Seed preparation
Seeds are small, about 1.5 mm (0.06 in) long and 0.74-1.5 mg each, brown to purplish with fingerprint-like ridges. Mix them with dry sand for even sowing.
Shop at deodar-seeds.com Free EMS courier delivery across India
Herb growing guide
Field pennycress is a fast annual of the cabbage family with round, flat seed pods. Let the seed after-ripen, sow it shallowly into moist, cool soil in autumn or early spring, and remove plants before they shed seed if you do not want them to spread.
Seeds are small, about 1.5 mm (0.06 in) long and 0.74-1.5 mg each, brown to purplish with fingerprint-like ridges. Mix them with dry sand for even sowing.
Not needed. Dormancy in pennycress is physiological, not a hard coat.
Strain-dependent. Most seed after-ripens if stored dry at room temperature for a month or more. Some strains respond to several weeks of moist cold, but in others cold near 2 °C (36 °F) pushes the seed into deeper dormancy, so a refrigerator is not a safe default. Sowing outdoors in autumn or at the start of the cool season lets the seed sort itself out.
Not needed. A firm, moist seedbed matters more.
Non-dormant seed germinates well at day/night temperatures from about 15/6 °C to 35/20 °C (59/43-95/68 °F). In temperate regions most seedlings appear in early spring, with a second flush in autumn. In warm climates, including most of India, sow at the start of the cool season.
Scatter on firm, fine soil and press in, or cover with a few millimetres of soil at most. Seedlings rarely emerge from deeper than 2 cm (0.8 in).
Ordinary, fertile garden soil or seed compost. Fertile, recently worked soil often triggers a flush of germination, as nitrate stimulates seed exposed to light.
Keep the surface evenly moist. Pennycress seed needs more soil moisture to germinate than most crops, and a dry crust stops it.
Sow in an open spot. Red light promotes germination, while the filtered light under taller plants holds it back.
After-ripened seed in cool, moist soil emerges in a short flush; dormant seed can stay in the soil for years and come up later.
Not recommended; sow where the plants will grow and thin seedlings to stand a few centimetres apart.
Spring-sown plants flower 5-7 weeks after emergence and grow 50-80 cm (20-32 in) tall. Autumn-sown plants overwinter as rosettes, survive frost down to about -14 °C (7 °F) once hardened, and flower about a month earlier in spring.
Field pennycress is a common weed of grain and oilseed fields, and its seed contaminates canola harvests. Do not sow it near crops or pasture, and check local rules before growing it outside a garden.
Where winters are cold, sow in autumn: the rosettes overwinter and flower early in spring. This is also how it is grown experimentally as a winter cover and oilseed crop.
Seeds mature about 1-2 weeks after flowering and the plant is largely self-pollinating. Cut stems when the round pods turn straw-coloured, dry them in a paper bag and thresh.
Sow field pennycress shallowly into cool, moist soil and keep it contained.
Fresh seed is usually dormant. Store it dry for a month or more, then sow on the surface of a moist bed in cool weather.
No. It is a cabbage-family (Brassicaceae) herb with flat, round seed pods; 'field grass' was a mistranslation.
It is best kept away from livestock: it taints milk and meat, and large amounts can poison cattle.