← Field crops: grain, maize, pulses and potatoes
H14-02 · Module 2 of 7 · Pages: 20 · Worksheets: 5
Wheat, rye, barley and oats: sowing and care
Which grain for bread and which for livestock, when and how much to sow, how to look after the field without chemicals and how to spot dangerous ear diseases
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In short
- Winter wheat, spelt and rye are sown in late September and October, spring barley and oats as early as the soil allows in March.
- Wheat needs roughly 500 seeds per m², which is about 22–28 g/m² or 2.5 kg per 100 m² (about 1,075 sq ft).
- Sowing depth: wheat and barley 3–5 cm (1¼–2 in), rye 2–3 cm. Too deep means poor emergence.
- Manure goes to the previous crop (potatoes, maize), not straight under the grain: otherwise lodging and weeds.
- Bunt, ergot and corncockle make grain poisonous or unusable. Sow only clean, healthy seed.
What's inside
Chapters
- Which grain for what
- Heritage varieties: spelt and old wheats
- Place in the rotation and soil preparation
- Sowing dates
- How much seed: density
- Sowing: broadcast or in rows
- Feeding grain without mineral fertiliser
- Care from winter to ear
- Diseases, pests and dangerous grain
- Dangerous grain: bunt, ergot, corncockle and fusarium
- Ripening: when grain is ready
- Common mistakes
- Printable checklist
Worksheets
- Area calculator by need
- Seed and yield calculator
- Field sketch and sowing plan
- A year of small grains
- Yield estimate and field log
Fields and checkboxes can be filled in with Adobe Acrobat Reader (desktop and mobile), and the calculator adds up by itself. Filling in may not work in some browsers. A print version comes with the screen PDF.
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