Description:

• Buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) is a fast-growing, summer annual broadleaf native to northern Asia.
  
• Most often grown as a seasonal cover crop, for food, as livestock feed, or as a pollen source for honey bees.
  
• About 14,900 seeds per pound
  
• There is no official bushel weight but it can vary between 40 to 50 pounds per bushel.
  
• Yields range from 500 to 2,000 pounds an acre in Wisconsin and Minnesota.

Management considerations:

• Buckwheat grows best on well-drained but not droughty soils.
  
• It tolerates slightly wet soils
  
• Does not require high fertility but will benefit from modest levels of nitrogen.
  
• Can be double cropped after an early spring crop such as oats or used as an emergency late-season crop.
  
• Provides excellent weed suppression.
  
• An excellent green manure plowdown producing a significant amount of organic matter in a short period of time.
  
• Improves soil tilth and moisture-holding capacity of the soil.
  
• Scavenges phosphorus and converts it to a form that is available to the succeeding crop.
  
• Has the potential to become a volunteer weed problem in following crops.
  
• Avoid fields where residual broadleaf herbicides have been applied in recent months as it is sensitive to atrazine, trifluralin, and sulfonylurea herbicides.

Optimum Planting Dates:

• Buckwheat is not frost tolerant so cannot be planted in early spring.
  
• For grain it is best planted into warm soil between May 25th and June 15th. The later buckwheat is planted, the faster it will mature.
  
• The percentage of flowers that develop into seeds increases if flowering occurs during cooler periods. Night temperatures appear to be more important for yield than day temperatures.
  
• As a cover crop, it can be planted after May 25th to about six to eight weeks before the first killing frost.

Seeding Recommendations:

• Plant 50 to 100 pounds per acre. Use the lower amount for grain production and higher amount for cover crop. Seeding too much increases chances of lodging and reduces seed production.
  
• For maximum yields drill in 6 inch rows about 1 inch deep.
  
• May be broadcast and covered by lightly dragging the soil. Use higher seeding rates when broadcasting.

Fertilization:

(Consider a soil test and contact your fertilizer professional for your specific needs):

• When double cropping buckwheat after a small grain some supplemental nitrogen fertilizer will probably be needed. About 50 pounds per acre of nitrogen is generally adequate. Higher rates of nitrogen can cause lodging.
  
• If the soil is low in phosphorous (P) or potassium (K), a little additional P and/or K should be added.
  
• Buckwheat is tolerant of acid soils, down to about 5.5 pH.

Weed and Disease Control:

(This is not intended as a recommendation or endorsement of any specific product but as a list of possible controls. Please contact your chemical professional for your specific needs and always read and follow label directions):

• Buckwheat’s rapid growth and ability to out-compete weeds generally allow it to be grown for grain without post-emergence herbicides.
  
• Wait a couple of weeks after small grain harvest if double cropping; this allows volunteer crop and weeds to emerge so that a burndown herbicide such as glyphosate can be applied.
  
• If compaction is a concern or herbicides are being avoided, pre-plant tillage should be used to control early weeds and prepare a relatively fine seedbed.
  
• Buckwheat is relatively disease and pest free. Pollinators including honey bees will be present during flowering.
  
• Wet conditions can cause seedling or root rot disease on rare occasions.

Harvest Considerations:

• When used as a cover crop, it should be incorporated or killed soon after flowering begins to avoid volunteer seeding.
  
• Because buckwheat seeds mature at different times, it should be swathed when about 75% of seeds are brown and allowed to ripen in the windrow for a few days before combining.
  
• Frost can accelerate seed shattering and can make the stalks more prone to lodging.

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