Description

While buckwheat looks and acts much like other grains, it is technically not a grain, but rather an annual broadleafed, warm season plant.  It has an upright plant structure. It has excellent weed suppression abilities because when planted during optimal time frames (summer or when average soil temperature is 50 F minimum) its quick emergence (3-7 days) and fast leaf canopy development (1 month) prohibits many weeds from growing.  Note this means that the weeds do not grow during that season – it does not mean that the weed seeds are not still in the ground and able to grow at another time.  Buckwheat is well known as a pollinator plant, providing nectar for a wide array of pollinators.  Its quick growth pattern can be used for emergency forage for grazing animals.  Buckwheat is useful for erosion control and to provide organic matter to the soil.  Buckwheat is a typical component of Cover Crop Cocktails.

Buckwheat makes a dense, fibrous root structure that is especially adapted to mining phosphorous and making it more available to subsequent crops. Buckwheat is not as drought tolerant as some cover crops so it does best in locations with some irrigation available.

C:N ratio: Leaf 8-10:1, Stem 12-32:1, Root 28-47:1