Winter Barley v's Winter Wheat

[Selectamatic]

Those of you that know what i get up to will know that i'm very small scale in the scheme of things... bear that in mind when you read this!

I grow a small amount of corn each year, barley, we are talking 5 acres ish, selling the barley and small straw bales. Ive got all my own kit and dont really put a value on my own time.

I had in my head that i was going to grow some winter barley this year, until a friend suggested i grow winter wheat, he would buy it, at whatever the going rate is at the time its harvested, as i currently do with the barley.

Now, my barley is fairly low input, sown with a combined drill it gets a bit of fert down the spout, it would get a dose of nitrogen to get it going in spring, and a simple spray to keep it clean.

Question is, could i do the same with wheat? just a bit of fert and spray as needed, or is wheat a far more involved crop than barley all in all.

I've never grown wheat, as all my customers wanted feed barley... until now! Ive often thought about it, looks like the time has come!

 

[eagleye]

bit more nitrogen needed and more fungicide sprays.
lots on here could be more specific

 

[robbie]

If you put all the talk about black grass to one side then wheat can be grown relatively cheaply.

Start with a very disease resistant variety like Theodore,extase, Graham or even siskin and I dont see why a couple of cheap fungicides at T1 and flag leaf wouldnt be sufficient.

N requirements would be nearly double spring barley and about a 1/4 to 1/3 more than winter barley.

Blw control will be the same as for your barley but with more choice and theres some products that will do blw's and some grasses in one hit at handy money.
If your used to spring barley, bare in mind that wheat will be in the ground a lot longer so will have a greater weed burden in the spring if nothing is applied in the autumn.

 

[Brisel]

Wheat is higher input but also higher output and grown properly, will have a better net margin. There's a big BUT here. If it's the same 5 acres every year, it's not that easy to grow wheat continuously on the same site, especially on light land as it is prone to a soil disease called take all. Continuous winter barley won't get so much take all but you will get other diseases and weeds building up if you do the same thing year after year, hence crop rotations.

Wheat has a higher feed value than barley but the straw is worth less.

 

[SilliamWhale]

I grow both all the time and despite the better demand for straw, earlier harvest and the lower fungicide use I still wish all my winter barley was winter wheat most of the time

 

[DanniAgro]

If you're selling the grain, remember that this year the price of barley is a lot lower than wheat - about £30 a ton. This makes a huge difference to the bottom line.

 

[AndrewM]

Get a nice disease resistant variety. Sow October, this gets you a bit lower disease and aphid pressure than September, pre-em herbicide. Take your chance with aphids and bydv. Probably 2 splits of n end-feb/early March + mid April. 200kgn/ha
T1 spray april fungicide pgr herbicide.
T2 spray may, fungicide + what other problems are left.
Needs to be in rotation with cereal break crops. That's probably about as minimal as you can get. Not sure what the disease pressure is in your area, but might be worth a decent t2 fungicide spend.