Going to put in a small wheat patch next season - weed control?

[jcraftenworth]

Hey all, I planted a few rows of heirloom italian wheat and some ethiopian barley and saved the seed this season. Next season I should have enough for a patch of wheat/small grains. Was just wondering how to approach weed control on the small scale without the use of sprays. Is ideal small grain spacing wide enough to safely cultivate between rows using the smallest cultivator shovels? Or is it general practice to get the grains off to the best start possible and then just to use a fanning mill to separate the weed seeds later? I'm sure I'll be harvesting weeds and my small grains either way, was just wondering how best to go about it.

 

[CADplans]

Our neighbor raised hundreds of acres of seed wheat,,, and seed soybeans,,
They had no problem walking the fields and hand pulling the weeds.

They also rotated crops so that weeds were destroyed in off seasons.

 

[Fossil Farm]

On that small of a scale, a good burn will help if you are able to do one. Won't get rid of all the weeds (there are thousands of weed seeds in the ground), but it would help. Drilling the grain helps with weeds and is also done because the crop can handle crowding. Soybeans used to be rowed (some still do) because of the concern of crowding, but over the years it has been shown that drilling beans works just fine and yields are still good. You could still row the heirloom seed if you want to cultivate between the rows. Should still be close enough to pollinate the crop. Good luck.

 

[jcraftenworth]

is moldboard plowing in the spring a good idea? maybe take some surface weeds and invert them towards the bottom?

 

[bigtiller]

is moldboard plowing in the spring a good idea? maybe take some surface weeds and invert them towards the bottom?

I never pass up a chance to plow but doing it for weed control is futile. Some seeds can lay dormant for many years, some even 50 years. So plowing just brings up weeds that haven't been seen for for awhile.

The oldest documented germinating seed was nearly 2000 years old based on radiocarbon dating.

Seed dormancy - Wikipedia