Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
POLLINATION NOTES All cereal grains, with the exception of rye, self-pollinate. It is still necessary to
grow different varieties of the same species far enough away from each other that the ears cannot
touch, so that cross-pollination does not accidentally occur.
Rye is a strict outcrosser, and different varieties must be either spatially or mechanically isolated
from one another by 1000 ft. (300 m) when growing garden-sized parcels, 1.5 miles (2.5 km) for field-
scale parcels. Peer Schilperoord, grower of many heirloom grain varieties in Switzerland, recommends
separating rye varieties with a 10 ft. (3 m) wall. It is likely easier to isolate temporally by growing only
one variety per year. At the former Institute of Plant Breeding and Seed Testing in Rinn, Austria,
heavy plastic tarps (3 by 4 ft. [100 by 120 cm]) with a 1.5 by 1.5 ft. (50 by 50 cm) hole cut out of
them, were stretched horizontally between poles at the four corners of beds of rye about 1.5 ft. (50 cm)
above the ground. This technique by no means hermetically seals the bed, but rather causes a chimney
effect, wherein the air in the bed tends to move upward, and the rye plants of each individual bed pol-
linate each other and not those of other beds.
Black emmer
GROWING FOR SEED All true grains have either spring varieties (planted in the spring for harvest in
late summer/early autumn) or winter varieties (planted in autumn for harvest the following summer).
Grains develop roots quickly and send them very deep in the ground so they do not freeze in the
winter.
Support long-stalked varieties grown in small quantities with a trellis or by tying the ears together to
prevent lodging (plants flattened to the ground because of bent stalks).
HARVEST Grains are harvested at the dead-ripe stage (when plants are completely dead, brown and
dry) when harvested by machine, but when harvesting by hand, grains should be harvested just after
the milk-ripe stage (when seeds are soft and “milky” when squeezed). At this yellow-ripe stage, the
base of the plant will have already turned brown and dry, but the rest of the plant is still somewhat
green and seeds are relatively hard. For larger quantities, use an Austrian-style scythe with a small
bow-style attachment on the snath to make a grain cradle; avoid American-style scythes, which were
Search WWH ::




Custom Search