Rye cover crop now what?

Riggsgwp->

5 year old buck +
Last fall I planted two plots in a cover crop of rye grain and ptt,rape, and tillage radish. Normally I plant Ladino clover along with this for next year clover plot but I wanted to try something different. I was thinking of row planting corn then spray after rye growth hits 8-10 inches. Not sure if corn will tolerate this but I feel like there's a lot of nutrients from the rotten turnips that will benefit my corn plus the weed inhibiting rye.
 
I would think that with rye's fast growth rate in spring of year that it would be detrimental to try planting corn into it unless you sprayed to kill the rye off at the time you planted the corn.
 
Several years ago we tested planting warm season annuals (yes we put some corn in the mix) into either short (vegetative) or tall (pollinating) cereal rye. Hands down....the area where we planted into tall rye then rolled and sprayed kept the soil covered for a longer time.....hence, better warm season annual drought performance further into summer.

Try it both ways and see which works out best and meets your goals.

WHY are you wanting to do WHAT you are doing?....in other words....identify area limitations then set goals accordingly.


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I have the ability to just disk everything under and plant but I hate having bare hard soil between rows. Seems like water just runs off during rains. I am looking at this as an experiment and I'm not sure there's any value in what I'm thinking. If I had a no till drill and roller I would try the process I've seen posted many times on other forums but I don't. So I'm mainly looking for thoughts. I've also considered trying pumpkins and other annuals mixed in to growing rye.
 
Okay...it sounds like you are limited in equipment but want to plant into tall rye to avoid bare soil in improve infiltration?

Tall forage handles a lot of water.....short forage doesn't handle as much water.....bare soil is apt to cap and seal.

So...set your self up for success with what you have.....when rye is at anther/pollination stage, set the disc gangs fairly straight to leave shallow furrows (1-2" deep) like an NT drill does....pick 6-10 different warm season annual seeds....mix them together and spin the seed on....roll with rye down with ATV tires or a home-made log roller....then spray. Observe and tweak as needed. CnC has done what you describe with limited equip.
 
Main goal is to end up with food plot utilizing rye (preferably corn) that does well in dry conditions. Run off isn't huge concern but mainly moisture retention. I like the idea of mixed annuals and I might do one plot that way and plant corn on other. I have a large diamond tooth drag I think would work perfect for what you're saying. If I did corn could I let the rye grow to a foot then drag it, spray it and use my 4 row planter as a no till?
 
Just play with it..make mistakes to learn.IMO.

Have you tried pulling the 4 row through tall rye?

If not....this might be the year to do so!
 
Thanks Doug. I'm going to broadcast clover in the corn at my last spraying too for more ground cover. I did this last year with late planted beans and it turned out pretty good. Notice all the green in between.
 
We did this same thing very much like Doug is explaining. We also had success just broadcasting into the standing rye without the tillage with the disc, then either rolled the rye down with a cultipacker or mowed the rye to about 6" tall and let the action of the packer or mower knock the seed to the ground for contact. Is it optimum, most likely not, but we had good plots both ways regardless of the fact that we planted into beach sand. Up your seeding rate to the high end of the recommended lbs/acre and you will be just fine. Corn will not be your friend should you try this, try a warm season annual mix as Doug has suggested. You could possibly use some berseem clover in there, maybe cowpeas, if you can get a high level of soil contact. Sunflowers or sorghum-sudangrass would work also, and it would give something for the cowpeas to climb.
 
WiscWhip. Sounds like corn planting into rye would be a waste so maybe I will conventional till and try short annuals after last spray. So with mixed annuals you still roll the rye? I thought the growing rye would be the canopy for the peas, pumpkins to climb and the shorts, clover etc. would help with moisture retention.
 
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We rolled or mowed it because if it gets too tall it will shade out the other newly planted seedlings. Especially if you have a nice thick plot of rye. After the rye reaches 15" to 20" tall, when you roll or mow it to about 6", there is plenty of thatch left to hold moisture, not to mention the rye may even continue to grow for a while depending on the timing of your mowing. Rolling it will not kill most of it unless it has already set seed and is dying anyway. I don't think the rye stalks would support much weight from the vines of peas and definitely not a pumpkin vine. I might suggest doing it a couple different ways in the same plot to compare your efforts for future use. And post the results here.
 
Riggs...send me a pm on the other site....I have an email from a grower in N MO who is broadcasting a greenseed blend into failed wheat...you may bet some ideas from that.

If you want something for a trellis...2 lb sunflower is good for that....very strong stem. Viney type plants can easily take down sweet corn stalks or some sorghum stalks. Field corn has a strong stalk....BT corn is real strong but you don't want that trait in a food plot.....non-BT corn only for food plots.

We found it best to get the rye mat as flat as possible...so broadleaf seedlings don't 'overly stretch their necks' while reaching for sunlight.

When you do these types of planting....there are many questions who have to answer yourself watching the plants in your plots!
 
I maybe mis typed because I am thinking that peas/pumpkins would spread out between the rye not necessarily climb it. I don't think the rye would truly shade out everything but maybe it would. I know my clover is usually pretty robust when the rye gets clipped normally. I will definitely post results and I'm not trying to reinvent the wheel here. I know there are a lot of posts and threads out there that lay this stuff out step by step but I'm just trying to create convo and think outside the box. Even if it's wrong. I'm usually a corn, beans, cereal rye/clover guy and don't experiment with much else. This year I want to try different things and have good reasons for what I'm doing(soil health,soil moisture,om,attractive food)If I'm going to plant different seeds together then I want to get results other than, I hope the deer like something in there. Not sure if that makes sense.
 
I see corn planted in the rye on the irrigated lands on my side of the Mrs. Sip. Riggs-they do not usually let the rye get too high. This is on the potato type ground and is part of the rotation.
 
I've seen a lot of rye fields over there. I work in Baxter and I drive by those fields every day so it will be interesting to see how they progress. My plan will be splitting two plots into 4 and running trials. For the corn I will plant half with normal practice and other half I will roll/drag rye after some growth then plant corn without tilling. I will spray normal practice then plant clover last spray. For other field I will do as Doug/Wisc said and plant clover,peas,sunflower etc. then roll/drag rye but I will also leave the other half rye standing and try clover,peas,pumpkins etc. I guess I will see how it goes.
 
Thanks Mo but I'm looking at doing the poor mans version of that. I have a lot of equiptment just not the no till/newer planter or land roller. If I don't have enough of a thatch I'm hoping the clover helps out with ground cover. Obviously I don't have a ton of experience so this is more for fun than anything. I feel like I have very good soil because I've only had to fertilize my corn, never fertilized or limed anything else and my plots turn out great. So I would just like to improve what I have going.
 
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I'm going have to make the drive and get some seed from you. If I give you some notice and schedule a visit could you get me directions?
 
John-do you know what types of soil they are using the crimson clover on?

for those of us on light soil, would the crimson suck up too much moisture and hurt the corn? (non-irrigated)

Third question- what would happen if we used medium red instead of crimson and leave the field stand for another year?
 
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