Buckwheat

Each year I plant some food plots for the wildlife, mainly deer, as a way to keep them from eating my wife's hostas and day lilies. This year I planted some of the food plots with buckwheat (Fagopyrum esculentum) which the deer consider as a salad or appetizer before the main course in my wife's flower garden.

I would like to show some pictures of the buckwheat plant, but the deer have trimmed the plants of most of their leaves and mowed the stalks to a height of 8 to 10 inches.



Despite the name, buckwheat is not related to wheat, instead it is related to sorrel, knotweed, and rhubarb.

Buckwheat is a short season crop that can grow in 10 to 12 weeks and does not like frost. Buckwheat was a common crop in the 18th and 19th centuries, but declined sharply in the 20th century and was replaced with corn and wheat. Buckwheat is still grown for flour used in pancakes and to produce a dark-colored honey.