[thirsty]

This is such a cool idea. I wish I had the room, but the vegetables have to go somewhere.

[pete b]

This is such a cool idea. I wish I had the room, but the vegetables have to go somewhere.

I broke new ground for this that I'll eventually use for veggies etc. My idea is that I grow barley on new ground that is marginally fertile, which is ok for barley. While the barley is growing it will also act as a cover crop to minimize the weeds. Then in the late summer I'll harvest and use the barley and straw, add compost, manure and another cover crop, probably a legume, till that in and maybe grow winter rye as another cover crop. In the spring I'll till, get a soil test, amend the soil and grow something else. If this works I'll keep breaking new ground for more veggies, fruit trees, berries etc. Eventually there will be no grass to mow and we'll have more and more of our own food. I wish I could quit my job!

[gmac]

yup organic. from Johnny's seeds. supposedly 99% pure. Not too worried about it. Not going to replant because I had a couple dozen heads show up with what I'm pretty sure was loose barley smut. I pulled most of them but a couple got away from me.

Good call.  Loose smut infects the seed this year and shows up next so you're right to use it up now and get new seed. Too bad it's not ergot, you could make some LSD Pale Ale. Maybe plant some rye for next year?

[pete b]

yup organic. from Johnny's seeds. supposedly 99% pure. Not too worried about it. Not going to replant because I had a couple dozen heads show up with what I'm pretty sure was loose barley smut. I pulled most of them but a couple got away from me.

Good call.  Loose smut infects the seed this year and shows up next so you're right to use it up now and get new seed. Too bad it's not ergot, you could make some LSD Pale Ale. Maybe plant some rye for next year?

Or a Trip-el

[erockrph]

yup organic. from Johnny's seeds. supposedly 99% pure. Not too worried about it. Not going to replant because I had a couple dozen heads show up with what I'm pretty sure was loose barley smut. I pulled most of them but a couple got away from me.

Good call.  Loose smut infects the seed this year and shows up next so you're right to use it up now and get new seed. Too bad it's not ergot, you could make some LSD Pale Ale. Maybe plant some rye for next year?

Or a Trip-el

Hmmm... All this talk has me wondering if you can malt Morning Glory seeds...

[pete b]

yup organic. from Johnny's seeds. supposedly 99% pure. Not too worried about it. Not going to replant because I had a couple dozen heads show up with what I'm pretty sure was loose barley smut. I pulled most of them but a couple got away from me.

Good call.  Loose smut infects the seed this year and shows up next so you're right to use it up now and get new seed. Too bad it's not ergot, you could make some LSD Pale Ale. Maybe plant some rye for next year?

Or a Trip-el

Hmmm... All this talk has me wondering if you can malt Morning Glory seeds...

Or extract thc with oil then fat wash it in grain alcohol and add it to an ipa a bottling... Um, did I say that out loud?

[pete b]

Its actually already sprouting after four days! I saw a few last night and this morning a large percentage were up, half an inch long already. This is good news as I am counting on it to outcompete grass and dandelions.

[gmac]

Its actually already sprouting after four days! I saw a few last night and this morning a large percentage were up, half an inch long already. This is good news as I am counting on it to outcompete grass and dandelions.

How thick do you have it planted?  Ideal seeding rate for malting barley is 18 to 25 plants per square foot.  You will need this at least if you are going to outcompete the weeds without any herbicide.

[pete b]

Its actually already sprouting after four days! I saw a few last night and this morning a large percentage were up, half an inch long already. This is good news as I am counting on it to outcompete grass and dandelions.

How thick do you have it planted?  Ideal seeding rate for malting barley is 18 to 25 plants per square foot.  You will need this at least if you are going to outcompete the weeds without any herbicide.

I used 6 pounds over about 920 sq ft. It looks pretty thick. I think if it germinates decently, which it already looks like it will, I'll easily have that. I also worked really hard to get it free of grass and weeds to start.

[gmac]

If it turns out to be crazy thick, you may want to thin it out then. If its too thick, you will get problems with lodging (falling over). If 25 is good, 50 is not better. I'm sure you will be fine.
I'm just happy I can put that Masters degree in seed technology to use finally  

[pete b]

If it turns out to be crazy thick, you may want to thin it out then. If its too thick, you will get problems with lodging (falling over). If 25 is good, 50 is not better. I'm sure you will be fine.
I'm just happy I can put that Masters degree in seed technology to use finally

I'm glad too! I'll see if I can find a typical looking square foot and get a count. I also read that high fertility can cause lodging so I didn't amend the soil like I would for a veggie garden, just a small amount of organic fertilizer.

[BrewArk]

... and maybe grow winter rye as another cover crop. In the spring I'll till, get a soil test, amend the soil and grow something else. If this works I'll keep breaking new ground for more veggies, fruit trees, berries etc. Eventually there will be no grass to mow and we'll have more and more of our own food. I wish I could quit my job!

I grew rye this year for the first time.  Planted the first week in November, it didn't get more than six inches tall until February or March.  Then it took off, it's now up to six feet!  It is still green and the seeds are just beginning to plump up.

It's delaying my spring barley planting.

[gmac]

If it turns out to be crazy thick, you may want to thin it out then. If its too thick, you will get problems with lodging (falling over). If 25 is good, 50 is not better. I'm sure you will be fine.
I'm just happy I can put that Masters degree in seed technology to use finally

I'm glad too! I'll see if I can find a typical looking square foot and get a count. I also read that high fertility can cause lodging so I didn't amend the soil like I would for a veggie garden, just a small amount of organic fertilizer.

High fertility, particularly high N can cause lodging in most grass crops.  High nitrogen promotes cell growth and elongation and you end up with a taller than ideal plant that can't support the weight of its own grain. 
In malting barley, you don't want overly high N anyway because the higher the available N, the higher the grain protein.  You need adequate N to get proper yield but if you have too much then you get too much protein.  Your approach to use a compost is likely best since you don't have soil tests (I assume) to properly balance your nutrients.  If you do use a fertilizer, something low and balanced would be best (10-10-10 or lower for example).

[pete b]

If it turns out to be crazy thick, you may want to thin it out then. If its too thick, you will get problems with lodging (falling over). If 25 is good, 50 is not better. I'm sure you will be fine.
I'm just happy I can put that Masters degree in seed technology to use finally

I'm glad too! I'll see if I can find a typical looking square foot and get a count. I also read that high fertility can cause lodging so I didn't amend the soil like I would for a veggie garden, just a small amount of organic fertilizer.

High fertility, particularly high N can cause lodging in most grass crops.  High nitrogen promotes cell growth and elongation and you end up with a taller than ideal plant that can't support the weight of its own grain. 
In malting barley, you don't want overly high N anyway because the higher the available N, the higher the grain protein.  You need adequate N to get proper yield but if you have too much then you get too much protein.  Your approach to use a compost is likely best since you don't have soil tests (I assume) to properly balance your nutrients.  If you do use a fertilizer, something low and balanced would be best (10-10-10 or lower for example).

I just got my soil test for the veg garden back so I can amend that accurately but in no way will reflect this patch because of added tons( literally) of compost to the garden. The ph is probably close though because until now I haven't limed in a few years and I tested unlimed soil. The ph is 6.1 which I think is fine for barley. The fertilizer was very low organic fertilizer, like 3-5-5 or something. It makes sense that growing too dense or too much N would cause lodging as density would make each plant try to get tall fast to compete for sunlight.

[pete b]

Those of you who have grown barley, when did it head and how tall was it? Mine is heading after a little less than 60 days. The 2 row is 12-18 inches tall and is pretty much all headed and the 6 row is uniformly about 12 inches tall and starting to head. i kinda expected it to head when it was maybe 2 1/2- 3 feet tall. It looks great in that it looks healthy, bright color, hearty looking, but I'm a bit worried because the amount of sunlight per day and overall fertility is marginally ok.