Malting Barley Lodging Due to Heavy Rain, May 15, 2011

Last night we experienced prolonged heavy rains in our part of Northern Virginia. This morning the malting barley plot had lodged badly -- the nearly full-sized grass stalks bent over, mainly due to the beating of the rain and added weight of the water clinging to them. By this afternoon some of the stalks had begun to right themselves, but then we experienced another deluge around dinner time. If we don't get some good, dry weather and a little luck then the production from the plot may be impacted pretty badly. Harvest should be just under a month away.

Malting Barley: May 9, 2011

The barley heads are becoming more prominent. The grass is between 2 feet and 2.5 feet tall. Just a month until harvest.

Emerging Barley Grain Heads, May 2, 2011

All is well in the malting barley patch.

In the last couple of days the barley grain has started to emerge from the folds of the barley grass leaves. The awns (the hair-like spikes that form the ends of the husk of each piece of grain) are evident.

The plot is also getting some pressure from a type of climbing vine that encircles individual barley stalks and will bend them over and smother them if not addressed. On the very small scale that I have planted I simply wade into the barley and disentangle the affected stalks and pull the vines out by the roots. This will be ongoing until harvest, if history is a judge. I don't need to kill every one of these vines, but I do need to make sure they do not get so abundant that they pull the barley over and smother it, which would greatly reduce harvest.







My dog also wallowed around in a tiny part of the plot and bent the stalks over (lodged them). That part of the plot will now produce much less barley (photo below). This photo was taken the morning he did it, about 5 days ago. The section has perked up a little since then, as you can see in one of the other pictures.

It has been a very wet spring with twice weekly rain. I think this is good for the barley. It looks great.

Barley in Spring, April 21, 2011

The barley is really growing now that the weather is warmer here in northern Virginia. It is patchier than I would like and there are some tall weeds (more than I remember in past years, but I could have a faulty memory), but the barley grass seems to be growing higher and faster than the weeds and is soon going to be eclipsing them all. We have had consistent rains over the spring. The tassels have not yet emerged from the tops of the barley stalks, but the stalks have nodules and separate leaves are emerging from curls in the barley grass. This is where the tassels will first become visible.

Harvest should be around June 10.

April Fools Day Malting Barley

The barley is really starting to grow. We have had relatively cool weather (low 40s at night, 50s during the day) frequent rain and drizzle. The barley looks lush and seems to be thriving.

Hail

We got lashings of pea-sized hail just before sun up on March 21. The barley does not seem to have been effected at all.

Barley Malting Spring Growth, March 15, 2011

The malting barley plot is perking up . There have been a few nice days in the low 60s and plenty of rain. The barley grass is noticeably greener than the adjacent grass lawn. It is also growing and the brown tips are being superceded by green. If all goes well, harvest in about 90 days.