The Cereals Cage

Every year we try to grow a selection of wheat species in our cereals cage at the mill. We usually grow species that are, or were once commonly cultivated in different parts of the world.

The cage allows us to keep our selection of grains safe from birds and other wildlife. Find out what happened in December 2024, when a mouse got in.

Below you can see photos of our seedlings in March, immature plants in early July, and ripened plants in August.

March 2025

Here's the Cereals Cage in March 2025 - we're now on our third attempt to foil the mice! To the rear of the main cage you can see our seedlings being tended to.

Here are the seedlings.

Six cereals we grew

In a recent display we grew four species which were tetraploid wheats, and another six which were hexaploid.

Most are "free-threshing" but Vavilovi and Macha Wheats and Spelt retain the hard shell or 'hull' of the early wheat species and make the extraction of the grain a more difficult task.

July

In this display you can see:

1. Polish Wheat - A number of seed spikes visible, especially a large one above the right side support cane.
2. Persian Wheat - A tall flexible stemmed wheat visible as a group of darker spikes near the left corner post.
3. Rivet or Cone Wheat - Tall stems with bluish-green leaves topped by the awned seed spikes.
4. Oriental Wheat - Not visible in this photograph, hidden behind (3).
5. Indian Shot Wheat - Short stiff stems with small seed spikes that first appeared in June.
6. Vavilovi Wheat - Moderately tall stems topped by seed spikes, sometimes they may be branched.
7. Club Wheat - Moderately tall stems with compact yellow-green seed spikes.
8. Macha Wheat Moderately tall stems with blue-green leaves, just visible behind the Club Wheat (7).
9. Bread Wheat - Shorter stems produced for commercial purposes by many years of genetic breeding.
10. Spelt or Dinkel Moderately tall blue-green stems with seed spikes, visible behind the Bread Wheat (9).

August

1. Polish Wheat A number of seed spikes visible, especially two hanging down at the front.
2. Persian Wheat Stems fallen to the right, some darker spikes just visible behind (1).
3. Rivet or Cone Wheat Tall stems topped by the hanging seed spikes, a sign of ripeness.
4. Oriental Wheat Not visible in this photograph, hidden behind (3).
5. Indian Shot Wheat Short stiff stems with small seed spikes, difficult to distinguish now they have ripened.
6. Vavilovi Wheat Moderately tall stems topped by ripened seed spikes visible behind the Indian Shot Wheat (5).
7. Club Wheat Moderately tall golden-yellow coloured erect stems with characteristic compact seed spikes.
8. Macha Wheat Moderately tall falling stems visible at the sides of the more erect Club Wheat (7).
9. Bread Wheat Now golden-yellow colour with hanging spikes, ready for harvesting if grown commercially.
10. Spelt or Dinkel Moderately tall stems with hanging seed spikes visible behind the Bread Wheat (9).