First Time Wheat Cultivation

[kneedeep]

Wheat will sprout just about any where there is some soil, it will sprout in the truck bed if there is any moisture.
Any Feed store or TSC will have a hand spreader of some kind.
Just rough the ground up and spread seed as evenly as possible, about 100# per acre.
Any kind of drag will help, chain link fence, log, pipe, even a big treetop in a pinch.
Probably sprout couple days after some rain.
At least here anyway!

Wheat in yard was broadcast with cone spreader was leftover from last year. Across ditch is clover with 40#/ac drilled in. The right side was tilled field drilled at 125#/ac.

 

[npalen]

Wheat will sprout just about any where there is some soil, it will sprout in the truck bed if there is any moisture.
Any Feed store or TSC will have a hand spreader of some kind.
Just rough the ground up and spread seed as evenly as possible, about 100# per acre.
Any kind of drag will help, chain link fence, log, pipe, even a big treetop in a pinch.
Probably sprout couple days after some rain.
At least here anyway!

It will even sprout in the head of the plant if it doesn't quit raining!

 

[rScotty]

Grass seed is much smaller and lighter than wheat. I didn't have much luck doing it by hand. Bought a little battery-powered broadcaster from Home Depot for I think $30. and did a couple of acres in a few hours. It came up very well.

 

[npalen]

Grass seed is much smaller and lighter than wheat. I didn't have much luck doing it by hand. Bought a little battery-powered broadcaster from Home Depot for I think $30. and did a couple of acres in a few hours. It came up very well.

Bet you were tired when finished as that would be several miles of walking. How many batteries required?

 

[rScotty]

Bet you were tired when finished as that would be several miles of walking. How many batteries required?

It's not as bad as you think to do the seeding for a few acres. But hand-raking it in was sure a lot work. I'll be glad when I get the little turf-tired Yanmar tractor rebuilt. I loved that little tractor.
Anyway, a few hours did for the hand seeding. Then came the hand raking to cover the seed which took two long, long afternoons of back breaking work. Maybe next year the Yanmar......

That inexpensive battery broadcaster I mentioned throws seed out about six feet on each side as you walk, so you cover more ground with seed than you think. And since the seed sits on to of the prepared ground it is possible by looking closely to see how the broadcaster is doing for coverage.

A football field playing surface is real close to an acre. So figuriong walking the ten yard lines, ten trips across the field will do it. It really didn't seem like all that much walking. I refilled the hopper at each sideline and used up two or three sets of batteries was all. Maybe ten bucks in D cells. My tendency is to overseed - I tend to buy too much so why not use up all the seed? Though in spite of promising to do that and not order so much next year I still end up with partial bags of unused grass seed every year.

A specialized grass seed house sells native grass seed and I try to spend a 200/400 dollars each spring on fairly unusual native grasses.... Cultivating native grasses is a hobby and passion I share with our county Ag Extension Agent. Yes, my wife thinks we are both crazy but helps anyway. Some grasses like alkali sacatoon, blue stem, or the various panic grasses have seeds so small they are like dust. Those seeds are near invisible and can cost $80/lb & up - but a pound of any of those is a huge number of seeds compared to fescue or bromes.

rScotty

 

[npalen]

It's not as bad as you think to do the seeding for a few acres. But hand-raking it in was sure a lot work. I'll be glad when I get the little turf-tired Yanmar tractor rebuilt. I loved that little tractor.
Anyway, a few hours did for the hand seeding. Then came the hand raking to cover the seed which took two long, long afternoons of back breaking work. Maybe next year the Yanmar......

That inexpensive battery broadcaster I mentioned throws seed out about six feet on each side as you walk, so you cover more ground with seed than you think. And since the seed sits on to of the prepared ground it is possible by looking closely to see how the broadcaster is doing for coverage.

A football field playing surface is real close to an acre. So figuriong walking the ten yard lines, ten trips across the field will do it. It really didn't seem like all that much walking. I refilled the hopper at each sideline and used up two or three sets of batteries was all. Maybe ten bucks in D cells. My tendency is to overseed - I tend to buy too much so why not use up all the seed? Though in spite of promising to do that and not order so much next year I still end up with partial bags of unused grass seed every year.

A specialized grass seed house sells native grass seed and I try to spend a 200/400 dollars each spring on fairly unusual native grasses.... Cultivating native grasses is a hobby and passion I share with our county Ag Extension Agent. Yes, my wife thinks we are both crazy but helps anyway. Some grasses like alkali sacatoon, blue stem, or the various panic grasses have seeds so small they are like dust. Those seeds are near invisible and can cost $80/lb & up - but a pound of any of those is a huge number of seeds compared to fescue or bromes.

rScotty

Wow! I thought buffalo grass seed was expensive!

 

[kneedeep]

Hey rScotty,
Ever buy seed from Hancock in FL?
I try different seed for wildlife plantings and get some from them.
I like the different clovers and brassicas to establish perennial areas around the edges and odd shaped spots to reduce tillage and rebuild the mined out soil from previous crop lease.
Most of the Ag crops are from Local Seed, they have rebranded now to Revere.

Hancock Farm & Seed Company - Lawn, Pasture and Turf Grass Seed

A Florida based worldwide supplier of Lawn, Pasture and Turf Grass Seed at wholesale pricing direct to the public! Best prices on grass seed guaranteed!

hancockseed.com

 

[rScotty]

Wow! I thought buffalo grass seed was expensive!

Well, it is expensive! I think so too..... But there are others even more expensive though not many. When you think about it, having seed means somebody has figured out how to grow that particular crop in bulk and harvest it for seed. I'm surprised that it's worth doing.

Be sure to run your own germination test on native grass seed. A quality company will also constantly do germination testing on their seed and then sell by PLS which is "% pure live seed". So if it has 50% germination then buying one pound means they send you 2 lbs.

Last year I started looking at reed grasses, sedges, rush grasses for our creek bank. Those are difficult grasses - some only grow on one side of the creek and not the other. Sun/water I guess.

Getting back to the OP's subject. These seed companies have various wheat, barley, rye, and other cereal grain seeds as well. They can match seed for just about any soil and climate.

I buy mostly from PawneeButtesSeed.com - they have a nifty free dowhoad download
"Guide to Grasses.pdf" that is fun to read and look at. They always sell by PLS.

Haven't bought from Hancock seed. I'll checi them out and thanks. I have bought from several others in Utah and Nevada including Great Basin Seed. Out West our grass has to stand up to cold winter, a month of sloppy snow melt, and then drought.

rScotty

 

[ChrisCY]

Growing Wheat: Varieties, Planting Guide, Care, Problems, and Harvest

Growing wheat isn't just for commercial food production. We'll show you how to grow and care for it in your own home garden.

morningchores.com

Some good info here.

Thank you for this

 

[ChrisCY]

I'll jump in. Here are the steps that many people do, but it's not the only way. I only have a tiller so I don't know if it would be better to use the field cultivator to break up the sod with it first or not?

1) Kill the grass if possible and mow it down to nothing - Scalp it.
2) I suspect it would be better to run the field cultivator over it at this point to break up the sod.
3) Till
4) Wait a few days and till the opposite direction
5) After a few days till again in a different direction if required
6) Sew your seed
7) I would be tempted to find something to drag over top after sewing to work the seed in but I'm not sure if that would help or hurt.

Thanks for that. When you say something to drag on top. Is there a DIY implement you have in mind?