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Poaceae FAMILY

Avena sativa

Avena sativa

Edibility
4/5
Medicinal
2/5

Safety & Hazards

None known

Cultivation Details

HabitAnnual
Growth—

Avena sativa is a plant of the temperate zone, though it can also be cultivated in the subtropics and at higher elevations in the tropics. It grows best in areas where annual daytime temperatures are within the range 16 - 20°c, but can tolerate 5 - 30°c[1]. When dormant, the plant can survive temperatures down to about -15°c, but young growth can be severely damaged at -1°c[1]. It prefers a mean annual rainfall in the range 600 - 1,000mm, but tolerates 250 - 1,500mm[1]. Oats are an easily grown crop that succeed in any moderately fertile, moist but well-drained soil in full sun[2, 3]. Loam soils are best, especially silt and clay loams[3]. Plants tolerate a poor dry soil[4] and also cool moist conditions[5]. Prefers a pH in the range 5 - 6, tolerating 4.5 - 7.5[1]. The plants are also reported to tolerate aluminium, disease, frost, fungus, herbicides, hydrogen fluoride, mycobacterium, nematode, rust, SO2, smut, and virus[3]. Oats are believed to be derived chiefly from two species, wild oat (Avena fatua L.) and wild red oat (Avena sterilis L.)[3]. Many different cultivars have been developed and they are widely cultivated for their seed; used as a source of protein and carbohydrate; as well as for hay; as winter cover; and are used as a pasture crop in the growing or 'milk' stage[3]. Oats are long-day plants, grown in cool climates in the Old and New World temperate zones, succeeding under variable conditions[3]. They are usually are not very winter hardy, although winter hardy cultivars have been developed[3]. A very hardy plant according to another report, which says that the cultivated oat succeeds as far north as latitude 70°N[6] and is widely cultivated in temperate zones for its edible seed, there are many named varieties[7]. Average seed yield is about 1.8 - 2 tonnes per hectare, while good yields can reach 3 tonnes[1]. Although lower yielding than wheat (Triticum spp.), the plant is able to withstand a wider range of climatic conditions and is therefore more cultivated in cooler and wetter areas[5]. Hot dry weather just before heading causes heads to blast and yields of seed to decrease[3]. Self-pollination is normal, but cross-pollination by wind also occurs[3]. If you wish to save the seed for sowing, each variety should be isolated about 180 metres away from other varieties[3]. Oats are in general easily grown plants but, especially when grown on a small scale, the seed is often completely eaten out by birds. Some sort of netting seems to be the best answer on a garden scale.

Propagation

Seed - sow in situ in early spring or in the autumn. Only just cover the seed. Germination should take place within 2 weeks. Cite as: Temperate Plants Database, Ken Fern. temperate.theferns.info. 2026-02-20. <temperate.theferns.info/plant/Avena+sativa>

Pollinators

Wind

References

  1. [1]Ecocrop — http://ecocrop.fao.org/ecocrop/srv/en/home ↩︎Basic information on a wide range of useful plants, plus details of environmental needs where available.
  2. [2]The New RHS Dictionary of Gardening. 1992. — Huxley. A. · MacMillan Press · 1992 · ISBN 0-333-47494-5 ↩︎Excellent and very comprehensive, though it contains a number of silly mistakes. Readable yet also very detailed.
  3. [3]Handbook of Energy Crops — Duke. J. · - · 1983 · https://hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/duke_energy/dukeindex.html · ISBN - ↩︎Published only on the Internet, excellent information on a wide range of both temperate and tropical plants.
  4. [4]Growing from Seed. Volume 2. — Rice. G. (Editor) · Thompson and Morgan. · 1988 · ISBN - ↩︎Very readable magazine with lots of information on propagation. An interesting article on Ensete ventricosum.
  5. [5]Hamlyn Encyclopaedia of Plants. — Triska. Dr. · Hamlyn · 1975 · ISBN 0-600-33545-3 ↩︎Very interesting reading, giving some details of plant uses and quite a lot of folk-lore.
  6. [6]Plants Consumed by Man. — Brouk. B. · Academic Press · 1975 · ISBN 0-12-136450-x ↩︎Readable but not very comprehensive.
  7. [7]Cornucopia - A Source Book of Edible Plants. — Facciola. S. · Kampong Publications · 1990 · ISBN 0-9628087-0-9 ↩︎Excellent. Contains a very wide range of conventional and unconventional food plants (including tropical) and where they can be obtained (mainly N. American nurseries but also research institutes and a lot of other nurseries from around the world.
  8. [8]Sturtevant's Edible Plants of the World. — Hedrick. U. P. · Dover Publications · 1972 · ISBN 0-486-20459-6 ↩︎Lots of entries, quite a lot of information in most entries and references.
  9. [9]The Oxford Book of Food Plants. — Harrison. S. Wallis. M. Masefield. G. · Oxford University Press · 1975 · ISBN - ↩︎Good drawings of some of the more common food plants from around the world. Not much information though.
  10. [10]Dictionary of Economic Plants. — Uphof. J. C. Th. · Weinheim · 1959 · ISBN - ↩︎An excellent and very comprehensive guide but it only gives very short descriptions of the uses without any details of how to utilize the plants. Not for the casual reader.
  11. [11]Plants for Human Consumption. — Kunkel. G. · Koeltz Scientific Books · 1984 · ISBN 3874292169 ↩︎An excellent book for the dedicated. A comprehensive listing of Latin names with a brief list of edible parts.
  12. [12]Encyclopaedia of Medicinal Plants. — Chiej. R. · MacDonald · 1984 · ISBN 0-356-10541-5 ↩︎Covers plants growing in Europe. Also gives other interesting information on the plants. Good photographs.
  13. [13]A Dictionary of Plants Used by Man. — Usher. G. · Constable · 1974 · ISBN 0094579202 ↩︎Forget the sexist title, this is one of the best books on the subject. Lists a very extensive range of useful plants from around the world with very brief details of the uses. Not for the casual reader.
  14. [14]Encyclopaedia of Herbs and their Uses. — Bown. D. · Dorling Kindersley, London. · 1995 · ISBN 0-7513-020-31 ↩︎A very well presented and informative book on herbs from around the globe. Plenty in it for both the casual reader and the serious student. Just one main quibble is the silly way of having two separate entries for each plant.
  15. [15]The Encyclopedia of Medicinal Plants — Chevallier. A. · Dorling Kindersley. London · 1996 · ISBN 9-780751-303148 ↩︎An excellent guide to over 500 of the more well known medicinal herbs from around the world.
  16. [16]A Modern Herbal. — Grieve. · Penguin · 1984 · ISBN 0-14-046-440-9 ↩︎Not so modern (1930's?) but lots of information, mainly temperate plants.
  17. [17]The Herb Book. — Lust. J. · Bantam books · 1983 · ISBN 0-553-23827-2 ↩︎Lots of information tightly crammed into a fairly small book.
  18. [18]The Dictionary of Modern Herbalism. — Mills. S. Y. ↩︎An excellent small herbal.
  19. [19]Flora of the USSR. — Komarov. V. L. · Israel Program for Scientific Translation · 1968 · http://www.biodiversitylibrary.org · ISBN - ↩︎An immense (25 or more large volumes) and not yet completed translation of the Russian flora. Full of information on plant uses and habitats but heavy going for casual readers. It can be downloaded from the Internet.
  20. [20]Alternative Enterprises for Agriculture in the UK. — Carruthers. S. P. (Editor) · Centre for Agricultural Strategy, Univ. of Reading · 1986 · ISBN 0704909820 ↩︎Some suggested alternative commercial crops for Britain. Readable. Produced by a University study group.
  21. [21]Economic Botany. — Hill. A. F. · The Maple Press · 1952 · ISBN - ↩︎Not very comprehensive, but it is quite readable and goes into some detail about the plants it does cover.
  22. [22]The National Non-Food Crops Centre Crop Database — http://www.nnfcc.co.uk/crops/pd.cfm ↩︎An excellent on-line information source, with information on over 100 species (as of 2006) of plants being investigated as bio-crops.