Northeast Buckwheat Growers Newsletter
No. 22 September
2006
Edited by Thomas Björkman,
Cornell-NYSAES, Geneva,
NY
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Contents
2006 Field
Day
The
twelfth annual Northeast Buckwheat Field Day was held August 29, 2006
in Geneva, NY.
This
Field day returned to the Vegetable Research Farm at
Cornell’s Geneva
Experiment Station where it was held for the first five years. Field
plots were used to show variations that would be risky for growers to
try on their own fields.
New
self-compatible varieties developed for grain production and cover crop
use by Kade Research on Manitoba. These varieties all started growing
slowly, but put on a good burst of growth beginning in mid-August. The
grain variety, ‘Koma’ had promising amounts of
seed, but had let weeds
compete early and had lodged in the rain. A separate large-scale yield
trial in LeRoy will be more definitive. The cover crop types have a
distinctive low form for the first month, which helps them smother
weeds even better. These breeding lines had the right form, but the
slower early growth let weeds come through that were stopped by the
faster conventional buckwheat. Improvements in vigor are anticipated in
more advanced material. The self-compatible characteristic permits
faster advances in combining available traits.
Seeding
methods that provide the best establishment at the least cost after
harvesting vegetables. The classic rotation of following canning peas
was used here. The ground was too hard after pea harvest for
no-till
to give good growth. The best preparation was incorporation of the pea
residue followed by a week of rest for it to decompose. That way there
was no loss of seedlings to rot in the fresh residue, and growth was
not inhibited by hard soil.
Varying
the sowing date. Planting dates from May 17 to August 17 were tested.
See Research News, below for results.
2006
Season Notes
This
summer had unusually high temperatures, which could be damaging to
buckwheat flowers. For the most part, the heat came too early to cause
substantial yield losses. The two heat spells were in mid July
(7/17-19) and late July (7/27-8/3). For buckwheat sown in early July,
the second hot period came just as the flowers were coming into bloom. Heavy
rainfall in late June, and again about July 20 prevented planting, or
hurt recently seeded crops.
In
the plains, similar timing of heat spells was a problem because they
sow in early June. Paul Belzer of MinnDak, Dickinson, ND reports that
the crop of seed normally set in July was largely absent, and the that
harvest will consist mostly of August-set seed. That has put harvest
about a week behind normal. The effect on yield remains to be seen.
Growers
prioritize buckwheat research and extension needs
At
the 2006 Buckwheat Field Day, growers participated in a workshop to
identify and prioritize things that limited their success in buckwheat
production, as well as research and extension needs to address those.
Workshops
like this one are invaluable for documenting industry needs in
applications for the funding that makes research and extension
possible. The major sources of funding for applied research have begun
to require documentation that the project goals respond to industry
needs that were identified through a formal process.
The
workshop was led by Dr. Julie Kikkert, an extension specialist with the
Cornell Cooperative Extension Vegetable Team.
Growers
identified these barriers to success for buckwheat farmers:
- low revenue per acre restricting the potential for
production inputs
- modest yields, including harvest losses
- Wildlife damage, and the limitations on control of deer and
turkeys
- high fuel prices, including getting the product to market.
- sensitivity of buckwheat to adverse weather
Priority
research projects included:
- harvest
issues: uniform seed maturity, harvester operation, dry-down
of crop, and access to wet fields.
- double-cropping
opportunities
- fertility
recommendations
- increasing
consumer demand, especially by capitalizing on health benefits
- capturing
the value of buckwheat for subsequent crops. Soil improvement and weed
reduction.
- optimizing
buckwheat production in no-till rotations
Research
news
Pushing
the planting date.
As
part of a study on using buckwheat as a summer cover crop, the
Björkman
lab wanted to see how far into the spring or fall buckwheat can be
planted and still make a good stand—disregarding whether it
will make a
good crop. 
Fall planting may grow well but get frosted off;
spring
plantings will suffer from heat blasting. To measure how good early
growth was, they measured how tall the plants were when they first
flowered, usually a month after sowing. The 2006 results (below) show
that growth was fine in all plantings during June and August, but
earlier and later, it was too cold. The August 15 sowing
started
strong, providing 83% ground cover at 3 weeks, the best of any date,
but then the cool nights of mid-September took their toll and the
plants stopped growing.
The
last few years, the first killing frost has been unusually late for
many. It may be tempting to plant later and take a chance that frost is
late. These results show that July plantings may get away with it, but
August brings a high risk of a poor crop.
Beneficial
insects
Buckwheat
is attractive to beneficial insects, so a group in Oregon set out to
compare it with other insectary plants raised next to broccoli fields.
The other plants were alyssum, phacelia and coriander. Buckwheat was
average in this group for bringing in hoverflies, with coriander being
best. Buckwheat was the only plant to bring in predatory wasps. It was
also good at ladybeetles, which is commonly known, but it also brought
in the similar-looking pest, the cucumber beetle.
Ambrosino,
M. D., Luna, J. M., Jepson, P. C., Wratten, S. D. 2006. Relative
Frequencies of Visits to Selected Insectary Plants by Predatory
Hoverflies (Diptera: Syrphidae), Other Beneficial Insects, and
Herbivores. Environmental
Entomology 35: 394-400
Buckwheat
and health
Researchers
investigating the health benefits of buckwheat are intrigued by its
triple benefit for a common modern syndrome. It reduces cholesterol,
moderates symptoms of diabetes and reduces hemorrhaging from high blood
pressure. A recent paper has identified the substance that actually
reduces blood pressure. Many blood pressure medications are so-called
ACE inhibitors. Buckwheat flour contains a potent ACE inhibitor,
2˝-hydroxy nicotianamine, at about 300 ppm. While regular
nicotianamide is common in plants, and is present in buckwheat shoots,
it is absent from the seed. Researchers expected to find
nicotianamide
in flour since 1983, when they discovered buckwheat’s
ACE-inhibitory
effects. The fact that it is a derivative made in hard to find.
Clinical studies are underway to document the extent of blood pressure
reduction due to this compound.
Buying
& shipping used swathing equipment
Matt
Warmka, an NBGA member in southern Minnesota, sees a lot of small and
medium sized swathers and pickup heads going unused in his area. What
is interesting for Northeast farmers is that he is willing to help
arrange trucking at a reasonable cost. He regularly sends truckloads of
farm equipment to the Northeast. Sending one more piece to you would
not add so much to the cost. His telephone number is (507) 327-3541.
Harvest
reminders
- Here are some ideas that are probably familiar, but may
worth a reminder.
- Cut
high. If the crop is tall, there will be very little grain in the lower
half of the plant. When direct combining, there is already a lot of
green stuff going through the combine, so raising the head can let you
move more easily. When swathing, the crop will cure better and
withstand more bad weather if there is plenty of air circulation
underneath.
- Harvest at the right time. In some places, the
plants are fully green and flowering, in others they are almost bare.
It’s worth checking. For direct combining, feel if grain is
letting go.
Ignore what leaves are doing. The seed is loosest in the afternoon, so
consider that when scheduling on harvest day. If you are combining on a
warm day, it will be worth readjusting after lunch.
- If the
seeds come off too easily, they can shatter onto the ground. Harvesting
in the early morning helps then. If the seeds don’t come off
easily, it
may be hard to get the seed while leaving the concaves open enough to
let the stems and leaves through. In that case, wait until afternoon or
a couple more days.
- For swathing, the time to cut is earlier, when some seeds
still have green on them.
- Slow
the cylinder way down to keep from breaking seeds. Run the fan high,
leaving it low just gets dockage and risk of heating. Check what is
coming out the back.
Improvements
coming to the buckwheat website
The
buckwheat website will be undergoing renovations to make it more
attractive, easier to navigate, and add more production information.
The site includes information on the NBGA, newsletters, summaries of
field days, and the Buckwheat Production Guide.
Because
many farms are in rural areas without broadband, the site will still be
designed with a modem connection in mind. It will have a
simple design
that is understandable even with picture loading off. Pictures are
helpful for many concepts, so big pictures will be available a click
away.
NBGA on the WWW
Only
members get mailings
This
newsletter goes out to those who have signed up as members of NBGA. If
you know of growers who would be interested in joining, please have
them drop a line or make a quick phone call. There is no charge to join.
In the past
many non-members were included on the mailing list, but we have had to
drop people who never responded. We also limit newsletter circulation
to the Northeast.People elsewhere are welcome to read the newsletter on
the web site.
We have
members who are growers, processors/seed industry and extension. The
complete list is distributed to members annually.