How to Grow Barley Grass: A Detailed Guide to Planting Methods and Key Techniques

Barley grass is the seedling of barley, a plant in the grass family, and is rich in vitamins, minerals and protein, so how do you grow barley grass?

1. What is barley grass?

Barley is an annual herb with thick, smooth, hairless, upright stems reaching 50-100cm tall. The leaf sheaths are loose and clasp the stem; the auricles on both sides are relatively large; the ligule is membranous, 1-2mm long; the leaf blades are flat, 9-20cm long and 6-20mm wide. The spike is 3-8cm long (excluding the awns) and about 1.5cm in diameter, with dense spikelets, each node bearing 3 developed spikelets; the spikelets are usually sessile, 1-1.5cm long (excluding the awns); the glumes are linear-lanceolate, slightly short-pubescent, with tips extending into 8-14mm awns.

The lemma is hairless on the back, has 5 veins, and its tip extends into an awn; the awn is 8-15cm long with fine prickles along the edges, and the palea is equal in length to the lemma. The caryopsis has a longitudinal groove or indentation on the ventral side, with short pubescence at the tip, and adheres to the lemma at maturity, making it difficult to separate, though some cultivated varieties separate easily. The flowering period is March to April, and the fruiting period is April to May.

2. How do you grow barley grass?

Soak healthy, disease-free barley for about 8 hours, then scoop it out and spread it flat on a plate lined with paper, cover it with a wet paper towel or wet cloth, and the barley will sprout and grow; generally after 5 days it can be exposed to light, and within a few more days the barley grass will have grown.

3. Planting precautions

1. Seed selection: sowing requires clean, plump barley seeds, so the seeds bought from the market must be sorted; the method is to remove impurities from the bought seeds before soaking, and discard those with mold spots or defects on the surface.

2. Soaking method: soak the selected plump barley seeds in clean water; the water temperature for soaking can be set according to the season. In winter the water temperature should be 40°C, while in other seasons the soaking water temperature can be lower, room temperature is fine. The soaking time is 12 hours in winter and 6-8 hours in summer, while in spring and autumn about 10 hours is enough. During soaking, the seeds should be rinsed; rinse 2 times in summer, and 1 time in other seasons.