What to do with the rye...

[SWIFFY]

So just curious as to others opinions. I finally got to planting my corn and beans last week in Central MN. I bit late on the corn and should be fine on the beans. All went great and im glad to have it in the ground!

Last September I overseeded a lot of my corn and beans with Cereal Rye (and some brassicas). The deer loved the new growth in fall and spring but now, of coarse, it tall and heading out. Im all no-till. So now we planted through the standing corn and beans from last year. I did mow some of it.

My question is what would you "do" with the rye?? Its about 25"-30" tall and starting to head out. Should I just spray it with gly? mow it? Roll it?

If I mow it will it die? If I roll it will it die, or is it not quite mature enough yet? I know the gly kills it fine but curious what would be the be the best practice in this situation for now, or for future plantings.

I will try to post a picture of one of the plots so you can see what the rye looks like.

Thanks much for your thoughts and opinions!

-Swiffy-

 

[Someday isle]

I'm in a similar spot. Mine is three to five feet tall depending on which trail and headed out. While probably not enough to worry about I don't want to have a bunch of volunteer seed causing me to have too thick of a stand in the fall. I'm going to start mowing mine this weekend if the weather cooperates.

 

[Big Snow Man]

Check out Grant Woods growing deer tv and look at this weeks segment. It will answer some of your questions.

 

[SWIFFY]

 

[NBK]

I would just no-till into the standing rye and either spray gly after or roll it, which will kill it. I like the roll method as it gives you a nice straw blanket to hold moisture and also keep weeds to a minimum

 

[pointer]

I have 4 small plots totaling about 2ac with rye in them. One of them that had clover seeded with it last fall has a very good/thick stand of clover under the rye. I plan on mowing/weed eating down once the rye matures. Two of the others were frost seeded with clover, which is growing but not as thick as I'd like. They will both get some grain (rye or oats or both) along with more clover and some chicory seeded into them, then cultipacked around Labor Day. The one closest to the blind will get some "candy" added as well such as sunflowers and/or peas added to help get some deer close for youth season. The last and biggest also had some rape that made it through winter and is seeded out. Not sure what I will do there yet, but at a minimum it will get mowed/rolled. Thinking I'll added some other brassicas, probably turnips) to this plot prior to doing that.

How far off base am I with this tentative plan?

 

[Ben Glantz]

I have 4 small plots totaling about 2ac with rye in them. One of them that had clover seeded with it last fall has a very good/thick stand of clover under the rye. I plan on mowing/weed eating down once the rye matures. Two of the others were frost seeded with clover, which is growing but not as thick as I'd like. They will both get some grain (rye or oats or both) along with more clover and some chicory seeded into them, then cultipacked around Labor Day. The one closest to the blind will get some "candy" added as well such as sunflowers and/or peas added to help get some deer close for youth season. The last and biggest also had some rape that made it through winter and is seeded out. Not sure what I will do there yet, but at a minimum it will get mowed/rolled. Thinking I'll added some other brassicas, probably turnips) to this plot prior to doing that.

How far off base am I with this tentative plan?

I am in a very similar boat. I have WR and clover in 2 plots about a 1/2 acre apiece. I also spread 75lbs of oats back in April and they are just starting to take off. The soil is very sandy and this planting has been the most succesful I have had in the last several year. If the weeds get bad, I will spray and then do the broadcast, roll and spray or just skip the spraying .The nice thing about rye is that it dies and creates mulch and hopefully I can just broadcast new seeds into the clover. The plot is very spotty with some very thick rye/clover and other areas are pretty sparse. When I am liming I will hit the sparse areas a little more because I am thinking those areas have lower PH and not as suitable for growing. Knock on wood, the weeds have been kept to a minimum by the rye.

 

[j-bird]

I have 4 small plots totaling about 2ac with rye in them. One of them that had clover seeded with it last fall has a very good/thick stand of clover under the rye. I plan on mowing/weed eating down once the rye matures. Two of the others were frost seeded with clover, which is growing but not as thick as I'd like. They will both get some grain (rye or oats or both) along with more clover and some chicory seeded into them, then cultipacked around Labor Day. The one closest to the blind will get some "candy" added as well such as sunflowers and/or peas added to help get some deer close for youth season. The last and biggest also had some rape that made it through winter and is seeded out. Not sure what I will do there yet, but at a minimum it will get mowed/rolled. Thinking I'll added some other brassicas, probably turnips) to this plot prior to doing that.

How far off base am I with this tentative plan?

Pointer - just an FYI - I struggled with rye because of it's height and I have had far better results with winter wheat. It doesn't get nearly as tall and will survive our winters just fine. I prefer dealing with the wheat in the spring vs the rye because the rye is so much taller it wants to wrap around all sorts of rotary equipment. The only advantage I see with rye is the fawning cover it can create IF you let it stand long enough. I don't (I plant my plots on memorial day) so I prefer having the shorter wheat to deal with.

As for your plan - keep in mind sunflower and peas are larger seed and will do far better if covered by soil when planted. Smaller seed like clover, chicory and turnips don't require it as the rain can/will drive them into the soil to get adequate contact for germination.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

I let mine stand until I plant my turnips and radishes around July 4th weekend. It is usually long dead by then, but the fawns get a place to hide out until then. Last year I just ran over it with the 4 wheeler a week before I planted, then lightly disced it in.

 

[Bill]

If you're no tilling, spray it, drill it, them hit it with the cultipacker. Hopefully I'll have some new pics of the process next week.

I do sometimes drill then spray if I can't get right on it with the packer. It doesn't crimp as well once dead.

 

[Booner21]

I planted two plots this past weekend in IL that had rye in them both had fawns that had to be chased out prior to the tractor driving through them.

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