100% homegrown

[bottlebomber]

Scarecrows

 

[drummstikk]

I read this whole thread and I'm very impressed by the time and labor you've put into this. I thought staring at my primary for a month and not touching it was patience!

Thanks for the kind words you guys! As for the labor, yes, this first time around is taking a dent out of my schedule -- it was a 3-4 hours a week for the first few weeks, and now it's down to probably just 1 hour/week.

But I expect it to go much much faster next year. As in, fertilize, plant, and put up a fence one week, forget about it for a month or two, weed, then forget about it again until harvest. Plus the fun of learning about it will have worn off by then, and I'll just want it to be efficient. This is pretty much how I feel about brewdays now -- I enjoy them, but I don't waste any time!

I hope that anybody else who decides to grow their own can use this thread and others to save themselves some time and effort. I know I've already saved myself countless hours from the advice freely given here. And I've been reading the hop growing threads, which I know will save me time and effort this spring!

 

[drummstikk]

Scarecrows

I asked around about this, and the advice I got is that unless a threat is moving, the guineas are not phased. I haven't tried it, so please stop me if I'm wrong. But I'm thinking a static scarecrow won't do the trick.

I was thinking of tying metal pie pans to fishing line so they bang against each other in the breeze. The guineas are mischievous and will explore bravely, but motion tends to set them off. For example, I was squatting quietly and watching the guineas picking at my crop, but as soon as I stood up a bit to stretch my legs, the entire flock stopped and looked over at me, even though I was 10 yards away. By the time I stood all the way up, they were in retreat.

Anyway, the field manager told me yesterday he was already planning to reduce the numbers in the flock. AND, my girlfriend and I just learned how to fry chicken last weekend. Cosmic coincidence or divine plan?

 

[wardenwheat]

It doesn't look too bad in my opinion. Good luck finding a recipe for those nasty things

 

[drummstikk]

It doesn't look too bad in my opinion.

You're right, it's not terrible damage. And that picture was an example of the heaviest type of loss. It's just that it's all over the field now, not just isolated cases of damage.

A lot of people will raise guinea fowl for their insect murdering, even though they know their garden will take a peck now and then. I should be thankful I haven't had any aphids. But a drumstick sounds pretty good right about now...

 

[jgln]

I don't know about guineas but I do know about chickens. When the wheat I let grow that I didn't turn under in the garden was about at the stage to pick/harvest, the chickens found out it made for a good meal and figured how to strip the seed off the heads. I didn't mind since I had no plans for it but they did make short work of it. Keep that in mind should they still be around at harvest time.

 

[KemP130]

I am a Plant Science major as well as a Crop Manager for a small dairy, I have experience in growing small grains, corn, and grasses. Personally we plant rye in 7.5 inch rows. We haven't planted any barley though, and I would be interested in trying it.

 

[bottlebomber]

I don't know if this is realistic for you're situation, but they make these motion sensing spray heads that shoot water around and make a racket if something gets close. They are relatively inexpensive and work really well for deer.

 

[B-Hoppy]

They also provide good humor when you tell your friends to go pick one of your apples!!

 

[drummstikk]

I don't know if this is realistic for you're situation, but they make these motion sensing spray heads that shoot water around and make a racket if something gets close. They are relatively inexpensive and work really well for deer.

Yes, I want those! I saw one for $40 on amazon. Do you know of anything cheaper? (All my money goes to beer if you can't already tell.)

For a few days, I was intent on allowing the birds to roam, accepting that their insecticidal properties were worth the damage. But after observing one particularly hard-hit row in which practically every plant had a crew cut, I put up a small fence enclosing my plot. Nothing short of 20-30 feet will totally keep out guineas, but perhaps it will deter. Camera currently malfunctioning so photos to follow...

 

[drummstikk]

7.5 inch rows

I think there is no doubt I'm going to do this next year. It was good to have a walkable field this first year as I'm figuring things out. But to maximize my space, I'll go for the commercial row spacing in the future.

 

[drummstikk]

There has been plenty of growth since the last update, and it's starting to look like a real crop! No insects or diseases yet...

It has been 570.5 growth degree days (GDD) now since emergence, which according to the U Idaho blog, should put us at the 7 leaf stage with advanced tillering. Actually, the tillering is so advanced, that it has become very difficult to count the leaves of the main shoot:

So is the barley still on track? Up until now it has been, so I'm not worried. I know it is not ahead of schedule, because the next milestone will be jointing and elongation, which should happen around 830 GDD. This will happen sometime near the beginning of March, according to the Weather Channel's GDD predictor.

GDD are turning out to be a pretty good metric for developmental progress. My barley has been tracking the Merit barley in the U Idaho blog, even though it has taken me 65 days to achieve what only took 35 days in the Idaho springtime. The GDD are just building up more slowly for me since I'm growing in the middle of winter. See, it does get cold in California!

The fence seems to be working -- it has remained intact, with minor repairs, for a week now, and the field manager says he hasn't seen the Guinea hens in my plot.

As you can see it's just a mesh netting help up with wooden stakes. It's knee-high, and the birds could so easily fly over it. I'm just hoping it acts as a deterrent. So far, I don't have any new leaf damage to report -- so perhaps it is working? Fingers crossed.

Happy Friday everybody!

 

[COLObrewer]

Excellent, I can hardly wait for harvesting/threshing!! Keep those pictures coming.

 

[fifelee]

Looks awesome. Good work.

 

[drummstikk]

Thanks, Fife and Colo.

Check out this difference in color:

Unfortunately, there are a lot of differences that may account for the color (this is not a controlled experiment!)

• The right side is planted at 90 lb/acre, 24 seeds/ft, while the left is half that.

• The soil on the left and right have different histories -- the left grew corn last year and had a compost treatment, while the soil on the right grew soybeans that were plowed under.

• I fertilized the left side at a rate of 79 lb N/acre, and the right side at 56 lb N/acre.

I hear that Nitrogen is what usually accounts for green/yellow color differences, and more yellow indicates less N. I fertilized at different rates because I didn't really know how much N was already in the field, and I wanted at least part of the crop to have the right amount. Too much, and you'll get poor malting and brewing qualities, but too little N will reduce yield.

I won't know until I actually brew with the crop on the left if it has too much N. But I'll know earlier if the right side has too little, because the plants should turn a brighter yellow!

Anybody with experience growing malting barley know if one side looks more correct than the other?

 

[Thehopguy]

I love the way crop rows look when there neat and uniform like that. keep up the good work, subscribed.

 

[drummstikk]

Aphids.

I've got 'em.

What to do? Well, the real problem is Barley Dwarf virus. Do I have it?

Maybe so.

And that may account for why a large patch of the field is growing slowly.

Sigh...

There's no way to cure plants of a virus. And Dwarf viruses typically reduce yield and grain plumpness, which makes for bad malting qualities. At this point, I'd just like to stop its spread.

I want to use an insecticide -- any recommendations?

Any insecticides you guys have used and liked?

 

[bottlebomber]

Don't go chemi... If you can help it. Neem oil is excellent as a plant antibiotic and will cure a lot of fungal type disease, and is also a great insecticide.
Also as far as aphids, you should see if you can order lady bugs. Seriously. I've used them in organic gardening lots of times, an the ladybugs are absolutely savage on the aphids. I unleashed them upon my artichoke plants that had aphids so badly there was an actual layer of them on the stems. The ladybugs absolutely obliterated them in about 3 days.
The trick is that you want to spray a little sugar water on the ladybugs before you take them out of their net sack. This will cause their wings to stick together and keep your bugs from flying away. Then let em rip.

 

[drummstikk]

Thanks for the advice, bottlebomber. I had considered ladybugs, and I might go for it. I also read to chill them to refrigerator temps before releasing them, and to release them at sunset -- all measures (like the sugar water) to keep them from flying away.

But we have a lot of insecticides already available at the field, including Neem oil. In order to get rid of aphids, you have to apply Neem oil to every surface of the plants (difficult at this point because plant growth is dense), and you have to reapply at least once a week, twice is better, to kill newly-laid eggs. It would be a lot of work to reduce aphid levels.

So, if anyone knows of a systemic insecticide they like, I would love to hear about it. The advantage here is that the insecticide becomes incorporated into plant tissue, so it can kill aphids withoput directly touching them during application.

As far as going "chemi" -- don't forget that neem oil, even though it was produced by a plant, contains azadirachtin, a nasty chemical. It causes infertility in rats, and you don't want that stuff in your water, especially if you're pregnant. I think it's more productive to consider molecules individually -- how toxic is a molecule to people, to animals, and will it screw up the environment?

On my small scale, I can control irrigation carefully, and because we get very little rain here, I haven't had any runoff at all. Pesticides and herbicides are degraded in the soil by bacteria, most with a half-life of weeks. So as long as you keep the stuff contained in your field, you minimize risk to the environment and other animals and plants.

Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox now. Where do you buy your ladybugs? Can you order them online?

 

[fifelee]

The yellow barley could be anything but most likely lack of N or the virus. Hard to tell the difference. Viruses normally don't follow a straight line like I see in your pictures. You do need about 150lb of total N per acre, so your rates seem low unless there was a bunch of N in the soil. Because of our cold weather we don't have bugs very often. But when I buy chemical it is from the local farm coop. Ours has an agronomist on staff to help. If you have one near I bet they would be your best source of info.

 

[bottlebomber]

Anyway, I'll get off my soapbox now. Where do you buy your ladybugs? Can you order them online?

I have a well stocked nursery that supplies ladybugs, praying mantis eggs etc. but I can't imagine in this day and age you couldn't order them. Another option I know of it there is a high velocity pulsing water system that kills aphids. But thinking about it from a logistical POV that amount of grass is definitely going to need some kind of drastic measure

 

[drummstikk]

The yellow barley could be anything but most likely lack of N or the virus. Hard to tell the difference. Viruses normally don't follow a straight line like I see in your pictures. You do need about 150lb of total N per acre, so your rates seem low unless there was a bunch of N in the soil.

Thanks, Fife. Nitrogen was my first suspect until I noticed all the bugs. Good to know that they can show similar symptoms.

Hmm..., can I top dress with Nitrogen this late?

 

[bottlebomber]

Thanks, Fife. Nitrogen was my first suspect until I noticed all the bugs. Good to know that they can show similar symptoms.

Hmm..., can I top dress with Nitrogen this late?

You could apply it as a foliar spray of it is water soluble. Yellowing also could be from poor soil drainage and over watering

 

[fifelee]

You could apply it as a foliar spray of it is water soluble. Yellowing also could be from poor soil drainage and over watering

Very true. Is the yellow in a low spot where water collects?

 

[bottlebomber]

http://item.mobileweb.ebay.com/view...0915177782&index=0&nav=SEARCH&nid=50712716752

 

[rexbanner]

Neat and timely post. I'm planting my first crop of barley in a few weeks--Merit, AB's cultivar. I think I'll also plant some Charles, a six row variety with good malting characteristics that has been grown successfully in Virginia. Any risk of cross-pollination? This also has to be an all-organic operation, as per the request of my generous benefactor.

Also, what method are you going to use to harvest? I am planning on buying a scythe from American scythe supply. It really doesn't seem so bad, the youtube videos I've seen show that a European scythe makes pretty short work of any grain. Looks kind of fun. The threshing does seem like it will suck, though.

As to whether it's worth it? We'll see. Just a 1000 sq ft crop should produce enough for five batches of beer. Not too bad.

 

[rexbanner]

Oh yeah, and props to Ryan (Fifelee) for providing the seeds. Cheers!

 

[bottlebomber]

Is in worth it monetarily? Of course not. Is it worth it to have beer that is 100% homegrown? Hell yes! This is something I might do when I retire. I see the malting as the most challenging part personally...

 

[drummstikk]

Very true. Is the yellow in a low spot where water collects?

Hmm, the yellow spot is a bit lower, yes.

There is never water pooling on the surface after irrigation. If undrained water is the culprit, could it be building up below ground?

 

[drummstikk]

I think I'll also plant some Charles, a six row variety with good malting characteristics that has been grown successfully in Virginia.

Keep in mind, that because Charles is a winter barley, it will have a vernalization requirement. That is, it won't flower unless it gets cold enough. I don't know how cold it needs to be -- I remember looking for this info and not finding it.

Typically, you would plant Charles in the fall, let it overwinter, then it will start up growth again in the spring. I planted some Maris Otter, which is also a winter barley, last spring -- it grew, tillered, and got nice and thick, but never began jointing, and never headed.