spring planted winter rye?

[bornagain62511]

Yes born again that’s what my understanding is


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That's what I was expecting to happen as well but from the looks of it the rye in our plots died out by midsummer.


There were quite a few deer in and out of the Winfred this morning. The photo below is just a handful of them, 50 yards frommy house.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Let us know what you find come spring but I think I'll add some awnless winter barley to my beans this spring to find out for myself.

 

[bornagain62511]

Let us know what you find come spring but I think I'll add some awnless winter barley to my beans this spring to find out for myself.

Sounds good. Let us know how that works for you if you try that as well. The Rye might have survived in some areas where the Winfred did not get as thick I will let you know how it looks when spring green up gets here

 

[bornagain62511]

7 deer walked through my front yard this morning and there was 20 or more feeding in the Winfred this morning. The ones in the photos are just a few of them

 

[bornagain62511]

photo below is March 2nd, deer feeding in the Winfred. Not sure if they are nibbling the stems, or rotted down leaves, or possibly the rye that died out last summer. The stems have been eaten down pretty good and what's left looks kinda woody and what they've been nibbling on lately seems to be near the ground, so maybe it's the leaves that fell to the ground and froze/rotted under the snow.

this year I am planning to something similar, but with Major Plus Swede (aka, rutabagas). Similar to Winfred in that they are a long season brassica, and the leaves will be similar in nutrient and attractiveness, but the big difference is the bulbs. Larger and sweeter and softer than purple top turnips. I plan to plant at least 2-3 acres in April or May. about 1 to 1.5 pounds (no more) per acre Major Plus Swede with about 125 pounds per acre of winter rye as a weed suppressor and soil builder which I expect to die out in early summer like it did last year, leaving a fairly weed free plot of Swede to grow the rest of summer and early fall. Should provide more mid and late winter/early spring food with those large bulbs. The Winfred is awesome, but we just can't seem to plant enough of it to provide enough forage through the winter. After they got the leaves and most tender parts of the stems eaten up in mid winter, the activity in the plot diminished big time. We would need 4 or 5 acres of Winfred to last most or all winter, but don't have that option now. I'm hoping 2 to 3 acres of the Swedes will provide plenty of food until spring when things green up. Planning to use rye/oats/winter peas for more fall and early winter attraction and probably drop the Winfred from the rotation, not because it's not attractive, but because the Swedes should provide better late winter food source, while the rye/oats/peas provide fall and early winter attraction. They fed in the Winfred all summer, fall, and winter until they got the leaves and most tender stems eaten over, then the amount of feeding in the Winfred decreased a lot. That was probably Late January/early February. Like I said, depending on plot size and deer density, that would vary greatly. We've had years when we planted 5 acres of Winfred and we had great attraction all winter even into March. This year, with less acreage, there was not a lot of activity after Late January/early February because the best parts were eaten up and only the toughest stems were left

 

[strawhead]

Here are some photos of the same plots, today June 13 at 4 weeks since planting on May 15. We've had lots of rainy cooler than normal weather.

Notice the test strip where there is no rye, only the Winfred brassica and how many weeds there are compared to where there is rye. Good thing I only did one short strip without the rye. It makes a huge difference in keeping the weeds suppressed.

I planted 4.10 acres, seeded at a rate of about 2 pounds per acre of Winfred forage brassica and 80 pounds per acre rye.


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Great looking results to your system. I hope I didn't miss it, but what did you put down for fertilizer? Thanks I'm going to give this a try!

 

[bornagain62511]

Great looking results to your system. I hope I didn't miss it, but what did you put down for fertilizer? Thanks I'm going to give this a try!

Last year I didn't fertilize right away at planting time. I was concerned the weeds would grow so much faster if I fertilized right away. I was thinking I would let the rye do it's job and smother the weeds and when the rye and winfred got to a certain height then fertilize. That didn't work as well as I thought. the rye and winfred struggled the first month or so because of lack of nutrients. some parts of the field was worse than others. places with deep rich fertile soil were perfectly fine. other areas did poorly and the weeds took over. we planted last year on May 15 if I remember correct, and about 5 weeks after planting, in late June, I put on urea, potash, and MAP. not sure exact amounts but probably around 200 to 300 pounds urea per acre, 100-150 pounds of potash, and 100-150 pounds of MAP per acre.

 

[bornagain62511]

This year I decided to use Major Plus Swede instead of Winfred. The leaves are similar in nutrients and attractiveness, but they get a large bulb and probably not quite as tall in the stem and leaves. Hoping this will give us more late winter feed for the deer. They tend to wipe out the winfred so fast in November through January around here, unless we had a large acreage planted.

I seeded about 3 acres on April 26, another 0.40 acre on May 3, and another 0.15 acre on May 16. The later planting dates were definitely much better. I'm in southwest Wisconsin and we had lows of 21 and 26 degrees after the first seeding and cold soil temps really slowed germination and I think even killed some of the newly sprouted seedlings. I used about 120 pounds of rye per acre, and anywhere from 1.5 to 3 pounds of Major Plus Swede per acre. The seeding rate of the swede varied from one plot to another because I was trying to figure out settings on an old brillion seeder that I was borrowing from a neighbor farmer. The 3 acres I planted on April 26 consisted of 3 different plots and that is where the seeding rates flucuated the most with the swede as I was trying to get the seeder set right, and it was a challenge because the gauge was worn and sloppy and wouldn't hold it's position. The 0.4 acre and 0.15 acre plots I hand seeded with a broadcast spreader over my shoulder.

I will shoot for mid May planting dates in future years. When the soil is warmer the seed germinates much faster and seems to get ahead of the weeds better. We are in southwest Wisconsin, so more southern you could probably plant earlier, but mid May seems to be best around here.

I broadcasted about 300 pounds per acre of this organic fertilizer at planting time:
https://ohioearthfood.com/collections/top-products/products/re-vita-pro-5-4-5

If interested here's the dealer locator page:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/13jWFmi9MT1l6klWvQiOhpT6fHJbe7v1HbM_jGABmceo/edit#gid=0

I will try to post photos soon and occassionally throughout the growing season.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

I honestly think for us northern guys mid May is the earliest we should plant. I planted soybeans this year April 30- May 2 don’t remember the exact date. As of a week ago they haven’t poked through the soil. We were cold and dry. We now have the moisture and the warm temps are coming. This is the first year that I planted a warm weather crop plot before Memorial Day weekend. It will also be the last.

I will be planting 0.8 soybeans this next week or so TNM with MPS. I hope the Swedes grow fast enough to not be shaded out. Time will tell.


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[bornagain62511]

I hope the Swedes grow fast enough to not be shaded out. Time will tell.

yes, that is a concern, especially because they do not grow as much upright as the winfred. I hope the rye crowds out the weeds good enough to let the swedes get a foot hold. If I had the right equipment, I would work the ground, let it sit for a week or so, and then run through with a shallow working soil finisher to kill any weeds that have sprouted, and then seed it. I had to hire the neighbor to chisel plow and soil finish, so I don't have the option of coming back through a week later. I suppose I could ask him, but don't think he would be too happy about doing that . if you're not opposed to using chemicals, it would be pretty easy to till, let it sit for a couple weeks, spray with roundup, and then seed it. that would make a pretty weed free plot.

 

[strawhead]

We are giving this WR and Winfred brassica mix a try on a 1/3 acre strip in a 1 acre plot where the other 2/3 acre is oats and berseem for July change to fall mixes. Thanks for sharing.

 

[bornagain62511]

Some photos of the rye and rutabagas at different stages since planting

 

[H80Hunter]

I’m thinking about a couple small woods plots,
Getting them in with a rye mix early. We have a lot of deer and it’s questionable they won’t demolish the plots anyway, but I think if I get them started quick during mid-late July they might get a little ahead of the deer.

 

[bornagain62511]

Well I've learned I will never plant rutabagas again for deer. They were a total failure. They are such a long season variety they grow so slowly and need nearly 100% weed control. Did I mention they are SLOW growing? Mostly they got buried in the winter rye, and then the weeds. When we have done similar spring time plantings with Winfred brassica and rye, the Winfred takes over once the rye and Winfred reach about 10-12 inches tall, and then the winfred really takes off and grows upward much faster. I planted some purple top turnips a week ago to provide the late winter food source I was hoping the rutabagas would provide.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

Pictures?


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[bornagain62511]

Pictures?


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most of it we had the neighbor cut and harvest for silage since the rye mostly took it over and the rutabagas weren't really growing, or growing so slow that they would never amount to much. then we tilled and planted PTT or winter peas/clover. the rest of the plots that we had planted in rye/rutabagas is buried in weeds or buried in the rye that we seeded with the rutabagas and any rutabagas that can be found are not doing much or not going to amount to anything. they need 100% weed control, very fertile soils, and a long growing season. not a good choice for food plots in the northern part of the U.S. unless you use herbicides and use them perfectly, and have very fertile soils and fertilize heavily

 

[hilltopper]

Did the rye die out as it did last year, or did it do better without the competing winifred?

 

[bornagain62511]

It was still totally alive. We cut 2 crops of hay off it and then tilled it after taking the 2nd crop. The rye got probably 15" tall or so. We still have about an acre that we did not take hay off of not till under and I plan to mow it soon and see how the rye comes back this fall. It's pretty weedy but as far as I know, the rye we planted there in late April should still be alive.


The purple top turnips we planted 2 weeks ago are already bigger than the rutabagas were at 5 weeks of age as seen in the photos above taken June 2nd, which was about 5 weeks after planting the rutabagas.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

My Swedes have good leaf growth just no roots to speak of. I may try them again the next time I rotate a plot out of clover


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[GoldenTriangleIL]

Had a question regarding the topic of this thread. I am installing food plots in an overgrazed pasture that I purchased late last fall. Pasture is mainly fescue, some type of white clover, and sumpweed, but very thin. My plant dates would be after August 1 for the food plots. Food plots will consist of Alfalfa, White and Red Clover, and Chicory. I thought that perhaps planting cereal rye into plots in the early spring would allow me to gain all the soil benefits of rye prior to planting my plots. I would terminate Rye and till it into soil well in advance of planting so that that that suppression effect of the Rye would no longer be an issue and to allow for a spraying of any undesirables in the seedbank before planting. Is this a viable approach? How early do you think I could plant Rye?