Soaking rye before broadcasting?

[Catscratch]

I have a plot that I want to overseed due to some bare spots and there isn't any rain in the immediate forecast. We got rain last night so the soil will be damp and much of the bare spots really are bare with nothing on them (anything I broadcast should make soil contact). Can I soak the winter rye for a day before broadcasting to speed up germination? Anyone do this? I suppose that I'm not really out anything if it doesn't work, just want to know if anyone has done this with success or not.

Thanks!

 

[dipper]

Try it, guessing it would be harder to spread?

 

[Catscratch]

I think I will try it. Maybe part of the plot just broadcast like I would normally do and another part of the plot with wet seed. The ground is wet now so if a swelled seed makes contact I would think it stands a decent chance of growth without being "rained in".

 

[Catscratch]

Try it, guessing it would be harder to spread?

I have two little boys that love nothing more than to throw handfuls of seed at each other. A couple of buckets of seed and two "bases" and everything in between will be covered in seed in no time. Works very well.

 

[Brush Creek]

Two 12 year olds with machete's really helps with the buckthorn!

 

[foggy]

I think you will be out the price of the seed.....but its not too expensive. Could be a beach to spread that wet seed.....but, what the hay. Let us know how it works out.

 

[Catscratch]

Rain forecasted for this week so I broadcast my winter rye into the plot and ran a roller over it. I did throw some seed into a bucket with some dirt and water to try my experiment though. I will wait until it starts to swell and then broadcast it right before the expected rain. I will see if it make any difference than what is in the dirt waiting on rain.

 

[Catscratch]

Got home last night and the seed all had 3/8in long roots on them. I was really surprised with that much growth in only 24hrs of moisture! I went ahead and broadcast them in two different spots. One spot I watered in and the other spot is 50% dry seed and 50% soaked seed. I'll report what happens but I'm guessing the germinated seed that is on dry ground won't make it.

The soaked seed is on the left and the dry broadcast is on the right. I'll take new pics as things change over the next couple of weeks.

 

[Catscratch]

Quick update: The soaked rye that I watered-in is doing amazingly well! I threw it out Monday night and last night (Wednesday) the patch was 2" to 3" tall. So 48hrs after broadcasting I have a good stand of rye. Conversely, the patch I didn't water-in appears dead and the seed that I didn't soak or water-in still hasn't germinated.

So far I'm thinking that if you have 100% chance of rain this could get you a jump start, but that effort would only be worth the risk in an emergency situation (maybe it's very late in the growing season and you are expected to have a rain and then a dry spell, might be worth a shot to get a jump start?).

 

[dipper]

Keep an eye on that stuff you think is dead. I broadcasted some stuff that got around a .2" and didn't getminate. It hasn't rained since. One day it's 2"s in the shade and the next it's all 2"s. It seems you get a flush of about 2"s after germination.
Mine had to germinate with the dew because we didn't get any rain.
I'm also betting your soaked stuff that looks dead, pulls through.

 

[Catscratch]

It's been 4 day's since I broadcast seed. The soaked seed that got watered in as soon as I broadcasted it is doing great. The soaked seed and dry seed that I put out and depended on rain (that didn't happen) is still sitting without germination. No rain predicted for at least a week, we'll see how things go.

 

[Catscratch]

This is the same spot that had soaked seed on the left and regular seed on the right (post #9). I soaked the rye before forecasted rain and broadcasted after soaking got it to germinate. The rain didn't hit for a couple of weeks and the spot sat with nothing happening. A couple of days ago we got rain and this is how it looks now. I was sure the germinated (soaked) seed was done for, but some of it did sprout. The right side (broadcast dry) had much better germination.

The spot that I boadcast soaked seed and then watered in once has grown like crazy. It was thick and tall before I mowed it. It had at least two weeks of growth on it before the dry seed even germinated.