Buckwheat is an environmentally friendly product. She is very nutritious and healthy. This cereal is ideal for diabetics and diet lovers. Buckwheat is considered a national Russian dish. Although it was first cultivated, it began about forty centuries ago. And not in Russia. Buckwheat was brought into our country much later. Since then, in Russia this cereal has always been grown as a food product. And in most countries it is considered animal feed (deer, horses and others).
How did buckwheat get on Russian fields?
The history of buckwheat begins in India and Nepal. It was there that they began to grow it for the first time. Then the seeds of this culture were brought to China, then to Korea and Japan. And only after these countries buckwheat came to Russia. First to the Far East. In Russia, the assessment of the usefulness and nutritional value of buckwheat for humans was the highest. As a result, this culture gained the greatest distribution precisely on the Russian fields.
In which countries are buckwheat grown?
Where does buckwheat grow in the world? As already mentioned above, the cultivation of this crop began about four thousand years ago, in India. Buckwheat seeds came to Russian fields much later. They were brought around the seventh century. Now almost half of the buckwheat harvest in the whole world falls on Russia. This crop is grown in large quantities in several other countries: Belarus, China and Ukraine.
In small quantities, buckwheat is sown in several more countries. For example, in the USA, Tanzania, Poland, France and some other states. In ancient times, buckwheat was sown in England and Wales, but the attitude towards it has changed for a long time. They began to consider it a forage crop. And therefore, in the UK, buckwheat is no longer grown at all.
Where is buckwheat grown in Russia?
Where does buckwheat grow in Russia? The main regions that cultivate this crop are Transbaikalia, South Siberia, and the Far East. But this culture grows best in the Volga and Urals, in the south of Russia.
What does buckwheat look like during growth?
The sight of flowering fields sown with buckwheat is impossible to forget. As buckwheat grows, the photo clearly demonstrates. A field with a flowering crop looks like a green juicy mass, the top of which is covered with pink flowers. And in a full range of shades of this color. As buckwheat ripens, its stems and leaves acquire an increasingly saturated green color, and the inflorescences themselves can reach a bright red hue.
Where can buckwheat be grown?
How does buckwheat grow? This is a somewhat moody culture. She is afraid of cold weather (although there are frost-resistant varieties). Buckwheat has learned to deal with this feature for a long time. Firstly, they grow it where the climate is warm. Secondly, they sow this culture later than everyone else. When guaranteed to set in warm weather.
Buckwheat grows only in moist soil. And the fields should be surrounded by forest. It protects the culture from cold snap, strong winds and drought. Near the field, it is necessary that there is a river or water stream, in which buckwheat grows. In this case, the harvest will always be plentiful.
Buckwheat does not like a very high temperature (from thirty degrees). The ideal temperature during flowering is from fifteen to seventeen degrees. The earth should be well warmed up, and the fields should receive sufficient lighting.
Honey culture
Buckwheat is a unique honey plant. It is most useful than honey obtained from any other plants. In addition, when flowering in the fields there are always a lot of bees that can, with the help of pollination, increase the yield by more than half. Therefore, apiaries are often arranged along the edges of buckwheat fields and hives with bees are planted.
Many beekeepers try to grow buckwheat in their areas, knowing that honey turns out to be very tasty and has special useful qualities - disinfecting and healing. In France, buckwheat is eaten little. But they grow it more for honey, which is very much appreciated.
How does buckwheat grow?
If all the favorable conditions for the growth of buckwheat are met, then shoots appear already at the end of the first week after planting. How does buckwheat grow? First, small green shoots appear. In the second week, the first leaves are formed. Twelve days later, the second.
At the same time, branches with buds form. Buckwheat begins to bloom in three weeks. At first, her flowers are pale pink or white. During the ripening period, they gradually acquire more saturated colors. Also, the stems with leaves become darker.
Fertilizers
How does buckwheat grow, does it need fertilizer? Buckwheat is unique not only for its usefulness and honey, but also for the fact that this culture does not need fertilizers. They can even ruin her. Buckwheat to chemical fertilizers is especially capricious. Although they are sometimes used to obtain high yields.
Fertilizers are applied for crops during flowering crops. Nitrogen must be accurately calculated and used with great care, so as not to lead to a sharp increase in buckwheat. This culture, unlike others, already has a solid vegetative mass.
Buckwheat differs from many plants in its growth - the process occurs constantly, until the grains fully ripen. This crop is positive for phosphate and potash fertilizers. But buckwheat does not recognize pesticides. It is unfavorable for genetic experiments.
What does buckwheat look like during growth?
What does buckwheat look like when it grows? Buckwheat has an erect green stem. When the plant ripens completely, its flowers turn bright red. In the core, the leaves are undeveloped, triangular, partially painted green. The upper ones are sessile, and the lower ones are petiolate.
Shades of inflorescences - from white to pink (any intensity). Flowers have five petals. Inflorescence - in the form of a brush, numbering up to two thousand flowers in one plant. Buckwheat can produce even two crops each summer.
When is the crop harvested?
Unripe buckwheat kernels are green. They taste like hazelnuts. Brown color (which people are used to seeing buckwheat in stores) is acquired in conditions of intensive industrial processing. Buckwheat is still raw and then thoroughly dried. This is done to increase the shelf life of buckwheat. Unfortunately, some of the useful properties are lost.
