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Winter Wheat crop as mulch
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Posted by
lateriser Central VA (
My Page) on
Thu, Sep 27, 12 at 13:43
| Each year, I mulch my garden with either wood chips(when available) or purchase straw, which is very expensive in my area($4-7 per bale). Seeing that I used up all of my wood chips this year, I am planning on planting a winter wheat / crimson clover mix in Mid to Late October. The area where I am considering planting it was an old field that is now a mixture of tall leafy weeds, grass, and light brush. It is partially shaded during the growing season by deciduous tress, which are interspersed through out the field. I hope to use my cub cadet and belt driven tiller to break up the soil. Is this winter wheat / crimson clover mix the best winter crop to plant given the situation? Is mid to late October too late to plant winter wheat in Central VA? I realize that the growing site is not ideal, but is it possible to grow wheat at the site during the winter? How deep do I have to till the soil for wheat to grow (roots will be an issue here)? Thanks for your help. |
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Winter Wheat crop as mulch
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| Possible but.... it is pretty late in the season to be planting. If you get frosts anytime in the next 8-10 weeks then i would say no. The wheat will not be at a good enough stage to survive frosts/ snows in time. The clover I also don't think would make it. If you don;t get frosts/snows till late dec then you have a shot. be careful of the TYPE of wheat you get (ie has to be a winter wheat) |
RE: Winter Wheat crop as mulch
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I have seeded winter rye in mid to late October up here with very good results although there have been years when I could not due to snow cover by then. Most often, however, the weather is still warm, and moist, enough for either winter wheat or winter rye seed to germinate and grow, and should be in even better for that in central Virginia.
One source suggests that the soil temperature needs to be around 59 degrees for clover seed to germinate while another suggests seeding at least 6 weeks before the first frost. Those people, I think, confuse first frost with first freeze, two different things. Up here I have measured soil temperatures at close to 60 degrees weeks after the first frost. |
RE: Winter Wheat crop as mulch
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| Thanks kimmsr. That is good to know. A question for you, how much did you have to prepare the soil before you seeded you wheat? I know it can be seeded in ag fields with a no-till seed drill. I am hoping that I can lightly till the surface without going too deep (no more than 1-2 inches). Would this work? |
RE: Winter Wheat crop as mulch
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| Since I do not have a seed drill I seed by hand so the surface needs to be in good enough shape so after scattering the seed I can rake it in some. Without that cover the seed would be eadily available to the birds for food. That light surface tilling should be good, as long as there is not too much stubble if you rake after seeding. If you are planning on tilling the seed in that may well be too deep. |
RE: Winter Wheat crop as mulch
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| I am in the same zone as central va and I often plant wheat and rye in late october or even november without a problem. Based on your description of the site, though, no cover crop is going to do a whole lot. What are you trying to achieve? |
RE: Winter Wheat crop as mulch
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| pnbrown - That is good to hear that one can plant winter wheat so late in the season. My goal for planting the winter wheat is to harvest straw in the spring to use as mulch in my garden. I would grow it in my garden but, I put my leaves in the garden in early November (that is when the trees down here are done dropping their leaves). I am afraid that if I plant the wheat in early November, it would not germinate. The crimson clover just comes with the cover crop mix. I do not need it, though if I ended up planting the winter wheat and clover in the garden, I am sure the clover would enhance the nitrogen content of the soil, though I doubt the clover would grow if I planted it in early November. |
RE: Winter Wheat crop as mulch
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Clover seeds will germinate and grow in soils with tempertures in the 50 to 80 degree F range, although optimal is 65 to 68 degrees F. Soil temperatures will be higher then air tempertures longer and if the soil can be heated by the sun, solar gain, it will be warmer still. Even if you have a frost that does not mean the soil will be too cold for plant growth, and even a freeze will not necesarily drop your soils temperature very quickly.
Adequate levels of organic matter in the soil, not on the soil as a mulch, will help absorb sunlight, to a point. The more organic matter in the soil the more moisture it could hold which can help keep the soil temperature cooler. |
RE: Winter Wheat crop as mulch
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| So I have decided that I am going to put down the winter wheat clover mix in both my garden and the semi-clear area in the woods. If winter wheat can germinate as late as early November in Central VA, I think this will work, allowing me to have time to till the leaves into the garden first. Does anyone know how thick the straw mulch will be when I cut it down, assuming I leave it on the soil surface? The point of the mulch is to both conserve moisture and suppress weeds. |
RE: Winter Wheat crop as mulch
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| Of course straw is from mature grain. You won't have straw until early summer. Cut in early spring wheat or rye is like tall green grass. It is best to till that in or turn over with a shovel to prevent the relatively high N content from volatilizing. |
RE: Winter Wheat crop as mulch
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| Planting of winter wheat in Virginia has really just started, a week from now should be the most active time to plant. Check out the link below for average planting and harvesting dates for U.S. field crops. - for all states, pretty neat. I grew a small area of spring wheat this year. It was trouble free, beautiful, and fun. If you can leave a bit until maturity I think you will enjoy it. Hope this helps. Best of luck! |
Here is a link that might be useful: http://usda01.library.cornell.edu/usda/current/planting/planting-10-29
-2010.pdf
RE: Winter Wheat crop as mulch
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| Thanks for the great link cheapcheap . |
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