anyone tried growing grains?

[hooligal]

StillHope, right now we have little seedlings and are *praying* we'll close on 2 acres before September 1 so we can plant them. The first round of all our veggies is small quantities of each kind, to figure out what grows well, easily, etc. We're going to end up with 80+ varieties of 'stuff' this first time around, then we hope to whittle it down to maybe 20 strong favorites.

I have to re-read the grain yield for the buckwheat I'm ordering. It might be something like 12 grains per stalk. THen I get to do the math of how much we want to eat..end up with a rough idea of how many plants we'll need to successfully raise. My uneducated guess is that we'll never have enough grains to keep ourselves supplied. I think the yield & hand-threshing will be too prohibitive to keep up with our munching habits. The veggies on the other hand...I think we're always going to have too much of those & have lots to trade.

Of course, I'll know a heck of a lot more when these buggahs get big! []

Do you want a few of the buckwheat seeds I order so you can try them out?

[StillHope]

Hooligal,I think with my mini lot(8000sq ft) growing buckwheat is just a dream.2 acres on the other hand -it's something.Yes,if you have extra seeds,I'll buy it from you when I am finally home.
The buckwheat looks like a small plant.But 12 grains...-caviar quantity.
Good luck to HF (Hooligal's farm)!

[olin137]

Hooligal,

The wheat will be a problem in Puna. Generally wheat is a dry-land crop because it yields reasonably well with less inputs (irrigation, insecticides, etc) than most major grain crops. However, it actually isgrown in just about every mainland state, so there must be varieties that are more tolerant - searching for information on wheat in southern states would be a place to start. The winter wheat you planted will turn in fescue and not form grain heads. "Winter" means it needs a cold spell to "vernalize" - switch to a seed producing mode instead of just forming lots and lots of leaves; i.e., look like fescue. So spring wheats are better since they don't need the vernalization. One way to trick the winter wheat is to germinate the seeds on small containers of sand/soil, wait until they're about 3-5 inches high, and then put them in a refrigerator for a couple of weeks - but not practical for larger scale plantings. The durum is likely to not do well since it is not as resistant to fungal diseases as is bread wheats. Climate-wise, corn should do well in Puna, but the problem is corn takes more inputs - not good if you're trying to be organic.

Olin

[Scott_S]

I tell ya what if it grows and you could dry the stems for straw, the straw would be worth more than the grain. The feed store wants 25 bucks a bale.

Scott

[hooligal]

Thanks Olin. Yeah, I'm assuming I have to put a few flats of grain in the fridge for a while. Possibly some of our peas too that aren't coming up. All of our grains will be under a greenhouse so we can control moisture (thus also making it a very small scale operation). The first thing I found out is that grain rots in a heartbeat in damp soil. It's taken 5 tries just to get the buggahs to germinate without molding.

If I'm lucky I'll find a 'wheat sitter' this winter up in Volcano. If they could take my flats for a few weeks it just might work, lol.

[Kapohocat]

Hooligal ask SB too about wheat as he grew about 200 acres for 10-15 years. I know its not on the Big Island but he might be able to give you some ideas.