Trying Out Barley!

This year for the first time Dave decided on planting Barley! He selected Thoroughbred Barley which is a 6-row barley know for its its high yield qualities and its high straw strength. Thoroughbred Barley may be known in other parts of the country as winter barley because of its known suitability for the winter weather of the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern Regions of the United States. The Plot we picked out for it was the old cut flowers plot next to the High Tunnel. This area is about 1,500 sq. ft. which is plenty of space for planting the barley.

Over the course of the winter months here in Anne Arundel County we received moderate snowfall and cold temperatures but the barley was able to continue its growth through that time after ebing planted in October of 2024. Other than occasional fertilization for additional nutrients the Barley was left on its own accord to grow. Eventually towards the end of March and early April the barley began the most notable growth. It continued to grow until mid-May when it started to “brown-up” and dry out.

The Harvest began on June 5th. Dave and Mike did not have any machinery suitable for harvesting so we ended up using this first day as a test run for trying out different methods of harvesting. What we eventually came up with was using a sickle to cut the barley below the spike and drop the barley into a crate. This crate needed to have holes on the bottom of it so that we could break apart the Awns from the spike. This crate was then placed on top of a wheel barrow so that we could rub the spikes on the bottom of the crate and the awns would fall through the bottom of the crate and into the wheelbarrow for easy collection.

On June 12th Extension Volunteer Brian Hufker joined Dave and Mike, to harvest the Thoroughbred Barley. Before we began harvesting Dave used a pushmower and cut 6 rows into the barley for the planting of sunflowers, 4 rows in the middle and 2 on the end. What was left over was 5 rows of barley still standing. After this was done, Brian and Mike were able to harvest 12 pounds of barley in about 3 hours of work and from 1 row of barley. All in all not bad for 3 hours work. The Pictures below is the progress from start to finish, from tilling to harvesting.