When to Sow Winter Barley: Getting the Date Right in Transitional and Cold Regions

Every autumn we face the same question: when should barley be sown? In winter barley the sowing date matters as much as the choice of variety; the same seed sown on the same field two weeks earlier or later can give a very different harvest. And yet the question has no single answer. The grower who sows in September in Kars is right, and we have seen growers in Central Anatolia sow as late as early December. In this article we explain what sets the sowing date, what state the plant should be in when winter arrives, what late sowing costs and where our three barley varieties fit in that calendar, in a way that a reader new to farming can follow.

The sowing window by region

Agronomy textbooks give 15 October to 15 November as the winter cereal sowing period for Turkey as a whole. That is correct, but it is an average. As a company supplying seed to every region of Turkey, the window we see in the field is far wider: in the earliest regions sowing starts at the end of September, in the latest it runs to the end of December. What makes the difference is when winter arrives. On cold plateaus such as Kars winter comes early, so sowing is finished in September; in Central Anatolia sowing runs through October and, if need be, into early December; coastal and mild regions use the late side of the window.

That is why we do not give growers a specific day; the right date comes out of the local calendar and that year’s weather. To this is added a lesson from recent years. The climate is changing, in Turkey and worldwide, and autumns no longer behave as they used to. For that reason we recommend the late side of the regional window. By late we do not mean drifting into frost; we mean not clinging to the traditional early dates just because the calendar says so. To understand where the limit lies, it helps to look at how the plant should enter winter.

The state of the plant at the start of winter, and the cost of sowing late

Barley seed sown in autumn germinates in the soil, the shoot reaches the surface and opens a few leaves. The plant spends the winter in this state, as a small tuft of green close to the soil surface. Tillering, the process in which new stems sprout from the base of the single stem that came from one seed and the plant turns from a tuft into a bunch, happens in spring, not in winter. This gives the measure: the plant should go into winter with three to five leaves and a well-established root. A plant that has anchored its roots firmly and reached three to five leaves withstands frost, waits under the snow and, when the weather warms, tillers and moves into stem extension. A smaller plant, with one or two leaves and a root not yet established, either comes through winter weak or does not come through at all. The limits of both early and late sowing follow from this measure.

We see the cost of late sowing in two separate places in the field. The first is paid at emergence. When sowing drifts into late November or December, frost arrives while the seed is still trying to germinate in the soil; some of the germinating seed never emerges, and what does emerge suffers cold damage. The field goes into winter with a thin, weak stand, and the lost plants do not come back in spring; however much fertiliser is applied, a plant that is not there sets no ear. The second is paid at harvest, and here it is decisive whether the variety is early or late. An early variety pushes out its ear early and fills its grain early; a late variety does everything later. When a late variety is sown in November the whole calendar shifts and harvest slides to the end of June. The weeks in which the grain fills coincide with the hottest, driest days of the year; the grain ripens before it has filled properly and yield drops. An early variety gets through the same delay with far less loss, because its heading and grain fill are over before the heat sets in. When the calendar slips, not only the date but the variety should change; when sowing is late, late-maturing varieties should be avoided.

Soil moisture, sowing depth and field preparation

All of these are calendar dates; the real decision is made in the soil. Sowing is done when the soil is in condition, that short period when it is moist enough to germinate the seed but dry enough to be worked, and it comes with the autumn rain. If the soil is not in condition and rain is expected, waiting a few days is better than burying the seed in dry ground. The problem is when the wait drags on. In recent years we have had more than one season in which the autumn rain simply did not come; the soil never came into condition and sowing slipped by weeks. At some point the grower gives up waiting, sows into dry soil out of necessity and entrusts the seed to the first rain. At that point the first instinct is to add seed; in the field we see growers sowing into dry soil go up to 30-35 kg per decare. We do not recommend it. In late sowing the rate on the data sheet still applies: 25-30 kg per decare for rainfed and 22-25 kg for irrigated conditions. Extra seed does not make up for thin emergence; it creates competition for water and nutrients between plants and the ears come out weak. We explain the reasons in our article how much seed per decare.

Seed sown on the right date, into soil in condition, is wasted if it is buried at the wrong depth. Barley should be sown 3-5 cm deep. Seed that goes deeper uses up its reserves before reaching the surface; emergence is thin and late, and the plant goes into winter weak. We see the emergence problems of deep sowing every season; in heavy, clay soils this is even more pronounced, and on those soils staying shallow matters most. Mistakes in field preparation vary by region and soil type, but the one we see most often is incomplete levelling. Levelling means flattening the field surface. On an unlevelled field the drill sows deep in one place and shallow in another; rain pools in a hollow and runs off a hump, and one part of the same field emerges early while another emerges late. Getting the sowing date right and neglecting levelling means giving back what has been gained.

Our three barley varieties in the calendar

All three of our barley varieties are winter types recommended for transitional and cold regions. The difference between them is how much flexibility they allow in the sowing window and how they behave when sowing is late.

Ramata has an alternative habit; it can be sown in autumn or in spring, because the plant can set an ear without passing through winter cold. When the autumn rain does not come, the soil never comes into condition and mid-November arrives, Ramata can be held over to spring. We have seen this with a small number of growers in Central Anatolia; in Eastern Anatolia spring sowing is common anyway. It is also the variety that gives our highest yields on irrigated or reliably rain-fed lowland. Manava is a winter type and early; there is no spring option, but its earliness is a great advantage in a late season. Because it pushes out its ear early and fills its grain before the summer heat, it is the variety least harmed by a harvest that slips; it was selected for dryland and for soils that hold the winter rain. Sinanbey is a winter type and late; it was selected for fully dryland fields and we do not recommend it under irrigation. Being late is an advantage in spring, because a late-heading plant uses the spring rain for longer; but the same trait makes the harvest slip weigh most heavily on it. Sinanbey is not the right variety for sowing that drifts into November; it must have time to root and reach three to five leaves before winter. The reasoning behind this dryland and irrigated distinction is set out in our article two-row or six-row barley.

As of September 2026 there is no clear outlook for autumn rain; we are entering an uncertain season. Under these conditions our advice is to be ready for every case: have the seed beside the field now, finish levelling and seedbed preparation, sow 3-5 cm deep without delay as soon as the soil comes into condition, and if sowing slips into November switch from a late variety to an early one or to Ramata, which can be held over to spring. To return to the question we started with: when to sow barley is decided not by the calendar but by the region and that year’s weather, and the measure is a plant that enters winter with three to five leaves and a good root. Let us know your region and water situation and our agronomist will suggest the date and variety that suit your conditions: +90 506 101 01 50.