Does anybody have any experience growing buckwheat? I would like to try and grow some this year, primarily for bee pasture. Any info would be appriciated. Yeah, I know buckwheat honey has a strong flavor, I happen to like it.

Les

-- Les Vaughn (lvaughn@suntransformer.com), March 21, 2000

Answers

Well i have used it extensively for a cover crop. I would plow and fit the soil, plant, (broadcast) 5# to the acre or heavier, it will shade out all the weeds. In the north east you can plant as late as July 4, or as early as the last frost is past. If not harvested it will reseed it's self or you can mow it after the blossoms have gone and turn it under. You could also over seed it on a taller crop like corn, in garden rows and kill off the weeds. Buckwheat will grow on poor ground and will help break up clay, it makes a great trash crop and soil enhancer.

-- Howard C. Williams (redgate@echoweb.net), March 21, 2000.

Thanks for the information. I don't suppose it would come up if I just broadcast it on the ground without plowing it up first would it? Sorry, I had to ask. Les

-- Les (lvaughn@suntransformer.com), March 21, 2000.

I agree with the first response. Buckwheat is very easy to grow. You do need to till up the soil so that the seeds can get into the ground. If you don't it will be harder for them to germinate and you will not have as good a crop. And let me tell you, buckwheat definitely attracts bees. The first time we planted it as a cover crop and it started to bloom I walked out to the field and started looking around to see what kind of electrical wire was acting up to create the hum I was hearing. Then I realized that the field was just covered with bees. Go or it. It is a fun plant to grow.

-- Colleen (pyramidgreatdanes@erols.com), March 21, 2000.

I had about three acres of fescue, weeds, and saplings I wanted to convert to wildlife foodplot. I ran a disk over the ground (about 4-5 passes) then broadcast the buckwheat with a hand seeder. Spread around some 6-24-24 fertilizer and walked away. Buckwheat is a quick growing crop. The deer and wild turkey love it. Deer eat it and turkeys eat the insects which inhabit the plant plot. I eat the deer and turkey.

-- Clark Kent (ctimes@hsonline.net), March 22, 2000.