Winter Rye

[Nyboy]

This fall I purchased 10 pounds of wnter rye seed from a local nursery. I broadcast the seed same way I do grass seed, by hand on bare soil. None of the seed sprouted, what should I have done?

 

[digitS']

Ah. NyBoy, you are talking about the annual rye grain, right? For a cover crop in the garden ..?

Or, was this the perennial ryegrass seed for a lawn?

Steve

 

[catjac1975]

When did you plant it? Was it wet enough to sprout? It should have sprout easily. Did the birds eat it?

 

[lesa]

Strange...how cold was it? Maybe you were just too late? Generally, you can throw it down and it grows. I am thinking cover crop, not grass. As Cat says, the birds could be the culprits...

 

[seedcorn]

Should have came but as cold as it is, no surprise. It will come in spring--unless birds and worms get it first.

 

[Smart Red]

This fall I purchased 10 pounds of wnter rye seed from a local nursery. I broadcast the seed same way I do grass seed, by hand on bare soil. None of the seed sprouted, what should I have done?

That is exactly how I seeded my garden for a rye cover crop two years ago. I started mine in early September and dug it under in the spring. Did you sow it too late? Our first cold spell was way early this year. Did you lightly cover the seed? I treated mine just as I would have a new yard, broadcast and rake lightly.

 

[Nyboy]

10 pounds is a lot for birds to eat all of it. It was cold I assumed because of winter in name that willn't be a problem. Was for cover crop, did not rake left on top of soil like I do with grass seed.

 

[digitS']

Yesterday, I had started to say that I would have set the pressure on the grain drill to 2" and climbed back on the Massey Ferguson ...

May not need that depth on your soil, NyBoy. Still, when I have sown winter rye in the garden, I've planted it just about like I would peas.

(I've also had a much easier time dealing with it in the spring when I have done that early rather than late. If your seed doesn't start until spring, you may have some trouble with it when you want something else growing in that ground.)

Steve

 

[Nyboy]

Planting apple trees in spring.

 

[digitS']

If it sprouts and grows in the spring, you might want to do what I plan for in the tomato patch this year, NyBoy. growing a ground cover then pulling it to stay as a mulch. You will likely have to turn it several times so that those massive rye roots don't find a way to regrow. It won't look especially attractive, dead or alive.

I did this with oats in some of the squash in 2013. Annual rye could have been used.

I'm tellin' ya - if the rye plants are small you will have some work trying to get them out! If they are older and have some height, they are not difficult just to pull. The small plants will regrow, regrow and might even regrow again - if you do something like just run a tiller over them. Rye is one tough grain plant.

Steve