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[Radium]

Hello,
I was keeping an eye on these bunch in the field since they were seedlings, and thought they're phalaris.
But today I checked them again, and saw these big long wheat looking seed magazines.
Is it possible for any wheat to be harvest-ready in less than 2 months??
The seeds are still fresh, a little soft, and very tasty.
I just chew them raw, with their skin.
I will save most of them though, for a future crop of this valuable dudes.

I would be happy if someone be able to identify this fella.

2 Likes ONandONandON and AcaciaAve like this.

[BubbleCat]

Its world famous barley !  With about 110 days it has the shortest turn around of all crops Eating as is is a waste.

1 Like Radium likes this.

[Radium]

Its world famous barley !  With about 110 days it has the shortest turn around of all crops Eating as is is a waste.

Why is it waste to eat it as it is? it is so soft and yummy.

I have always been a fan of barley and considered it superior to wheat, but didn't know how the plant looks. until now.
So this might be a special variety of barley, capable of producing mature seeds in exactly 22+31 = 51 days!
Wow, just 51 days since these fellas sprouted! and now they are offering food to me!
I must conserve these guys and spread their seeds around the world.
These can help the food problem for a lot of people.
Because they mature too fast,
And also require just one rainfall to sprout>grow>mature. (we just had one mediocre rainfall in that 51 days period since they sprouted).

Another thing that amazes me, is that I've also found some of these fellas grown on my hanging container, located at 40 meters high from the ground!
So barley seeds (in their natural shape and form, with the long stinger tail attached) must be able to fly on wind to very tall heights without any problem. just wow!

Since I can't afford shipping to many people, I will ship some of the seeds to some of you, like kind fairdinkumseeds, and I'm sure they will keep sharing the love.

All wars are fought over resources.
Only when we end the resource problem, can we end the wars forever.
Energy, food, women!!!, land, etc.
My country (Iran) is mainly consisted of vast open plains with very little rainfall.
And there are many many plant species out there (even our scientific people just call all of them "weeds"...) which are capable of finishing an entire growing cycle in just a bunch of weeks, requiring only one splash of rainfall.
Unfortunately, no-one here cares to explore and study these hard-to-survive plains for potential new friends.
People are too busy bribing, cheating, stealing, and lying, to gain a few bucks to fill their stomachs.
Iran has become a pyramid of corruptness.
From top to bottom, everyone must be corrupt to survive.
And there's no time for science and research in this system, because nobody cares, and thus there's no money in it.
Ah, I wish I could exit this country ASAP, and go a liberal country where people care about society, law, and science.

1 Like Frog Pajamas likes this.

[BubbleCat]

There is infact a lot of top level research that has been done on producing most nutritional valua in short time, just a few problems for example: Sustainable monocultures, does the soil take them ? And: Meat, im not a vegetarian but I only eat what I have raised, earth could easily feed everyone even without further deforestration if some people would not insist on eating meat on a daily basis at low cost, they even dont care about quality anymore. All the soy and the like that is fed to livestock could feed several times as many people as the livestock will do, also it vomes with further environmental and health problems. Meat wastes protein and calories at high rates, i think pork takes 3 times the calories, beef 10 times, Eggs 4 Milk 5 ... Distribution is a problem too, many people live in places where neither rice, wheat, barley, soy ... will grow.

I have always been interested in sustaining myself without help, at least being able to do so, and luckily I can say I can completely serve my nutritional needs with things I fund and eat or conserve dor winter.

Eating barley is a waste because it makes malt and malt makes whisky and beer

[Auxin]

I smell a Luke Bryan fan.

Rain makes corn, corn makes whiskey
Whiskey makes my baby, feel a little frisky
...Rain is a good thing!

When you said it produced in 51 days, is that 51 days from the day you noticed it and suspected it was Phalaris, or 51 days from sprouting?
Its good to hear that barley will normally produce in 110 days from planting, I didnt know that. Could it fit between crops of winter wheat or winter rye?
Lately I've been pondering if I could produce all my own food on site. It would be trivially easy to produce everything but my grains in my current garden but I should have a backup plan for the day when I cant go to the store and buy rice, barley, and flour.

1 Like fairdinkumseeds likes this.

[Radium]

Our calendar is solar based, and the new year starts just at the first day of spring.
At the first day of string, the ground was all empty, no sign of life on it.
Then a couple days later there was rain.
And after a week the first green sprouts could be observed.
So this barley had matured in 51 days at maximum (would be even lower).

1 Like fairdinkumseeds likes this.

[dragibus]

According to this site http://www.heirloom-organics.com/guide/va/guidetogrowingbarley.html thier barley takes about 60 days.  Ive never thought of growing barley before, but it looks like it might be a interesting winter crop for my area.  If you down to send some seeds to the US, id love to try some of your wild barley

[Auxin]

That site must assume people are horrible at storing seeds, it says barley seeds have a shelf life of 2 years. 
This is from the scientific literature:
"90% germination following 110 years hermetic storage at 3.1% mc with 10-15°C" (Steiner & Ruckenbauer,1995)

[BubbleCat]

Who stored barley seeds a 110 + years ago, in an hermetic enclosure ? or do they use artificial aging after experimentally finding a formula for the math ?

[Auxin]

Friedrich Haberlandt
Its from a journal article titled Germination of 110-year-old cereal and weed seeds, the Vienna Sample of 1877. Verification of effective ultra-dry storage at ambient temperature
Basically, in the late 1800's hermetic ultra-dry seed storage was discovered and so Friedrich Haberlandt started his own experiment. But then he promptly died and (lucky for us) his experiment was forgotten in a basement for 110 years. It was then tested and the barley, oats, white mustard, and weeds in his flame sealed vials all showed high germination.

3 Likes TBM, fairdinkumseeds and BubbleCat like this.

[TBM]

It must be an interesting experience to reintroduce older genetics into the gene pool again, I wonder how much (if at all) the genetics of those plants changed over 110 years.

[Radium]

Here are the pics of the fellas growing on my hanging container 40 meters above ground.
The most interesting part is, during their whole lifetime, these ones didn't receive any direct water at all.
No rainfall could reach the container (because of the ceiling), and I didn't water that container either.
It was an idle container of mine, which I hadn't planted anything in it, and just let it sit idle and empty.
So these ones are the hardiest of them all, they can fly, and they can grow without any water (and remember, the air here is anything but humid!).
An undisputed winner.
I've harvested the seeds, and will send them to anyone interested to grow them.
They might look a little wimpy and small, but just imagine how these dudes could be if they received a little bit of water.
PM me if you're interested to grow this badass survivor.

[Auxin]

For the sake of book-keeping this bloodline deserves a unique name.
I propose:
Hordeum vulgare 'Uranium', Iranian Landrace Barley

2 Likes happyconcacti and Radium like this.

[BubbleCat]

I feel tempted sealing ultra dry containers of every seed I have excess, so maybe one day, in like 110 years ...
Most poppies make it around 80 years dormant already, and they do well in dry conditions, will be interesting

2 Likes TBM and happyconcacti like this.

[TBM]

^In a way that would be like making a "Seed Bank Time Capsule". That would be a fun idea, it would be a history lesson in and of itself to whoever opens it up