Winter wheat

[BobinCt]

I know winter wheat does not have the allelopathic effect like winter rye does, has less protein and Paul Knox favored the Rye over the wheat, but does the Winter wheat grow as fast as Rye and can it get too tall and rank? I mixed some in with my Rye last week, but was just curious since I always used Rye over the wheat. I added the wheat for a little more variety.

 

[Maddog3355]

Rye and wheat will both lose palabilty but the deer always come back and eat it later. I started out with wheat plots and then started reading Paul writing about the mixes and if you have the extra money you can’t beat a good mix. On my soils wheat does not grow as good as rye.

 

[BobinCt]

Thx Dog

 

[Catscratch]

I've grown both as strips and in mixes. Overwhelmingly deer prefer to eat wheat (on the places I've plotted). To answer your questions: they both seem to grow at the same rate, and wheat doesn't grow as tall as winter rye. That's my experience, it may be different for you. I never tried winter rye until I hooked up with Paul's writings. I learned a lot from him and agree that winter rye is good for the soil but wheat is heavy in my mixes due to preference points.

 

[SWIFFY]

Ive found they grow at a similar rate and deer clearly have different preferences in different areas. A couple years ago I planted 4 test strips all 12' feet wide and 200' Long. I planted Cereal Rye, Bob Oats, Winter Wheat, and Triticale at the same rate and around Labor Day. I had cameras on these plots for a couple months. The Oats were without doubt the most favored, 2nd was the CR, 3rd was the Triticale, and last was the WW. They crushed the oats and rye to bare dirt before they even touched the wheat or triticale. It was an eye opening experiment for me. Ive only planted Oats and WR since then and had great success. I mix and try other things that work great too but you really do need to find what the animals you have there prefer.

 

[mglenn005]

Hungry deer eat both (rye and wheat) in my area. No distinguishable difference.


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[Maddog3355]

Ive found they grow at a similar rate and deer clearly have different preferences in different areas. A couple years ago I planted 4 test strips all 12' feet wide and 200' Long. I planted Cereal Rye, Bob Oats, Winter Wheat, and Triticale at the same rate and around Labor Day. I had cameras on these plots for a couple months. The Oats were without doubt the most favored, 2nd was the CR, 3rd was the Triticale, and last was the WW. They crushed the oats and rye to bare dirt before they even touched the wheat or triticale. It was an eye opening experiment for me. Ive only planted Oats and WR since then and had great success. I mix and try other things that work great too but you really do need to find what the animals you have there prefer.

This is why I like a 4 way mix. I’ve been doing the Bob oats,rye,wheat and Austrian winter peas. My opinion is when one isn’t palatable the other one or two are. They hammer the oats and peas early but the rye and wheat are bread winners a little later.

 

[Buckly]

Like was said hungry deer will eat whatever is there. They only have a preference if, they are not that hungry or if there are alternatives. I have observed deer in my plots meander around and eat nothing but the radish tops. While one will be picky another deer in the same group will just grab mouthfuls of the whole mix, oats, rye and clover. Plant whatever works for you, if it's green and tender the deer will eat it.

 

[FarmerDan]

There can be tremendous height difference with wheat being much shorter than rye. Around here in Virginia there are two schools. One group of producer will plant winter wheat for grain, but the straw can easily producer more gross dollars than the wheat. Those guys want a taller growing wheat variety. On the other hand, producers who want grain yield will probably pick a shorter straw wheat to keep it from falling over before harvest. It's tough to pick-up lodged wheat and, anyhow, all that straw is just an impediment of field work post harvest.

 

[yoderjac]

My deer don't show a particular preference for any particular cereal other than during short periods when each peak. I'm a fan of WR because of all of the other characteristics it has many highlighted by Paul. Probably the one place where I see an advantage for WW for wildlife is for young turkey if you let it go to seed. Young birds often can't reach the grain heads on WR. You can simply run a tractor or ATV through a WR field and bring the grain heads down so I don't see that to be too strong of an argument.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[j-bird]

I know winter wheat does not have the allelopathic effect like winter rye does, has less protein and Paul Knox favored the Rye over the wheat, but does the Winter wheat grow as fast as Rye and can it get too tall and rank? I mixed some in with my Rye last week, but was just curious since I always used Rye over the wheat. I added the wheat for a little more variety.

My experience with both is that the deer will eat either.....however in my area the rye will remain actively growing a little longer in the fall and will begin growing a little sooner in the spring....and I mean by maybe a week or two tops depending on the weather. That additional growing activity can be significant well into the late spring or if you have sever winters and need that food. I average less than 24" of snow all winter, and have lots of ag around, so to me it's not a big deal. I say this because for me the wheat will get knee high or so while the rye will get waist high or better. This height difference can help with shading the soil, hiding fawns come spring......or wrapping up in rotary equipment if you don't kill it first (tall green rye and a rotary tiller are NOT a good combination). I use wheat now simply because it will survive my winters and I prefer the lower growth based on how I manage my plots. I don't think there is much of a growth rate difference as much as there is a difference as to when they stop growing and then start again.....

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I still plant Rye but am planting more and more Wheat. It just works better for me when doing a throw and mow brassica plot in early August because it doesn't get as tall.

With that said i could always just spray the rye when it is a bout waist high instead of fighting it when it is shoulder high.

 

[Catscratch]

Not sure if you've thought of it but wheat has a second source of value. Deer love the heads of the awnless wheat in my plots in late spring/early summer. I watch them every evening stripping high protein seed heads during milk and antler producing months. That can't be a bad thing and it's something I've never seen them do to winter rye.

 

[cavey]

Variety is always best,,, both are cheap especially if you can get bin run seed.... mix it up a bit. Both have good points, one mark against WR is that I have found it harder to clip back once it gets too tall ... I have found the stems are more fibrous and tend to wrap up around The brush hog mower versus WW. I still use both in fact just seeded down a couple areas I back dragged open with my skid steer bucket... tossed down WR and a bag's worth of black oil sunflower seeds hoping to get some green up.

I do that a lot with areas where I im just pushing brush around or cleaning up field edges... any exposed soil... I just seed back with bin run WR