🌾 Barley
Field Crops · growing reference
| Days to maturity | 50 days – 90 days, by type |
|---|---|
| Germination | 7 days |
| Planted as | lb |
| Water | ~0.60–1 in a week |
When to plant
In USDA zone 6, for example: Plant around Mar 18 — as soon as the ground can be worked.
| Spring | Fall | |
|---|---|---|
| Zone 3 | Apr 17 | Sep 6 |
| Zone 4 | Apr 9 | Sep 11 |
| Zone 5 | Mar 29 | Sep 24 |
| Zone 6 | Mar 18 | Oct 6 |
| Zone 7 | Mar 4 | Oct 27 |
| Zone 8 | Feb 15 | Nov 11 |
| Zone 9 | Jan 23 | Nov 26 |
Dates are the typical window for each zone's average frost dates — your own last frost can differ by a couple of weeks. Zone 10 and warmer is effectively frost-free: plant to the season, not the frost. Southern Hemisphere: shift six months.
Barley Uses
- Grain · 90 days · 15–30 lbs/plant — Run to ripe grain — malting, food (hulless), or feed. Sow spring (or fall in mild zones).
- Forage · 60 days · 100–200 lbs of hay/plant — Cut for hay or graze at the boot stage — soft, leafy, high-quality.
- Cover · 50 days · 30–60 lbs of green manure/plant — Quick nurse/cover — fast biomass and weed suppression; terminate before it heads.
🌱 Five Acres of Freedom — plan a year's food, map
your land to scale, and keep every homestead record. The numbers on
this page are the same ones the app plans with.
🍏 Download on the App Store
📱 On Android? Join the waitlist