I find I have much lower germination rates with broadcasting. It is the easiest option, but good soil contact seems to be the surest way to get good germination. If I do broadcast, I might clear the field of debris and rake to the mineral soil before broadcasting. Then stomp it in and cover it again with the debris I took off.
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Very cool @Lowell_McCampbell . Those look super lush and healthy! I speak to @MarkReed 's experience up my way. It’s fun to hear of your success down yonder and how the grains respond to your climate. My climate is automatically overwintered and then see what makes it during the spring. I never know what I’m going to get. In a standard summer day I have 60F swings. This winter I had 75F swings. Last year I had light frost every month of the year.
As to Western Oregon, Mark, it depends where in Western Oregon. There’s a pretty diverse array of climates once you get West of the Cascades. You do have that massive moderating impact of the Pacific ocean. You’d be hard pressed to get -15F that way even with the ongoing Arctic farts happening routinely. Typically, the lows are maybe single digits but more like 10-15F. The wind chills can bring it negative depending, again, where you are - closer to the impacts of the Cascades the more likely. They’ve been getting more ice storms as well. Corvallis is Willamette Valley. Portland, 45 minutes or so due North of that part of the Valley, just had the largest ice storm they’ve had since 1952. Tons of tree fall. I think it’s going to be trial and error for you. For all of us in the more temperate regions.
I just got an email back today, they are still sending packets out. Apparently, demand is pretty high, so it’ll be a week or two before mine gets mailed. Which is fine for me, since there’s still plenty of time left to plant a spring crop where I’m at. Anyone who’s got an earlier spring than me (my last frost averages around mid-April) might want to get an email sent out if they’re still considering putting in a request.
Do you think we could get enough of us growing a hulless barley (not just ONBB) to have a GTS mix next year?
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I got the same email, should have them in one to two weeks, which will be fine since I’m pretty sure my last frost is at the end of May…
I think as long as someone volunteers to steward the mix, we could get one going.
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I hope we do a barley mix in the future, but I’m not sure this year.
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Looking forward to everyone’s experience growing this mix!
My packet showed up today! It’s a beautiful mix, and I look forward to growing out a patch of it (saving some for fall-planting, of course!)
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