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Post by raymondo on Jan 11, 2012 4:08:05 GMT -5
The barley patch: Attachments:
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Post by raymondo on Jan 11, 2012 4:08:38 GMT -5
A single head with awns clearly visible: Attachments:
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Post by 12540dumont on Jan 11, 2012 11:54:54 GMT -5
Looks great!
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Post by raymondo on Feb 4, 2012 23:54:44 GMT -5
Anyone know the earliest barley can be harvested? The heads on mine are bending over, which I think indicates that they are starting the ripening process but it's very wet and already some of the heads are rotting. I've looked at a couple of grains and they are green and milky when punctured with my thumb nail, though the liquid is more glue-like than milk-like. The size seems okay. I'm wondering whether to chance it and leave them longer (today was sunny!) or perhaps bring half in to dry and hopefully ripen. I have no experience with barley, or indeed any grain!
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Post by canadamike on Feb 5, 2012 1:02:19 GMT -5
If it is still green it is too early. If ever you want to bring some inside, I recommend you water it well if it needs some, then uproot it and hang the plant upside down with its rootmass intact . I have done that to many plants with success.
I would wait untill I see some yellow...it looks too milky for me.
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Post by raymondo on Feb 5, 2012 3:42:00 GMT -5
Thanks Michel. I think I will wait as long as I can, but if it gets too wet, I'll do as you suggest and pull the plants out, with roots, and hang them to dry.
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Post by MikeH on Feb 5, 2012 4:22:23 GMT -5
Ray, We waited until the heads were turning brown. There were still a few green heads. The grains in those were soft and squishable, clearly immature. We harvested anyhow because we didn't want a repeat of the previous year where the birds devastated the growout leaving us with barely a seed packet's worth of grain. We couldn't thresh right away so everything got to dry for a while. By the time we got to them the grains in the green heads were rock hard. Looking at them right now, I can't tell which were the ripe grains and which weren't because they all look more or less the same. I don't know if there's any difference in taste, nutrition, seed viability. Since we're still growing out, it's only the last that matters right now and we'll find out next year. Regards, Mike Attachments:
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Post by raymondo on Feb 5, 2012 5:11:51 GMT -5
There is no end in sight for the wet weather here so I might not have the luxury of waiting till the heads start to go brown. It is encouraging though that the green seeds you harvested appear to have ripened after harvest. This would be reasonable to expect but I just don't know from what point you can harvest and get viable grain. I don't have enough to experiment with, though I may be forced into an experiment anyway.
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Post by bunkie on Feb 5, 2012 13:23:17 GMT -5
ray, i like michel's idea of pulling the plants up! we did the hulless brley a few years aago and, as mikeh said, the green we picked with the dark, all ripened inside. i'm experimenting with a few more different varieties of the hulless this year. if you need more seed this fall, let me know. good luck!
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Post by MikeH on Feb 5, 2012 16:01:27 GMT -5
bunkie,
What varieties are you trying this year? What are you looking for?
Ray,
If you need, I can send you some Faust this fall. It's both hulless and awnless which makes it really easy to thresh.
Regards, Mike
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Post by 12540dumont on Feb 5, 2012 22:48:01 GMT -5
This is the barley I planted Arabian Blue is the closest in the photo Attachments:
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Post by raymondo on Feb 6, 2012 23:29:30 GMT -5
Ray, If you need, I can send you some Faust this fall. It's both hulless and awnless which makes it really easy to thresh. Regards, Mike Thanks for the offer Mike. I'll work with my awned, hulless variety for a while and see how it goes. I'm hopeful that the awns will deter at least some birds. They're certainly a nuisance to deal with. I foolishly put a seed head in my pocket yesterday and had a devil of a time removing the awns!
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Post by steev on Feb 7, 2012 1:34:23 GMT -5
I was working in some high weeds on the farm one day, when I felt something on my shin, under my pantsleg. I tried to shake it out, but every time I moved, it crept a little higher. I was thinking "wasp", so I didn't want to swat it, but it was getting dangerously high up my thigh, so I dropped my pants! It was a great long-awned seed head, to my considerable relief.
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Post by 12540dumont on Feb 7, 2012 13:00:11 GMT -5
And now you all know what the pants dance is. I've seen two variations, naked farmer hurries to put is pants on or there's something crawling up my pants.
Leo had a potato bug the other day in his overalls. As it crawled up his leg it hooked its little claws in his flesh.
I had no idea what was going on, but two rows away from me all of a sudden he was hopping on one foot and yanking off his overalls.
Well, the chickens got the tater bug.
And the barley farmer came home for lunch.
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Post by canadamike on Feb 7, 2012 15:58:25 GMT -5
I remember a Quebec movie: tha father and the son are wolking fully dressed in a pond, then suddenly the son starts yellin: Oh my God! There's a tadpole in my pants!! The father says: Why yell like a woman! For the last 29 years that is the only thing you ever had in your pants
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