Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
designed for sugar cane harvesting and are relatively ineffective when harvesting cereal grains. For
small quantities, use a hand scythe, sickle, or even a very sharp scissors; cut stalks at the base, tie into
sheaves (bundles of stalks with ears all facing the same direction), and stand several sheaves up by
leaning the ears together, forming what are called shocks in the USA, stooks in the UK. Leave the cut
grain in shocks for another two weeks to finish ripening and drying. Cover shocks with cloth or bird
netting, especially for smaller quantities, to protect grains from hungry birds. Thresh when ears have
fully dried. Emmer, einkorn, spelt, and most oat and barley varieties are hulled grains, meaning that
they have inedible hulls that must be removed before eating (see
ltras.ucdavis.edu/files/
Grain%20huller.pdf
for instructions on how to build a hand-cranked spelt huller). Hulls should,
however, remain attached for grain being used as seed. The hulls of emmer and spelt contain multiple
seeds.
The delicate ear of einkorn wheat
SELECTION CHARACTERISTICS
Many heirloom varieties are conglomerates or mixtures of multiple
ecotypes (strains within the variety adapted to specific environmental conditions). They visibly vary
from each other, in the presence and absence of beards, the color of the hulls, and so forth. Be sure that
seeds are collected from all forms to maintain genetic diversity. Selection criteria that apply to all vari-
eties:
• true-to-type appearance
• stability (resistance to lodging)
• yield
• good tillering (production of side shoots or multiple stems)
• resistance to various fungal diseases (rust, mildew, bunt, etc.)
• adaptation to local conditions (moisture, temperature, etc.)
DISEASES AND PESTS
A long list of diseases affects the cereal grains but, fortunately, they rarely pose
a problem when the grains are being grown on a small scale. Several are seed-borne: loose smut of
barley (
Ustilago nuda
) and wheat (
U. tritici
) (symptoms: the ear transforming into a black/brown
spore deposit), bunt (
Tilletia caries
, symptoms: stunted growth, grain replaced with spore-containing
balls, “dust” of spores when threshing), various fusarium blights (symptoms: spiral distortions of seed-
ling growth, reddish web of mycelia under snow cover), diseases of the ear (ears containing nonviable
