell me some places to buy organic wheat seeds? Also, if I was going to farm a few acres of wheat, what recommendations would you have? And where could I buy wheat seeds in bulk for a huge project like that? Thank you to anyone that responds!
Excellent article! Goes to show that it is harder to get a away from Big Agro calories (staples) such as grains and oils than growing greens and root starch (aka potatoes etc.). Sure we should probably eat less of the high calorie density stuff, but a food security/independence with all food options we gotten used to is a true challenge. Economy of scale and the need of equipment to do the necessary processing for some type of crops are factors not on a home grower´s side.
Kevin, unusual article but excellent information. We raised wheat when i was a kid. I had forgotten some of the principles. How about a article on upo squash. I raise upo on a trellis. Also how about a article on ampalya or bitter squash. We also raise bitter melon on a trellis. Be blessed and thanks again.
I had some come up in my flower garden.. I assume it came from a bird although I do live out in the country. No one around me grows wheat tho so,, this year I plan on sowing it in my vegi garden to make more seed because there was only maybe 5 or 6 stalks. so we will see what happens. Hoping to keep getting more seed like I do with my garlic cloves. Trying to get to a spot where I no longer have to buy seed.
I was curious so I did a little bit of calculation about the yield. Commercially, one hectare (10 000 square meters) should yield about 4000kg (at least in my country). An are (100 square meters) should therefore be 40kg on average. Your plot seems to be around 2×1 meters so 2 square meters. That’s 0,02 are, so it should be 800 grams. 250 grams therefore is less than 1/3 of what a commercial yield would be for a similar area, it could be the strain or fertilization but it’s certainly worth to study some details if you plan on growing more wheat. There were also some uneven spots that you mentioned in the article where the wheat wasn’t growing properly. Anyway, good article and a nice experiment!
Fun fact: Wheat, while known in colonial America, was a secondary crop to Corn (Maize to any Europeans reading this comment. Wheat only became perfered to Corn only after 1808. We know that for when the Duke of Wellington was sent to Spain and Portugal to fight the French after the French had invaded Spain and Portugal. The Duke quickly found out he needed a secure source of wheat to feed his army and he could not rely on Spainish or Portugese sources (The French Army “lived off the land” which meant the French would confiscate anywheat they found). Given the situation in Britain and Ireland (Britain was already a net importer of wheat, mostly from Ireland this would continue through the Irish Famine of the 1840s, In the 1840s the Irish were straving for the potato crop had failed, but Ireland was still exporting heat to Britain during the Famine and is one of the reasons the Irish still hate the English) that left New England as the only area the Duke could import Wheat from. Wheat exports from New England started small but grew larger each year and we are talking about hundreds of ship a year till the Defeat of Napoleon in the Battle of Nations in 1814. Yes, for two years into the war of 1814 New England’s ship were shipping New England wheat to British troops, while the US was at war with Britain. No New England Congressman voted to go to war with Britain in 1812, the war vote was carried by the South and what is now the American Midwest, Ohio to the Mississippi River. In 1812 Corn growing areas of the US voted for war, but the wheat growing area voted against the war.
It seems to me that you planted too many seeds in a small space. I will be planting organic red wheat seeds, about 1/3 as many as you did in a plot behind one of my barns. To keep animals out, I will be using sticks with sashes of plastic grocery bags, as they scare away animals. One of my tricks, when gardening, is using used chopsticks around the edges of the garden, it keeps rabbits out, and they biodegrade easily. I use them in potted veggie plants, too. I learned this trick when my cat ate my green bean plants. By using chopsticks like little spears, she couldn’t get to the plants!
Awesome article. Trying to figure out what I will be able to grow on the prairie in Northern Nevada. Super hard clay dirt with tons of little beetles that come out of the ground at night, and during summer there’s an onslaught of flying ant things. Oh, and the crazy wind most of the time. I know I will have to grow most everything in a greenhouse, but was wondering if I could try wheat outside, with maybe a wind break all the way around…?
Plant your seed in 6″ rows seeds need to be 10 seed per ft of row. that should produce 40 to 100 times the seed you plant. When the plants start to joint add 1 lb of nitrogen per 300 sq ft area. Let the seed go to maturity to get the full yield. I will dry in 10 days after maturity. On the farm the seed brings 10 cents per lb.
I did this with corn. I’m allergic to wheat, so finding good bread is something that is impossible. I did manage to make delicious cornbread though. I’m convinced I need to grow my own for it to be good. I bought cornmeal and did it.. I ended up feeding the bread to birds. It tastes terrible. Grow you own is the way to go. I bet homegrown wheat is so much better.
Great article, thank you! I’m wanting to grow different things for my chickens. Does it grow back after harvesting? It seems like it would cost a fortune if you had to keep replanting for a half a loaf of bread. My daughter makes sour dough bread all the time with the best ingredients. If you would like she’ll send you a few loafs. (She really would if I told her you wanted some). lol
Hi, Paleoethnobotanist here. Fun fact, want to know why it outperforms weeds so well? It probably started as an uber-weed. The current thinking is that wheat was essentially a super successful weed and thrived in human disturbed environments and essentially forced us to use it an domesticate it out of sheer abundance and opportunity.