| Buckwheat growing with No rain? |
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By:
firemen
Date:10-Jun-21
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My buckwheat is staring to grow and we have not had any rain in two weeks since I planted.With no rain in sight will the buckwheat die off?
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By:
t-roy
Date:10-Jun-21
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Depends on a few factors. Do you have much subsoil moisture? Also, if you get any rains on it in the next few weeks. It probably won’t die off, unless you don’t get any more rains on it before it matures, with little to no moisture, I’d think your growth will be suppressed, possibly severely. Severely dry here in my area of Iowa, with little to no subsoil moisture either.
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By:
RIT
Date:10-Jun-21
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If you tilled or disced it has a much better chance of dying than if you had residue on the surface to help with moisture retention and keeping the soil cool. Think plastic or a rock that’s been laying somewhere in your yard for weeks. It always has moisture under it. That said Buckwheat isn’t very drought tolerant especially when young. It does have a dense root system with a tap root once established so if there is moisture it will find it.. but my experience has been that it wilts rather quickly in the absence of rain.
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By:
Pat Lefemine
Date:11-Jun-21
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I don’t know about Illinois but here in Ohio we have been getting fantastic rains, damn near every day we’ve had a shower.
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By:
lewis
Date:11-Jun-21
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Hell I spilled some bw seeds in my gravel driveway and it all came up plus some fell behind my license plate on my truck and it has sprouted and putting out stems wrapping around my plate.Very hardy stuff.Good luck Lewis
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By:
Mad Trapper
Date:12-Jun-21
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We have had rain here in PA every day for the last week. Glad we got all of our corn and beans in the week before.Good advice above. From my experience buckwheat is pretty hardy. Good luck.
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By:
RIT
Date:12-Jun-21
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I would not confuse buckwheat as hardy. Mow buckwheat it dies, any form of mechanical disturbance dead, spray buckwheat dead, slight frost dead. If you said buckwheat is easy to grow, grows fast, great at suppressing weeds yep I am all in. But young buckwheat that isn’t established not so much. Optimal rain, good soil conditions, and establishment before stressors hit the crop might be a tad misleading on how hardy a crop is.
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By:
Korey Wolfe
Date:12-Jun-21
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I planted it last summer and got a 20% stand because of the dought
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By:
firemen
Date:12-Jun-21
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Thank God we finally got some rain,I'll give it a couple old day see what spots I have th reseed.
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By:
drycreek
Date:12-Jun-21
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We’ve had the opposite here in East Texas. Up until this week it has rained at least five days a week for the last month and a half. My peas either drowned or floated off, but I did get a couple buckwheat plots on my lease. None here at home, buckwheat or peas. Sorriest plots I’ve ever had. On the bright side, my daikon radishes reseeded so I have a fair crop of them within my sorry peas at the lease. We have so much browse I was really looking forward to a good pea crop, because when we have lots of browse that’s when the peas have a chance to mature. Maybe next year ! :-(
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By:
Pat Lefemine
Date:12-Jun-21
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I'll be curious to see how the buckwheat does for you guys. I planted it, it came up fantastic, and the deer never touched it. A total disappointment, however it went to seed and the following spring the turkeys were all over it. So it wasn't a total failure.
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By:
t-roy
Date:12-Jun-21
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firemen………can you post some pics of what that looks like?……The rain, I mean, not the buckwheat :-(
I’ve just started planting buckwheat in the past few years. unfortunately, we have been in the midst of a 3 year drought, so it’s been a bit difficult to get really good feel for how it’s performed. I’m not planting it as a food source for the deer, but strictly for weed suppression and soil building/moisture retention capabilities. They did browse mine some, but not heavily. I had a couples plots of it that I got some timely rains on, and it grew extremely well, shading out any competing weeds. I then seeded my brassicas into the standing crop before it seeded out, rolled over it with my cultimulcher, then sprayed it with R-up, to make certain it was dead. I got .3” of rain the next day and my brassicas sprouted, but then we had absolutely zero rain for the next month, so pretty much everything burned up. There was no subsoil moisture to fall back on, either.
I had another small plot of it that I didn’t get killed quickly enough, and it went to seed. I disced it under, then planted brassicas. The brassicas came up, but so did the volunteer buckwheat. It outpaced my brassica growth and shaded a lot of them out, which severely stunted them. I think buckwheat is a great food plotting plant, but timing is pretty critical, depending on what your goals are.
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By:
Denali
Date:12-Jun-21
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Pat, I am surprised that the deer were not in it as soon as it came up and then again when it matured. We plant it just south of you and they demolish it as it first develops (small plots will not grow) and when the plant matures the deer hammer the seed. We plant around the 4th of July and it is a ridiculous first week plot.
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Date:14-Jun-21
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Fan of buckwheat and its hardy and can survive drought, it just depends on how long your drought is and what you have otherwise covering the soil. Im located in NY, buckwheat in most areas gets browsed, based upon the level of food in the region, deer population and specific location as it pertains to bedding areas. For example moderate deer populations and planting of buckwheat adjacent to warm season bedding areas (high canopy) deer tend to eat buckwheat at that early 1-5 week stage (although the plant matures at 7-8 weeks). Increase the deer numbers and its likely to get hammered even more. Buckwheat in forest openings (small openings with adequate sun) in any population setting I have seen deer hammer it, I think it has more to do with easy pickings assuming there isnt a more preferred plant. Like I said big fan, as its so easy to grow and you can just throw it on the ground and it will take off.
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By:
firemen
Date:15-Jun-21
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Reseeded yesterday and now I know why I had bear spots darn crows, so now it's back to the plot to teach them a leason!
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By:
Huntcell
Date:15-Jun-21
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Buckwheat honey is great! The dark color and strong flavor turns off most so never has gained a big following.
Whats not to like a field of buckwheat in full bloom.
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By:
fuzzy
Date:15-Jun-21
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Pat I also tried buckwheat last year with no deer activity. They hit the rye and brassicas hard that I planted with it. Also no action on the millet. This year its rye with red clover and brassicas
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By:
JohnMC
Date:15-Jun-21
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Is this what you all are talking about?
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By:
fuzzy
Date:15-Jun-21
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Huntcell you're right. Its almost like molasses. Makes some killer mead
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By:
firemen
Date:16-Jun-21
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Reseeded yesterday and now I know why I had bear spots darn crows, so now it's back to the plot to teach them a leason!
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By:
firemen
Date:30-Jun-21
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No that we have had rain my buckwheat is doing very well so well the deer are hamming .It Looks like green sticks 80% of all leaves are eaten off ,1 1/2 acres I hope it comes back.
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By:
Stressless
Date:05-Jul-21
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First time for buckwheat - I don't want to attract deer June-Aug so happy they're letting it be. VERY little appreciable rain since I planted ~ 13 Jun. Rain in the forecast should help get it going - plan to smoosh it down over seed first week of Aug.
1st year switchgrass is along the border -
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By:
Stressless
Date:16-Jul-21
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WELL! I know why my buckwheat stopped growing.... Neighbor said all the stalks had been clipped...
funny critters - I know guys that plant buckwheat as a food source and can't get deer to eat it due to the Ag land around them. Shows how powerful having the best grub attracts - even if it's only poor gurb! I honestly was hoping the'ld just ignore it. Interested to see where it stands in a couple weeks.
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By:
drycreek
Date:16-Jul-21
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Stressless, I have buckwheat plots a few hundred yards from each other that show radically different browsing. One with no browsing, and the other nipped all over. That just proves to me that if deer were very smart we could never kill one. ;-)
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By:
Pat Lefemine
Date:16-Jul-21
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Rob, that’s some damn good utilization in the video. I may try a small patch in Ohio. Won’t plant it ever again in NY, they never touch it.
