What is the spike?

If you have a family member who has dedicated a good part of their free time to growing different plants in the garden, such as a grandfather or grandmother, or an uncle or aunt of a certain age, it is very likely that they have told you about the spiky of the plants and of the problem that that can suppose.

But don't worry, if that word doesn't sound like anything to you or you want to refresh your memory, then we are going to talk at length about the subject 🙂.

What is the meaning of eared?

"Spike" is a word that comes from "spike", which refers to the inflorescences or groups of flowers of certain plants, such as cereals. When we talk about letting a specific specimen glean whose life cycle is annual (that is, it germinates, grows, flowers, bears fruit and dies in a few months) what we mean is that we are going to wait for it to give seeds before proceeding to cut it.

And is that "eared" means precisely that: let it grow until it matures and gives its own seeds. But beware, it can also refer to a young tree that is very tall, although it is not a term that, from my experience -I could be wrong-, is used a lot in the arboricultural world, compared to what is used in the world. horticultural (orchard).

When is it interesting and when is it not?

It depends a lot on our own interests. I explain: if we are seeing that we are going to have a decent harvest, we can leave some plants that complete their life cycle and take when their seeds are ready to sow them in the next season.

But if we see ourselves in the opposite situation, what we have to do is cut the flowers as soon as they come out so that the plants spend energy on the growth and development of the leaves and roots, for example with normal scissors (kitchen for example, if we do not have pruning).

I hope you found this topic interesting 🙂.