Sowing triticale is similar to growing grass from seed. Rake the soil, spread the seeds, and rake the soil again. You want the seeds lightly covered to prevent birds from eating them. The best part of growingcovercrops is that they are low maintenance. I am super excited to growTriticale this year and take a step into grinding my own flour and grain. I've never been disappointed with any of the MIgardener seed and look forward to an amazing harvest! Green Manure: When triticale is grown as a covercrop and later incorporated into the soil, it acts as a green manure. Green manure crops contribute organic matter, release nutrients, and improve soil structure. You can use winter triticale as a covercrop and grow it for use as green manure to add nutrients and organic material into the soil while preventing weeds from moving in. Covercrops have gained in popularity with many home gardeners. crops/crop-production/growing-triticale 85 S Bassu, S Asseng, R Richards (2011) Yield benefits of triticale traits for wheat under current and future climates. Field Crops Research, 124 (1), 14–24. He adds that, though the spring-planted triticale doesn't add a lot of biomass to the soil, it has value as a covercrop for all types of farms –organic or conventional. "In mainstream cropping systems, you've got these extended periods where there's nothing growing on the landscape... HomeAdvance CoverCrops – CoverCrops – Grass And Cereals – Triticale.Triticale is a mix between wheat and a cereal rye plant. As far as amount of growth it is very similar to that of a cereal rye plant, growing three to five feet in height. In the United States, triticale was mainly grown for animal feed (Blount et al., 2017b). It has only recently become popular as a forage and covercrop. The Southern Great Plains and the West Coast constitute a large proportion of the country’s triticale acreage. If you intend to leave the covercrop until later in the spring, increase the legume compo-nent of the mix and let it grow into the spring (May-June is typical) for more nitrogen. Triticale heads after rye and barley and before wheat and spelt. Growing grains as a covercrop provides other options such as forage for animals or food for people. We strive to offer varieties that give gardeners flexibility on how to best utilize the crop: for food, forage, or green manure. Wheat and its close relatives are common covercrops in the Northeast. They are winter-hardy and are often found in rotation schedules with vegetable crops to prevent winter soil erosion. These small grains are good for reducing root rot in vegetables. » Time covercrop termination based on goals and experience level. To reduce potential negative impacts on cash crops, consider terminating earlier in the season when conditions are dry or when. Triticale is part of this 12-species covercrop mix. Triticale, what I have dubbed as ‘The Wonder Grain’, is a grain developed in the late 1800s in Scotland by crossing wheat and rye. This unique and valuable grain has many uses, including as a covercrop, grinding into flour, and growing indoors as grass or sprouts. It is ideal as a winter or cool-season covercrop, as it can survive frosts and grow into early spring. Forage Value - Farmers often use triticale as a dual-purpose covercrop for livestock foraging.
