What are the Odds?

[useyourbow]

I want to broadcast some rye grain into my food plots to fill in and help nurse the clover. The plots also contain daikon radish and chicory. The rain forecast for the next 15 days is dismal with the highest percentage being 20% chance. What are the odds the rye grain will germinate with just the dew for moisture? Should I just wait until there is a higher chance of rain? My concern is the longer I wait the closer we get to winter.
Eastern North Carolina

 

[j-bird]

rye is cheap - spread it and hope for the best. If you wait you may not be able to apply when you want and them miss your window. The rye will be fine as long as the birds don't go nuts and with other plants in the plots they will protect it some. It's a gamble, but it's a low cost gamble and rye will almost germinate on dry concrete so give it a shot in my opinion.

 

[Bill]

I'm with j-bird. Rye will germinate and grow at 36 degrees. (Very Slow growth) but it will take hold and worst case it waits until spring to take off. I don't think dew alone is enough to cause germination. But that's just an opinion.

 

[bbcoach]

Hey Bow, As stated Winter rye will germinate and grow in the back of a pickup, with very little moisture and at low temps. We (here in Eastern NC) probably have about a month and a half until our first frost. If you didn't seed your radishes too heavy and shade out your clover then put down some rye and pray for some rain. If we get a quarter of an inch, it will be up in about 4 days. The rye will feed throughout the winter and into the spring and it will suppress weeds as the clover takes off in the spring. Take a look at your clover in March and if it is thin or has some bare spots, top seed it with some more clover seed. Here's a couple of PICS of Durana clover with winter rye as a cover crop I planted in Sept 2015 and what it looked like in May 2016. Good Luck and stay in touch.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

It isnt going to grow in the bag.

 

[JFK52]

I top seeded winter rye into RR Eagle soy beans earlier this fall. It sat dormant for 7 days until there was a decent 1/2 inch rain. After the rain it just took off like crazy. In my area a 50 pound bag of winter rye sells for $15 to $17 dollars depending on where you buy it. That amount of rye will cover .4 to .6 of an acre. So I don't think you have much of a down side by seeding the rye into your existing food plots.

 

[ToddG]

I'd sow it. I just spread some in my Ladino plot at it came up great.

 

[cavey]

If you know anyone that crop farms, its a common practice now to use WR as a late season cover crop. They will likely have bin run WR on hand for seeding and for a 12 pack of beer and some cash you can get all you'll ever need. I shoveled in a pickup box load of seed for 25 bucks and have it stowed in a half dozen metal garbage cans. Because its basically free I don't worry about when I toss it down. Two days ago I back bladed a spot along a clover plot with my skidsteer and exposed bare soil, seeded it with WR and packed it down with a 4 wheeler, we got rain and it will easily germinate up here in wi ... if we get a period of warm weather I will still get a carpet of lawn like growth yet this fall... There are still unharvested crop fields up here that will get drilled with WR yet this year so you will be just fine way down there... your still nice and toasty warm compared to us and have a lot of growing time...

 

[cavey]

WR seeded 10 ish days ago... it comes up fast and keeps growing right down to freezing temps

 

[Mortenson]

I flung on 120 lbs yest before a quarter inch. Today probably caught another tenth or 2. I think that'll be enough to germinate some of it. I had a couple brassica plots that just looked like they needed a little something else growing in them. We had a real dry Aug/Sep. It makes me feel better if nothing else, LOL