Wheatgrass herb: description, agricultural technology and medicinal properties

The wheatgrass grass has more than a dozen species, but everyone knows exactly creeping, or, as it is called, dog grass. Cats and dogs really love to chew it, especially when young leaves have just appeared. And for livestock, gray wheatgrass is the best food. But the person is constantly struggling with this. weedconsidering it harmful.

Content:

• Features of wheatgrass grass, distribution zone
• Conditions for growing wheatgrass
• Reproduction methods, planting a plant
• Wheat grass care recommendations
• Useful properties of the plant and its use in medicine

Features of wheatgrass grass, distribution zone

The bluegrass family is represented by a huge number of plants, from cereals, fodder grains, to weedy representatives, which include wheatgrass, although it is part of the diet of domestic animals.

Features of the structure of the grass:

• In appearance, the grass is distinguished by narrow leaf plates of all shades of green, in some species with a slightly bluish bloom.
• Parallel veins are laid along the leaf, the stalk of the cereal looks like a hollow straw, rising from forty to one hundred centimeters in height.
• Root system it is fibrous in appearance, grows to a depth of 15 centimeters, and the length can reach hundreds of kilometers on one hectare with tens of millions of buds located on the rhizomes.
• In summer, the panicle of the plant is covered with nondescript pale flowers, which from mid-summer to September turn into mature grains covered with a film.
• In terms of fertility, the herb surpasses many of its relatives: up to ten thousand fruits can be harvested from one spikelet.

The main feature of wheatgrass is its vitality: it is not afraid of cold, drought, and is extremely hardy. Falling even in unfavorable soil, its seeds remain viable for up to ten years, waiting for good conditions for growth. Already at a low air temperature, about zero degrees, the weed begins to germinate, and when over thirty heat, it develops at an amazing speed.

The plant can be found everywhere, even in the northern hemisphere: on the sides of dusty roads and in manicured gardens, in thickets and on wastelands.

He loves well-moisturized, humus-rich soils. These include marshy or loose sandy soil. In the old days, the plant was called the creeping fire of the fields, because the farmers could not cope with the weeds, which prevented them from obtaining rich harvests of wheat, rye, constantly multiplying and destroying the crops.

Conditions for growing wheatgrass

The main condition for the unlimited growth of wheatgrass is loose, moist soils. And if it rains from April to July, then the rhizomes of the plant begin to multiply wildly, become juicy, white. Each part of the root system grows for some time close to the ground, spreads, and then, bending upwards, gives life to a new wheatgrass. Even breaking the rhizome weed shovel while digging, you cannot hope that he will die. From the buds on the adventitious roots, a new grass begins to grow.

The resistance of wheatgrass to diseases, frost, drought and other stressful situations allowed it to be crossed with wheat, a distant relative of the plant.

Thus, new varieties of cereals appeared, which were successfully tested on virgin lands in arid regions of Kazakhstan. Sandy soils and dunes in the Baltic republics strengthen the sitnikovy type of grass.

We can say about creeping grass that it loves to fill all the lands, absorbing a large amount of minerals necessary for nutrition, releasing elements into the soil that do not give life to the cultivated species of the plant world. But after five years of existence in one place, wheatgrass itself leads to self-poisoning by phenols, and it leaves it, opening new areas of growth.

From the point of view of botanists, this weed is one of the most amazing, adapted to life in any conditions, always emerging victorious in the battle with man.

Reproduction methods, planting

Recently, many farmers are sowing wheatgrass in their fields as an excellent high-quality forage or as a medicinal raw material. And although wheatgrass grows in the wild without much hassle, it takes patience to breed it:

• Growing seeds the herbs begin by preparing them and the soil. Seed material is soaked overnight in cold water, and then germinate... Although the latter action can be excluded, and then the seeds are distributed over the site so that they do not come into contact with each other. And sprinkle them on top with a thin layer of earth, then stretching the film over the plantings. This is not necessary when pre-germinating the seeds. Wheatgrass is sown until mid-May.
• Vegetative propagation for wheatgrass is more acceptable. Having separated the adventitious root with a knot bud, it is planted in the ground at a shallow depth. Having dug up the area in advance where the grass is already growing, you can give an impetus to its active reproduction. Then the plant even forgets to bloom and give seeds. It does not matter to her: it reproduces perfectly by rhizomes, capturing more and more large areas.

Wheatgrass prefers areas that are well lit with loose soil. By compacting the soil or deepening the roots of the grass, you can reduce its germination and yield.

Those looking to get into the business of growing feed grains for backyards and farms can benefit with almost no effort. The profitability of such landings is great.

Wheat grass care recommendations

It seems that no care is needed for such a weed, but it is not. Yes, it is not too expensive, as, for example, for wheat. But there are some features of caring for blue-gray wheatgrass:

1. Although forage grass is undemanding to the climate, and makes good use of the moisture of the upper layers of the soil, but still in severe droughts watering she needs.
2. Depending on the composition of the soil, make fertilizers phosphorus with a lack of this element, or nitrogen. The latter are brought in in the middle of autumn, so that rain and snow precipitations dissolve them well and buried 20 centimeters into the ground. Spring top dressing does not give results due to the dryness of the soil.

Gray wheatgrass in the steppe regions is used on pastures during the summer with a grass height of up to twenty centimeters. The first time it is pitted against livestock in May, and then as the grass grows.

The amount of pet food depends on the proper care of wheatgrass.

To prepare large reserves of water in soils in winter, snow fences are arranged in wheatgrass fields.

To increase the yield, the old grass stand is destroyed by plowing, giving the new growth a road.

Useful properties of the plant and its use in medicine

The wheatgrass contains many useful substances, it is rich in fatty oils, vitamins - carotene, ascorbic acid - fructose, malic acid, silicic acid, glycides, minerals. In ancient times, our ancestors immediately appreciated the benefits of grass leaves, its rhizomes. From the roots crushed into flour, cakes, bread were baked, they were used to make jelly, beer, surrogate coffee, grass was added to salads, soups.

And now traditional healers use wheatgrass creeping in many medicinal recipes:

• A decoction of rhizomes is used in the treatment of cystitis, nephritis, enuresis. They are cured of inflammatory processes in the stomach, intestines, pathology of the organs of the bronchopulmonary system. It is effective for external and internal use for eczema, furunculosis, diathesis, scrofula, rickets. And they prepare a healing broth like this: the juice squeezed from fresh roots is half-diluted with water and boiled for several minutes. Inside take half a glass before meals three times a day. According to another recipe, chopped roots (two tablespoons) are poured with boiling water in the amount of two glasses, kept on low heat for several minutes.
• Uterine bleeding, heavy menstruation can be stopped with a stronger herb infusion, for which the portion of raw materials is doubled. It also helps with the formation of hemorrhoids, constipation.
• The infusion of the plant is used as compresses, lotions, baths in the treatment of skin problems, for colds, coughs, hemorrhoids. The drink is prepared simply: first, two tablespoons of the powder are poured with half a liter of cold water and left for a day. After straining, pour boiled in the same amount, leaving for an hour. Both infusions, cold and hot, are combined and consumed before meals, one hundred milliliters three times throughout the day.
• Fresh juice treats arthritis, osteochondrosis, rheumatism, pneumonia, bronchitis. It is taken for kidney stones, gall bladder.
• If a person wants to lose weight, then there is no better product for this like wheatgrass. It will increase perspiration, cleanse the body of toxins and toxins, and improve metabolic processes in tissues.

Folk healers assure that there is no such disease that could not be cured with creeping wheatgrass in the absence of contraindications to its use.

Raw materials for the medicine are harvested during the fall or spring, digging it up, washing it and drying it up. Dry the rhizomes in a ventilated room until tender, and then grind them into powder by hand. The medicine is stored in glass jars, using as directed for three years.

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