We knew having last years seed was a risk, so a handful was germinated on a plate- which sprouted in 2 days! Planting to the 10″ rows required a scramble to secure a seeder that would not only plant to the width we wanted (to provide data for a concept mobile processing unit). Unable to find or rent one before the planting date, a precision hand seeder was borrowed from Naty. 

The amount of grass that emerged after 2 days of nightly watering using 1000L water totes & a firehose was frightening, as tiny hemp seeds had serious competition from what would become ragwort, canola along with a host of other aggressive plants vying for moisture. As you can see, hemp won! As far as the claims of hemp ‘crowding out’ other plants is unfounded in our plot. Perhaps after a couple years of sowing hemp this claim would prove true, but for now the ground is a mess of unwelcome plants.