Post by canadamike on Sept 28, 2011 23:55:56 GMT -5
I think I wrote something here about a very old oat I found in Southern Ontario, grown by some mennonites and also organic farmers, but I think this info will please some here, of the farming kind...
I named the oat TALL BOY, the 15 or so organic or mennonite farmers never having thought of naming it. Apparently, they chuckled at the name, which I took for a yes.
All we know about it is that it is a cross between MERIT, an oat from the canadian government program in the 40s or 50s, don't remember, and an unidentified already century ( by then) oat, probably of european origin given the area ( dutch, german etc....)
It usually grows up to 6-7 feet, I posted a picture here I think....
Now, this year was very different. We grew it in the St-Hyacinthe area, in a micro climate with the most heat units in Quebec, close to 3000 corn units.
But because of the floods, instead of going in the ground on frozen soil at the end of April or so, it was seeded June 5, a month and a half later. THen, in JUly, came a heat wave. In heat waves,cereals start to transpire ( breathe) faster than photosynthesis is made, that is when the grains start forming and the plants yellowing. Basically, ''death is coming let's make babies''.
I saw this summer a field of oat, close by ours, that made me laugh..it was as high as a golf course grass( OK, maybe 2-3 inches more) and was forming its grain. Most were in the 1-1.5 foot average.
This bugger was 3.5 feet high, seeded June 5, and harvested the first week of August.
The harvest was the usually good average year harvest ( in our area) of one ton per acre, less than TALL BOY's usual 1.6-1.8, but nevertheless remarquable... more than the regular oat at 0.8 or so...and the guys have hay, and hay is nowhere to be found this year in Quebec, it sells for up to 85$ a round bale...more money to make than for the grain...
The genetics are available to all the people here...please be patient to allow me time to take a weekend to do mailings, it will take some time...
I named the oat TALL BOY, the 15 or so organic or mennonite farmers never having thought of naming it. Apparently, they chuckled at the name, which I took for a yes.
All we know about it is that it is a cross between MERIT, an oat from the canadian government program in the 40s or 50s, don't remember, and an unidentified already century ( by then) oat, probably of european origin given the area ( dutch, german etc....)
It usually grows up to 6-7 feet, I posted a picture here I think....
Now, this year was very different. We grew it in the St-Hyacinthe area, in a micro climate with the most heat units in Quebec, close to 3000 corn units.
But because of the floods, instead of going in the ground on frozen soil at the end of April or so, it was seeded June 5, a month and a half later. THen, in JUly, came a heat wave. In heat waves,cereals start to transpire ( breathe) faster than photosynthesis is made, that is when the grains start forming and the plants yellowing. Basically, ''death is coming let's make babies''.
I saw this summer a field of oat, close by ours, that made me laugh..it was as high as a golf course grass( OK, maybe 2-3 inches more) and was forming its grain. Most were in the 1-1.5 foot average.
This bugger was 3.5 feet high, seeded June 5, and harvested the first week of August.
The harvest was the usually good average year harvest ( in our area) of one ton per acre, less than TALL BOY's usual 1.6-1.8, but nevertheless remarquable... more than the regular oat at 0.8 or so...and the guys have hay, and hay is nowhere to be found this year in Quebec, it sells for up to 85$ a round bale...more money to make than for the grain...
The genetics are available to all the people here...please be patient to allow me time to take a weekend to do mailings, it will take some time...