Divisi
How to grow Wheat
Triticum aestivum · Poaceae
Photo: Yyanay · CC BY-SA 3.0
Wheat is a cool-season cereal — a grass grown for its grain, and in many ways a cousin of maize that loves the cold instead of the heat. In our region it does best in the cool highlands, or in the cool, dry season under irrigation, because heat is its enemy: a hot spell while the grain is filling leaves you with small, shrivelled seed. Its other great enemy is rust — a fungus that dusts orange-to-brown powder over the leaves and can eat a whole crop. You sow it straight into the ground from seed, with no nursery, and it feeds its own flowers, so unlike maize you never have to keep it away from other fields. Grow a rust-resistant variety, feed the nitrogen in splits rather than all at once, and keep water on it when the heads push out (heading), and it will reward you.
Jebulon · CC BY-SA 3.0 
Hans Hillewaert · CC BY-SA 3.0
- Days to maturity
- 100–150 days
- Row spacing
- 20 cm
- Sowing depth
- 3–5 cm
These are general figures for the crop, compiled from published agronomic references including FAO and CABI. The right choice for your field depends on your soil, rainfall and the yield you are aiming for.
Will wheat actually do well on your land? Check your field against every crop in the catalogue — free, no signup. Run the free crop check →
Other names for Wheat
koring · ስንዴ (sinde) · wheat · blé · trigo · gorosi · koro · ngano · korong
Working in buckets, bags or paces? The farming glossary turns the measures growers actually use into kilograms and hectares — what a 20 litre bucket of each crop really weighs, and how to size a field by walking it — alongside the Shona, Swahili, Ndebele and Yoruba words used in the field. Open the glossary →
Growing wheat, stage by stage
Your wheat season, step by step — ready the field, sow a thick, even carpet, feed the nitrogen in splits, guard the flag leaf from rust at heading, and get the grain dry and sealed before heat, birds or weevils take their share.
- Before you sow: ready the field and inputs
- Sow and get a thick, even stand
- Tillering — feed it and keep it clean
- Booting to flowering — protect the head
- Fill the grain and beat the heat
- Harvest
- Dry hard and store sealed
21 step-by-step tasks in the app
Every task for wheat — what to do, when to do it and why it matters — with the amounts worked out for your own field, reminders as each one falls due, and warnings before extreme weather.
Pests and diseases that attack wheat
14 more threats tracked in the app
Divisi tells you which of these is a risk on your wheat right now, when to walk the field looking for it, and what to do the moment you find it.
Frequently asked questions
How long does wheat take to grow?
Wheat takes about 100–150 days from sowing to maturity, though the exact length varies with variety, temperature and how the season runs.
How deep should wheat be planted?
Sow wheat at about 3–5 cm deep. Shallower risks drying out; deeper wastes seed energy before the shoot reaches light.
What pests and diseases attack wheat?
The ones covered in this guide are African armyworm, Angoumois grain moth, Aphids. Each has its own page explaining how to identify, scout for and control it.
Grow wheat with a plan, not a guess
Divisi turns this guide into a dated plan for your own field — what to do each week, reminders as tasks fall due, and warnings before extreme weather. Free for farmers, works offline.
Or check your field first