When Is the Best Time to Sow Wheat? Remember These Dates and You Won't Go Wrong

Countries in Asia mostly rely on rice as their staple food, while countries in Europe and America mostly use wheat-based foods such as bread and sandwiches as their staple food. In China's northern regions, wheat is also widely eaten. So when is wheat generally sown? Below is a summary of the specific sowing times for wheat. Remember these sowing times and you won't go wrong!

1. A Brief Introduction to Wheat

1. Wheat is its botanical name and also the collective name for plants of the wheat genus. It is also commonly called bran wheat, floating wheat, hollow wheat and so on, and is one of the world's three major grains. Wheat was the first grain cultivated in China, and was later gradually spread to Korea, Japan and Europe and America.

2. Wheat is a clumping plant with upright stalks. Each wheat ear contains 3 to 9 florets. Mature wheat grains are flat and somewhat like small shells, while milled wheat flour is white.

3. Wheat seeds are rich in nutrients such as starch, protein, carbohydrates, fat, crude fiber and amino acids. Besides supplementing some of the nutrients the human body needs daily, they can also be used as medicine to treat athlete's foot and night sweats, relieve menopausal symptoms, and even be processed into livestock feed. In addition, regularly eating whole wheat also has a certain effect in preventing and treating breast cancer.

2. When Is Wheat Sown

As one of the most widely cultivated grain crops, wheat's sowing times for winter wheat and spring wheat vary greatly from region to region!

1. Spring wheat is mostly planted in regions with severe winter cold after the beginning of spring. China's spring wheat areas are mainly distributed north of the Great Wall, where there is one harvest per year. The main production areas of spring wheat include Heilongjiang, Hebei, Tianjin, Xinjiang, Gansu and Inner Mongolia. Spring wheat is generally sown after the Spring Festival each year, roughly from March to April,

2. Winter wheat, on the other hand, is the opposite of spring wheat and is planted in areas south of the Great Wall. Its main production areas include Henan, Shandong, Shaanxi, Shaanxi, Sichuan, Anhui and Hubei, and it is generally sown from September to October each year. Among these:

(1) Northern and western Henan is suitable for sowing in early October, the central and northeastern regions are suitable for sowing in mid-October, and the southwestern and southern regions can choose to sow successively in late October.

(2) Tangshan and Langfang in northern Hebei are suitable for sowing in early October, Baoding and Cangzhou in the central region are suitable for sowing in mid-October, and Handan and Xingtai in the south are suitable for sowing starting in late October.

(3) In Shandong, the central and eastern regions such as Yantai and Jinan can start sowing in early October, while the western, northern and southern regions are suitable for sowing starting in mid-October.

3. When Is Wheat Harvested

Generally, after wheat is planted, it can mature and be harvested in four to eight months. So when are winter wheat and spring wheat harvested?

1. Spring wheat has a relatively short growing period. From sowing to harvesting it takes only 90 to 100 days, and harvesting generally begins successively in late July.

2. The growth cycle of winter wheat is much longer than that of spring wheat, lasting about 230 days. It is generally sown in September or October of the previous year and cannot be harvested until May or June of the following year.

The above are some of the sowing and harvesting times for wheat, which wheat growers can refer to. Of course, sowing times will vary slightly each year due to climate and weather, so actual conditions should prevail!