spring planted winter rye?

Good looking plot. I keep planting my brassicas earlier and earlier in northern WI. It seems most suggest planting late July or August. I wasn't getting the growth that late. I planted late June this year and turnips and rape were huge. Have you ever had rape bolting on you planted that early? My father in law always planted his rape and raddish in spring.( just always had to go against the grain) his rape would be all stems and flowers. Raddish made seed pods almost like beans. He was happy because the deer were eating the pods.
Winfred and purple top turnips will not bolt or flower when planted in the spring. I've planted Winfred as early as May 15 and it got nearly chest hi. You can see some of the photos earlier in this thread 2 or 3 years ago
 
Winfred and purple top turnips will not bolt or flower when planted in the spring. I've planted Winfred as early as May 15 and it got nearly chest hi. You can see some of the photos earlier in this thread 2 or 3 years ago
So I went thru and read all the post in this thread. Seems like you like to experiment with different planting just like I do. I had the same results with rutabagas. I actually never saw one that grew in my plot only weeds. Worst fail I've ever had. I ordered some Winifred today to try. What was your final test results that worked the best? With rye? With out? Best time for planting? Did the deer hit the 5ft Winifred as hard as the shorter stuff. Thanks
 
Question fellas and apologize if I missed it. Has anyone ever seeded rye early spring to be able to plant into a little later down the road? I want to plant beans this year and either broadcast like a throw and mow or can rent a no till drill. I used buckwheat last year to plant into then rolled and sprayed and it worked great. But I know rye will take colder weather and take off faster. Not looking for head high rye by any means but I let it get say waist high would it work?
 
Question fellas and apologize if I missed it. Has anyone ever seeded rye early spring to be able to plant into a little later down the road? I want to plant beans this year and either broadcast like a throw and mow or can rent a no till drill. I used buckwheat last year to plant into then rolled and sprayed and it worked great. But I know rye will take colder weather and take off faster. Not looking for head high rye by any means but I let it get say waist high would it work?
rye will never get over 12" to 14" or so until it goes through winter. When I plant rye with Winfred in May or June, the rye gets about 12" tall by mid summer at which time is sort of goes dormant or dies out and the Winfred starts to really shoot up about the same time the rye fizzles out due to the mid summer heat. I plant rye in my garden frequently for a cover crop at various times throughout the spring and summer. It works great to suppress weeds until I till it in to plant the next vegetable crop and it adds a lot of green manure when I till it in.
 
So I went thru and read all the post in this thread. Seems like you like to experiment with different planting just like I do. I had the same results with rutabagas. I actually never saw one that grew in my plot only weeds. Worst fail I've ever had. I ordered some Winifred today to try. What was your final test results that worked the best? With rye? With out? Best time for planting? Did the deer hit the 5ft Winifred as hard as the shorter stuff. Thanks
My best plots of Winfred was when I seeded it with rye as a cover crop to suppress weeds. When planted in mid May to mid June, the rye gets established quickly and suppresses weeds while the Winfred gets going. The rye and Winfred reach about 12" tall nearly the same time and then the rye sort of fizzles out and the Winfred really shoots up about the same time, in Mid summer. Winfred never gets "too mature" so yes, the chest hi Winfred was devoured by deer. They ate that stuff down to nearly the dirt. The stems get as big as a man's thumb or slightly larger on Winfred that size, and the deer will eat the stem down to within a few inches of the dirt. I've seen groups of deer eating the stems in early to mid April after they devoured everything of the Winfred besides the stems near the ground while alfalfa and clover was already getting green in adjacent plots in early to mid April.

If you are ok with using chemical on your food plots, the best way would be to either no till, or lightly till and allow the first flush of weeds to come up for a couple weeks in early spring. Once the weeds get a few inches tall, spray them with roundup and the next day either just broadcast the Winfred, or drop seed it with a grain drill or Brillion seeder, or use a no till drill but only get the seed planted 1/4" or so like alfalfa or clover. The Winfred will germinate quickly with the next rain and it will be weed free when seeded after killing the first flush of weeds in the spring. We do not like to used chemicals on our plots, so that is why I use rye to suppress the weeds. But I think the results would be taller and thicker Winfred if a person killed the weeds with roundup and then seeded the Winfred. It grows really quick and tall, so any weeds that might germinate several weeks after you spray the weeds and plant the Winfred will quickly be shaded out by the Winfred as it forms a canopy. 3 pounds per acre of Winfred is plenty for a solid stand. I like to add purple top turnips and use about 2 pounds of Winfred and 2 pounds of PTT per acre
 
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Question fellas and apologize if I missed it. Has anyone ever seeded rye early spring to be able to plant into a little later down the road? I want to plant beans this year and either broadcast like a throw and mow or can rent a no till drill. I used buckwheat last year to plant into then rolled and sprayed and it worked great. But I know rye will take colder weather and take off faster. Not looking for head high rye by any means but I let it get say waist high would it work?
If you dont have winter rye in the plot now to use as your thatch I think your best bet would be spring planted oats.
 
If you dont have winter rye in the plot now to use as your thatch I think your best bet would be spring planted oats.
There is some rye but not as heavy as I thought unless it surprises me come spring green up. Wondered about oats as well.
 
There is some rye but not as heavy as I thought unless it surprises me come spring green up. Wondered about oats as well.
If you have rye growing now, that will get 4 to 5 feet tall next May/June when it seeds out unless its on very poor soil it might be a bit shorter. Rye planted in the spring will not get more than 12 to 14 inches tall all year long even in the best soils. It needs to go through winter before it will grow taller and seed out.
 
Appreciate the info guys. 1st year putting out plots. Like the idea of no or minimal tillage if I can. Not opposed to chemicals but gonna try not to turn the dirt much unless I have to
 
Found the table in a book I started reading again
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WHich book? Also, I will take any help on crops to grow for root mass and surface residue. I am probably biased against the supposed dense root system of rye grass as I do not use herbicides and fear a permanent invasion.
 
Also, I will take any help on crops to grow for root mass and surface residue. I am probably biased against the supposed dense root system of rye grass as I do not use herbicides and fear a permanent invasion.

FYI - Perennial Ryegrass (left in photo) is not the same as cereal rye (right in photo). This thread refers to cereal rye plantings.

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- Root Mass? Cereal Rye, Radishes are both great.

- Surface residue? Cereal rye, again. Plus sorghums like corn, milo or any forage variety like Egyptian wheat. Millets & sunflowers are also great for residue, carbon.
 
WHich book? Also, I will take any help on crops to grow for root mass and surface residue. I am probably biased against the supposed dense root system of rye grass as I do not use herbicides and fear a permanent invasion.
The biological farmer
 
FYI - Perennial Ryegrass (left in photo) is not the same as cereal rye (right in photo). This thread refers to cereal rye plantings.

View attachment 40063


- Root Mass? Cereal Rye, Radishes are both great.

- Surface residue? Cereal rye, again. Plus sorghums like corn, milo or any forage variety like Egyptian wheat. Millets & sunflowers are also great for residue, carbon.
Thanks.
 
Have you been able to raise your CEC?

No idea, I haven’t run a test in several years. It was about 12.5 last time sampled.


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My best plots of Winfred was when I seeded it with rye as a cover crop to suppress weeds. When planted in mid May to mid June, the rye gets established quickly and suppresses weeds while the Winfred gets going. The rye and Winfred reach about 12" tall nearly the same time and then the rye sort of fizzles out and the Winfred really shoots up about the same time, in Mid summer. Winfred never gets "too mature" so yes, the chest hi Winfred was devoured by deer. They ate that stuff down to nearly the dirt. The stems get as big as a man's thumb or slightly larger on Winfred that size, and the deer will eat the stem down to within a few inches of the dirt. I've seen groups of deer eating the stems in early to mid April after they devoured everything of the Winfred besides the stems near the ground while alfalfa and clover was already getting green in adjacent plots in early to mid April.

If you are ok with using chemical on your food plots, the best way would be to either no till, or lightly till and allow the first flush of weeds to come up for a couple weeks in early spring. Once the weeds get a few inches tall, spray them with roundup and the next day either just broadcast the Winfred, or drop seed it with a grain drill or Brillion seeder, or use a no till drill but only get the seed planted 1/4" or so like alfalfa or clover. The Winfred will germinate quickly with the next rain and it will be weed free when seeded after killing the first flush of weeds in the spring. We do not like to used chemicals on our plots, so that is why I use rye to suppress the weeds. But I think the results would be taller and thicker Winfred if a person killed the weeds with roundup and then seeded the Winfred. It grows really quick and tall, so any weeds that might germinate several weeks after you spray the weeds and plant the Winfred will quickly be shaded out by the Winfred as it forms a canopy. 3 pounds per acre of Winfred is plenty for a solid stand. I like to add purple top turnips and use about 2 pounds of Winfred and 2 pounds of PTT per acre
This post you state best plot was when you seeded with WR. If I missed it I apologize, but at what rate have you found is best for WR application? Thanks.
 
This post you state best plot was when you seeded with WR. If I missed it I apologize, but at what rate have you found is best for WR application? Thanks.
Around 100 pounds per acre so it suppresses weeds while the Winfred (and turnips if you add those) get started. When planted in May or June, the rye will get about 12" tall and shut down growth in the summer heat. About that time the Winfred and turnips will also be about 12" tall if planted with the rye, and then the brassicas (especially the Winfred) start growing more rapidily while the rye goes dormant.
 
A handful of deer feeding on the Winfred and purple top turnips this evening. Here in southwest Wisconsin our deer numbers are down drastically compared to 10 to 15 years ago due to CWD. We probably only have about 10% or 15% of the deer per square mile that we had 10 to 15 years ago. The past 5 years in our part of the County between 36% and 48% of the total number of deer tested each year have been positive for CWD.

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