Buckwheat Planting Notes

[deirdre]

Buckwheat planting notes (in preparation for planting some buckwheat we bought recently)

- plant in 6" rows
- plant 1" deep (never more than 2")
- likes some compost or fertilizer
- not really drought tolerant
- likes high difference between day & night temps
- firm soil best
- "To produce good yields, adequate soil moisture must be available [...] during the time the crop is flowering and producing seed."
- seeds are sterile without a pollinator (bees, insects, wind) so planting closer together ensures better pollination

- acid tolerant to 5.5 pH
- not at all frost tolerant
- often used as a second crop since it's a short crop
- works okay in normal levels of P or K
- typical yield of > 800 pounds per acre, so that'd be ~1.7 pounds for 100 square feet
- sprouts in around 5 days
- makes great honey
- aphids may attack, probably the biggest pest risk for a home garden
- 2-3 crops per year most places
- "Harvest when 90 to 95 percent of the seeds on the stem have turned the mature black/very dark grayish-brown color and less than 10 percent have shattered." (by hand, just harvest the seeds as they turn the desired color)
- should be dried by low-temperature drying (never above 110° F), to dry any high-moisture or green seeds
- good green manure crop

I have between 1/4 and 1/2 cup of hulled buckwheat per day (say 1/3 average) as cereal, so that translates to (assuming 50% hull loss) 61 pounds or 3500 square feet per year.... With 2 or 3 crops per year, divide accordingly.

http://www.food-from-the-garden.com/buckwheat.html
http://www.jeffersoninstitute.org/pubs/buckwheat.shtml
http://www.thebirkettmills.com/growing/growingtips_2003.htm
http://ruraladvantage.org/pdf/ATTRAquestiononbuckwheat02-04.pdf
http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/afcm/buckwheat.html
http://www.ag.ndsu.edu/pubs/plantsci/crops/a687w.htm
http://ohioline.osu.edu/agf-fact/0116.html