Today went out and put in a quarter acre winter rye plot. Time is getting late so I knew this rye does well in many types of soils and I wanted a fall and winter plot to go with my clover plot. I mowed down as low as I could with my trail mower and then disked it up with the ground hog max, I am impressed with this plow, it took me awhile because I did not round up but it works as advertised. I wouldn't go much bigger then a half an acre though but that's just me. After a few passes it churns up soil very well, I was using a Polaris sportsman 500 with a 2 inch aftermarket receiver. I spread out the rye with a hand spreader and drove over it. Know hope for rain. Scoot
I just put in three more plots totalling about 4 acres tonight of winter rye. It's terribly late, but the drought has killed everything else off and its supposed to rain saturday. The rye seems to do well with little moisture and in all kinds of soil. I know the deer love it.
Looks good. Fletch, I hear you. My Brassica's blew up initially, only to dry up and get severly stunted from our long period of no rain through August and part of September. My winter rye, clover, and oats, are doing much better.
Looks good. In my rotation I will be putting in the Winter rye, Spring oats, Austrian Winter Peas and and Radish next year where my brassicas stand today. The winter rye really helps with soil building so I'm told.
Looks good Scoot. I think you'll be fine as it is supposed to rain tomorrow. That and cooler temps will hold moisture in the ground longer. I planted 4 plots of winter rye and oats mix on Aug 13th and had no germination until last week. 5 weeks with no rain. I was worried that turkeys and other animals would have eaten all my seed. Glad they sprouted.
LC is spot on with his weed suppressing ability of the Rye. I've followed rye plots with other plantings in the spring, and the weed competition is definitely less than with other plantings. Plus it stays green for SO long.
Yeah, that man has cut the learning curve of planting down by years for me. My dad has a pretty strong farm background and we're still learning and experimenting based off what I learn over there.
keep us updated and we should be getting some rain here soon. Glad I got to talking to to you on the phone. Give me a call whenever and I got your stuff in the mail, you should see it next week.
I've learned a ton from LC. I've been using is rotation for the past three years. I have noticed a dramatic change in the soil and the deer happily feed in our plots all year long. The guy is brilliant and he was always there to answer my many questions.
Jake, the plot got around a quarter of an inch last night, more down here forecasted Thursday and Friday. Scoot
temps look pretty warm too for a while. If I was to place a bet, I would say the rye will get at least 3 inchs tall. Dont forget to put a little cage up like I did in the post I made.
