Harvest is Done

The wheat harvest has been completed.  Unfortunately, it is not us humans who did the harvesting.

Only a small area of spelt remains

Essentially all of the wheat is gone. 

 
 Whole plots were flattened earlier and have not recovered.   Areas have been trampelled, and much has been devoured right off the stalks.



The ground squirrels have taken much of the crop.

On May 15th, one of them seemed unaware of a visitor, came quite close and demonstrated how he could reach up, pull a wheat plant down, nibble on the seed head and then move on to the next plant.

Remaining bit of Red Fife

Red Fife seed heads

A small clump of Red Fife remains, but it is more than two weeks from maturity when it can be harvested for wheat.  Unfortunately, it appears the squirrels like wheat berries even before they reach the soft dough stage.  So their harvest timing is significantly in advance of ours. 

 

Portions of our two spelt plots are still standing, but their seed heads are only at the blossom stage and will certainly be devoured as their kernels just start to develop, well before it is time for human harvest.
        Though Maggie's Farm has not been a successful locale for wheat, it is home to some charming critters

 and some very colorful ones, like this Western Bluebird.

Slim Pickens

As we approach our expected harvest, it appears we are not the only ones who find wheat an attractive crop.

Our first day's planting of Sonora and Red Fife have been reduced to a small green patch in the middle of the fields.

Glenn planted 11/29/12

The entire plot of Glenn from that first day is gone.  Although matted down some weeks ago, it seemed to be recovering.  However, now it has stopped growing and appears to have been grazed.  One of the traps set against the ground squirrels is in the foreground.

 

Our test plot of heirloom and newer varieties has been grazed to the ground.  Of the 12 varieties planted, 6 did develop well, and, on April 6th, Clear White and India Jammu seed heads were in blossom.  Now all (except two Poole variety plants) seem to have been devoured. 

The northern portion of the 2nd day's planting of Glenn has also been grazed, leaving only an area in the middle of the plot.  The 2nd day's Sonora, on the left, has about half a plot still standing, with seed heads in the late milk stage.   About a third of the Oberkulmer and Maverick Spelt remains and has seed heads emerging.  About a month until maturity.  But our plants seem to be disappearing faster than they can grow.

If we have a harvest, it is likely to be a modest one.

Hoping to share the wheat

The small control group, out in our Los Angeles backyard, is approaching maturity.  A big visual change has taken place over the last few weeks.

In blossom 3/11/13

4/28/13

3/28/13

The control group  -- all Glenn --  exhibits a range of maturity, from soft dough stage to cannot-dent-with-a-thumbnail.  That spread makes it hard to generalize about time to harvest.
                   

Fully ripe

Mixed ripeness

     

Soft Dough

                                         On the subject of hoping to share the wheat .... an intrepid team visited Maggie's Farm on 4/29/13 to set traps in an effort to reduce the threat to our crop from CGSs.  California Ground Squirrels and their habit of stripping wheat fields to the bone.  Ehr, to the straw.

Essentially all of our first plot of Glenn has given up the ghost.  On our last post, it had extensive brown/dead areas in the center.  This has now spread throughout the plot.

                             To the right (west) of that brown Glenn, the Oberkulmer and the Maverick Spelt are doing well.  Both are in boot stage, with seed heads emerging and --if the squirrels don't take it all -- a likely harvest in mid-to-late June.

 Northern portions of our second planting of Glenn and Sonora are doing well, with maturity less than a month away.

Glenn2 on the left, and Sonora 2 on right.

Glenn 2 vigorous, with some trampling.

 

3rd Week of April

The seed heads are filling, but in many areas plants have not recovered or are very small.  True of all the plots we planted on our first day which had major portions laid flat.

Mostly barren portions of Glenn 1

Northern (near) half of Glenn 2 is quite lush.

Sonora 2 is best overall plot. 

The first Sonora planting, on the left, has much smaller & less substantial seed heads than the Sonora 2, on the right, planted two weeks later.



No sign anywhere that seed heads are losing their green color.  First harvest is still three weeks away, not earlier than May 11th.



Test plot is reduced to a few spindly plants.  Seems under-dug by squirrels.  Very dry.  Very picked over.



 Both of our Spelt are bushy and seem to be in stem elongation mode.  Oberkkulmer taller; much more developed inflorescence and much further along; maybe 3 inches from end of a 15” pseudo-stem.  One of our ground squirrels is keeping a look-out on a distant sprinkler head.

Our two Spelt plots

 If you look close, you can see eight of the rascals in the berm just west of the spelt.

Reporting Sheepishly

Some of our wheat was reclining because a small gang of young sheep got loose and meandered into the field to have a look.  Not a lot of damage.

 Much of our Red Fife is in boot stage, with some heads emerging.  This puts them about two weeks behind the Glenn.

Red Fife seed head peeking through

Our Oberkulmer (classic) Spelt is now ahead of its more modern Maverick.  Twenty inches, to Maverick's twelve.  Both show inflorescence rising well, about three-quarters of the way to boot stage.  Shorter than the wheat, the spelt is likely to head out in a couple of weeks, blossom, and then start filling.  May have a harvest by June first.

Oberkulmer & Maverick Spelt Fields

The several areas where our first Sonora planting has come back are doing well.  The tall plants have big seed heads.  The shorter plants that had been knocked down are smaller and will probably have a lower yield.  Our second Sonora planting looks very vigorous and its harvest may be mid May, or before.

First Sonora

Closer

Closer Still

 The pig is very friendly and we haven't seen him in the wheat.

Hope to get a sense of how mature the Glenn is when we post next week. 

Life in the Wheat Fields

Progress continues, as the seed heads of more of our crops appear.  In our test plot, India-Jammu and Clear White are both blossoming.

Our classic Red Fife has one or two emerged heads.  Most show prominent inflorescence only about one inch short of emergence.  They will probably emerge and be in blossom before the end of April.

Red Fife Inflorescence Nearing Emergence

The big news is that we see that a good number of California Ground Squirrels are establishing burrows among the wheat.  Spermophilus beecheyi are here.

One of the residents -- we're calling him "Sourdough" -- showed up for a cameo.

The sad fact is that these rascals have a reputation for devouring and hiding away very large quantities of ripe wheat berries