Can buckwheat choke itself out?

[eclipseman]

Well I did something foolish. I planted a small plot of buckwheat (1/3) acre or so. I heard buckwheat needed a planting depth of 1-2inches so I went heavy on the broadcasting (doubled the amount) since I figured some of the seed would not germinate properly. Boy was I wrong on that and my estimation of how much seed to broadcast was obviously off. Plants appear to be much more than the recommended 3inches apart. (more like 1 inch apart). The buckwheat was coming in nice the first week but I fear I planted too heavy and now they are wilting and a yellowish green. I fertilized as recommended and applied lime about 6 weeks ago pH was 6.2. We have had a lack of rain so it could be do to that but it reminds me of how brassica looks if planted to heavy...essentially killing itself. Can this happen with buckwheat? thanks.

 

[yoderjac]

Well, I'm not sure where you heard buckwheat needs to be planted1 to 2 inches deep. It grows in my gravel driveway and even in the back of my pickup.

Sure, any plant competes with the plants around it for light, water, and nutrients. It is possible to plant too heavy. Having said that, I doubt doubling the recommended planting rate for buckwheat from 50lbs/ac to 100 lbs/ac will be enough to hurt it significantly. You may not get optimal growth, but it will still feed deer and improve your soil.

I would say a lack of rain is probably your bigger issue right now. I decided to try something different this year. I generally like broadcasting rather than drilling buckwheat. I used my no-till drill but instead of planting in the opened rows, I disconnected the seed tubes from the planting shoes and just let them bounce around dropping seeds here and there on the surface in front of the cultipacker. I had never used the drill for buckwheat before and I just guessed at the setting. I got closer to 100 lbs/ac in the first couple fields until I got the settings right. Those fields are doing just fine so far. They were planted in late May. We have had ample rain this spring and on the verge of too much.

Buckwheat is one of the most mistake tolerant crops there is. You can make a lot of mistakes with buckwheat and still get success. It is one of the first crops I suggest for new folks who want to plant something in the spring.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[cavey]

I'm not an expert on it but 2 inches is too deep and when broad casting it would have been pretty tuff to get all the seed worked in at exactly a 2" depth -you likely have a mix of deep to shallow which is normal but,...If it came in good, germination should not have been an issue... yoder is right, your rate being double - which is what i would normally do when broadcasting shouldn't be that over whelming considering it was broadcast and not drilled.... I have a question. What was there before (last year) and is there any chemical carry over ???

Buckwheat Information - Cornell University
www.hort.cornell.edu/bjorkman/lab/buck/guide/sowinghow.php
Buckwheat should be sown with a grain drill at a depth of 1/2 to 1 inch. Seeding deeper than 1 1/2 inches will usually lead to poor and uneven stands. Drilling the seed will produce an even and uniform stand.



https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/pg_faes2.pdf
Sep 15, 2014 - Buckwheat should be planted with a drill into a firm, weed-free seed bed at a rate of 40 to 60 lb/ac and a depth of 0.5 to 1.5 inches in 6 to 8 inch rows (Clark, 2007; Bjorkman et al., 2008; Bjorkman, 2009).

 

[eclipseman]

Well, I'm not sure where you heard buckwheat needs to be planted1 to 2 inches deep. It grows in my gravel driveway and even in the back of my pickup.

Sure, any plant competes with the plants around it for light, water, and nutrients. It is possible to plant too heavy. Having said that, I doubt doubling the recommended planting rate for buckwheat from 50lbs/ac to 100 lbs/ac will be enough to hurt it significantly. You may not get optimal growth, but it will still feed deer and improve your soil.

I would say a lack of rain is probably your bigger issue right now. I decided to try something different this year. I generally like broadcasting rather than drilling buckwheat. I used my no-till drill but instead of planting in the opened rows, I disconnected the seed tubes from the planting shoes and just let them bounce around dropping seeds here and there on the surface in front of the cultipacker. I had never used the drill for buckwheat before and I just guessed at the setting. I got closer to 100 lbs/ac in the first couple fields until I got the settings right. Those fields are doing just fine so far. They were planted in late May. We have had ample rain this spring and on the verge of too much.

Buckwheat is one of the most mistake tolerant crops there is. You can make a lot of mistakes with buckwheat and still get success. It is one of the first crops I suggest for new folks who want to plant something in the spring.

Thanks,

Jack

this is where I got my info for planting depth but I was wrong (http://www.hort.cornell.edu/bjorkman/lab/buck/guide/sowinghow.php)...it says .5-1in is optimal and anything over 1.5 inches is not good.

 

[eclipseman]

I'm not an expert on it but 2 inches is to deep.

Buckwheat Information - Cornell University
www.hort.cornell.edu/bjorkman/lab/buck/guide/sowinghow.php
Buckwheat should be sown with a grain drill at a depth of 1/2 to 1 inch. Seeding deeper than 1 1/2 inches will usually lead to poor and uneven stands. Drilling the seed will produce an even and uniform stand.



https://plants.usda.gov/plantguide/pdf/pg_faes2.pdf
Sep 15, 2014 - Buckwheat should be planted with a drill into a firm, weed-free seed bed at a rate of 40 to 60 lb/ac and a depth of 0.5 to 1.5 inches in 6 to 8 inch rows (Clark, 2007; Bjorkman et al., 2008; Bjorkman, 2009).

yes I just noticed that in my reference above. It was .5-1.5inches but still more than just surface broadcasting. Either way, I went way too heavy on seed but crossing my fingers it is due to lack of rain. We are in a drought kind of situation in my area. We are supposed to get rain this weekend.

 

[wiscwhip]

100 lbs/acre is not really too heavy for buckwheat seeding, in fact the SARE website even recommends seeding at up to 96 lbs/acre when using it as a smother crop due to the fast rate at which it will create a weed choking canopy. I think it is the lack of water that is causing what you are seeing.

 

[cavey]

You can have some of my rain, I never got my buckwheat planted this year... we are super wet up here.

 

[cavey]

100 lbs/acre is not really too heavy for buckwheat seeding, in fact the SARE website even recommends seeding at up to 96 lbs/acre when using it as a smother crop due to the fast rate at which it will create a weed choking canopy. I think it is the lack of water that is causing what you are seeing.

Ya I agree.. I broadcast it at 2 bags to the acre which is usually a 40 or 50 lb. bag so 80-100 lbs and never had an issue with choking out.

 

[eclipseman]

Ya I agree.. I broadcast it at 2 bags to the acre which is usually a 40 or 50 lb. bag so 80-100 lbs and never had an issue with choking out.

ok then I definitely over did it as I did 40lb bag on 1/4-1/3 acre size.

 

[yoderjac]

Ya...that might be a little heavy...

 

[seadonist]

Drop some urea on it but do it before a rain. May just need a boost.


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[bueller]

Drop some urea on it but do it before a rain. May just need a boost.


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X2. Many will argue buckwheat doesn't need N but I've found it does, at least on my soils.

 

[Bill]

How long before the first frost should buckwheat be planted? Never tried it but my spring clover was a disaster :)

Thinking of buckwheat followed by fall clover and rye.

 

[wiscwhip]

Appoximately 50-60 days to maturity.

 

[JFK52]

My friend has 21 bee hives on my land again this year. I planted several smaller patches of buckwheat that totaled about an acre with one 50 pound bag. I broadcast it over a prepared seed bed that was disked twice, ran it over with a spike tooth harrow set with the spikes on a very flat setting and then rolled it in with a cultipacker. Planting depth was 1/2 inch more or less. It was mid June before I got it all done due to weather conditions. I plan on putting dwarf Essex rape seed down in these same fields in mid August. The buckwheat will be disked under for the rape planting. My friend with the bee hives was happy to hear that I was planting buckwheat. I believe his bees will find it no matter where it was planted on my land.

 

[wiscwhip]

How long before the first frost should buckwheat be planted? Never tried it but my spring clover was a disaster :)

Thinking of buckwheat followed by fall clover and rye.

Get some BW down ASAP. Come back in late August and broadcast your rye/clover mix into the standing BW and then either mow/roll/both the mature BW down over the new seeding. You will get some volunteer BW, which is fine because it will be smoked by the first hard frost, but it will help keep the deer from overbrowsing the new rye/clover to allow it to get a good start.

 

[Buckly]

I don't know how much rain you've had there but, I quit planting buckwheat because I would only get a crop every few years. It would come up 3-6 inches then we'd get a dry spell and it would burn off most years. Once it got a foot tall it seemed to take lack of rain better. You probably did plant a bit heavy but, I wouldn't think the plants were big enough at this early date to be crowded. Just from my experiences it's lack of rain.

 

[Bill]

Get some BW down ASAP. Come back in late August and broadcast your rye/clover mix into the standing BW and then either mow/roll/both the mature BW down over the new seeding. You will get some volunteer BW, which is fine because it will be smoked by the first hard frost, but it will help keep the deer from overbrowsing the new rye/clover to allow it to get a good start.

Will it throw and grow if I seed heavy? Obviously it would need good rains. Hard to get a disk in there now. The field is mostly young foxtail which smokes pretty easily.

 

[wiscwhip]

If you can get a cultipacker in there, it should work just fine with a moderate to heavy seed rate. A few ways you could do it, depending on how much time you have available. Best results would be to spray the weeds and wait a few days, then broadcast the seed and roll the foxtail with a cultipacker to push the seed into the soil and cover it to conserve moisture. Best case scenario is that you could do the planting the day after a nice rain. You could also just do all the steps the same day, but you might not get as good of a burndown on the weeds if you roll them right after they are sprayed.

 

[Bill]

If you can get a cultipacker in there, it should work just fine with a moderate to heavy seed rate. A few ways you could do it, depending on how much time you have available. Best results would be to spray the weeds and wait a few days, then broadcast the seed and roll the foxtail with a cultipacker to push the seed into the soil and cover it to conserve moisture. Best case scenario is that you could do the planting the day after a nice rain. You could also just do all the steps the same day, but you might not get as good of a burndown on the weeds if you roll them right after they are sprayed.

Cultipacker isn't a problem. Since I've got 1 clover plant every 10 square feet and pigweed and foxtail every 10 centimeters I think I'll smoke it tomorrow. Then I'll pray the coop has seed and get it early Monday and seed. Nothing lost if they don't have seed. I'm just ahead for a fall plot. Severe T storms forecasted for Monday afternoon, that will beat the seed in. I'll cultipack Tuesday and cross my finger.