frostseeding buckwheat

[pcdreams]

guess the title says it all. :

I was wondering if this can be done. I know buckwheat isn't cold tolerant but didn't know if it'd hurt the viability of the seeds.

[rambler]

Hum. Not real familiar with that crop, but seems it's always used as a very late spring through mid summer crop, there migh be better choices to try to plant in very early spring? If it does manage to grow, it might be 'out of step' with it's natural needs & timing and not produce what you want to get out of it?

--->Paul

[lmrose]

I grew up in Ohio and my Dad planted one garden with buckwheat and the other with rye every fall. It grew some before winter and early Spring.Late Spring he plowed it under before planting time.

Here in Nova Scotia we plant rye or buckwheat in the garden after we harvest beans, corn etc. It will be tilled under next year before planting time.

Having a cover crop over the winter helps prevent erosian and puts nutrients back into the soil when tilled under.Where rye is planted one year the next year will be buckwheat. We do not plant the same cover crop in the same place each year.

[Bearfootfarm]

Buckwheat shouldn't be planted until late Spring.

You could frost seed clover, but it's still early even for that.

The best thing to do this time of year is get soil samples and put down lime if you need it, since it can take up to 6 months to have much effect

[pcdreams]

got our test back but having a devil of a time finding lime (dry ag lime).. I can get pelleted but who can afford it.. lol

Originally Posted by Bearfootfarm

Buckwheat shouldn't be planted until late Spring.

You could frost seed clover, but it's still early even for that.

The best thing to do this time of year is get soil samples and put down lime if you need it, since it can take up to 6 months to have much effect

[haypoint]

I asked an old timer about Buckwheat. I was concerned about frost. He told me, " You can drag a bucket of ice through a Buckwheat field and kill half the crop." It was a bit of an overstatement, but I'd say nix the frost seeding idea for Buckwheat.

[Bearfootfarm]

Originally Posted by pcdreams

got our test back but having a devil of a time finding lime (dry ag lime).. I can get pelleted but who can afford it.. lol

See if one of these is near you.

They should have it, and can spread it too

Crop Production Services, Inc:


http://www.google.com/search?complete=1&hl=en&source=hp&q=crop+producton+services+MO&btnG=Google+Search&aq=o&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

[haypoint]

Most of your fertilizer is "locked up" in acid soil. Lime, Calcium Carbinate, gets the ph to a level that allows the soil to release the nutrients to the plants.
Finely ground lime nutralizes the soil fast, but doesn't persist as long. Ton prices should be a lot better than by the bag.

I’ll stick my neck out and assume a few things. You want to frost seed the buckwheat because you don’t have access to a seed drill and the cost of getting the field up to soil test requirements is way more than you had hoped for. You want to plant buckwheat to crowd out weeds and help the condition of the soil.
It will be difficult to establish buckwheat as nicely as a seed drill will do, but for a small acreage, a broadcast spreader and a spring tooth or spike tooth harrow will get a crop in. Plan on broadcasting more seed than you’d use in a seed drill, because fewer seeds will be at the optimal depth.
If the soil test shows you need a lot of lime to grow buckwheat, remember the ph balanced soil will help crops for several years in the future. If you just can’t afford to get the ph to where it should be, plant less acreage or find a more acid tolerant crop. Rye is cheap and suppresses weeds.
Stay out of the field with buckwheat until all chances of frost have passed.

You can buy bulk Lime from most feed stores or farm supply places. Otherwise, talk to the folks in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri about some Ag Lime. That’s about 250 miles away from you. Mississippi Lime Company, phone 314-543-6300.

[Forerunner]

Buckwheat is very freeze sensitive, once it germinates.

Year after year, following a summer crop of buckwheat that may or may not get harvested, but always gets tilled in by fall, I have quite an impressive crop of volunteer
buckwheat come late spring. Those seeds spend quite a brutal winter in the ground here in mid-to upper Illinois.

My main concern "frost-seeding" buckwheat would be that spring rains, if not mid-winter rain like we just had, would wash all that seed into the crick.
Now if yer on the flat...... you might consider going for it.
I don't think those seeds will sprout until they're supposed to.

[Bearfootfarm]

Now if yer on the flat...... you might consider going for it.
I don't think those seeds will sprout until they're supposed to.

Buckwheat seed is fairly expensive, and a 2-3 day warm spell could cause it to germinate long before the last frosts in Spring.

Last week we were in the teens and had 6 inches of snow, yet today it was 69 degrees and sunny.

Next week it will be below freezing again

I wouldn't plant Buckwheat before the end of April

[Forerunner]

I suppose there may be a pretty substantial difference between the behavior of seed sown now and seed that's been laying on or just under the surface since August.

[haypoint]

Originally Posted by Forerunner

I suppose there may be a pretty substantial difference between the behavior of seed sown now and seed that's been laying on or just under the surface since August.

I suppose not.
I’ve never seen buckwheat reseed itself. Seed dropped in August will not provide a crop the following spring. Buckwheat planted or cast upon the soil prior to the last spring frost or left in the field all winter will not mature. At some point (several) the frost kills the plant.
Frost seed clover or timothy or oats if you must, but buckwheat is unlike those plants.

[rj_in_MA]

Originally Posted by haypoint

I suppose not.
I’ve never seen buckwheat reseed itself. Seed dropped in August will not provide a crop the following spring. Buckwheat planted or cast upon the soil prior to the last spring frost or left in the field all winter will not mature. At some point (several) the frost kills the plant.
Frost seed clover or timothy or oats if you must, but buckwheat is unlike those plants.

I've put buckwheat in parts of my garden that I'm resting, and if I don't turn it under in time and it goes to seed, I get buckwheat there the next year, guaranteed. Certainly not as full as I had planted it, but it does replant itself. Granted our winters in central Mass probably aren't as severe as yours, but they do get cold.

[Forerunner]

I've had self-replantings that were just about worthy of taking a crop off.

This part of Illinois sees extremes that will put any seed to the test, and my several years raising buckwheat tells me that seed will sprout after wintering over...and that to produce a lush and enviable crop.

I have made my recommendation against "frost-seeding", but I don't believe there's an issue as to whether those seeds will die from exposure, nor germinate too soon.
Think of them as being on par with tomato seeds.
Both winter over. Both plants are frost sensitive. Both germinate and flourish when they're supposed to.