rye grass

been reading posts about rye grass, i planted rye on the garden last fall with intentions of plowing it under this spring, but after reading the posts should i spray it before tilling it under ?????

Tilling it under should knock it out and you are going to cultivate your garden anyway, most people burn off the cover crop when no tilling.

I don't have any experience with rye grass, but I know (cereal) rye and rye grass are two different things. Cereal rye can be killed easily enough with normal tillage.

It's funny hearing about people planting Rye. Here is Kansas, and other Midwest states as well I'm sure, Rye is a cuss word. It was brought up years ago by Custom Wheat Harvesters and is like a noxious weed around here. The seeds can lay dormant for up to 7 years the USDA says and still take off and grow. The Rye will take over a wheat field in just a few short years. You need to rotate out for at least 2 years, but more like 3 to 4 years to try to get it cleaned up.

This is in Central Kansas and the weather is not that conducive to growing row crops, so it's tough to have some of the land out of wheat for that long. That is one of the hardest battles I had to fight was trying to keep Rye out of the fields. Then, if you neighbor has Rye, which several do, they claim the seeds will blow and can still contaminate your ground. One seed grows into several seeds in a head. If you combine it, a lot of the seeds are light enough they are blown out with the fan or just go out the back of the combine. If you cut through one stalk, it seems like the next year there will be several plants there. Keep in mind the wind does blow here in KS.

I still cringe every time someone mentions planting Rye..hehe! Bob

Like Fordfarmer said,two different things. You can knock rye out with a disc with no problem. Ryegrass,annual or perennial,roots deep and is a whole other story

You are certainly right about that Randy, but the deal here is that it grows the same time as your wheat. Which means there are years (most years it seems) that we don't get the moisture to get it started in the summer after cutting the wheat. That means you can't kill it if it isn't growing. Then while doing tillage work, it more or less just plants the seeds back in the ground, to be a pain in the rear for next wheat harvest.

Some people will try wicking their wheat, because the rye is so much taller, but that has to be done late in the growing season, and is hard on the wheat. Leaves tracks in the fields, every dip means booms touching the wheat and killing it as well.

Trust me when I say Rye is a cuss word here in KS, and probably the whole Midwest. Where rain is more prevalent, it is not such and issue. Bob

Oh I know what you mean. The whole family used to go out pulling rye out of the wheat here. It was taller and headed out before the wheat,so even the youngest among us knew what we were supposed to pull up. It was a ritual every spring.

Here in pa rye and rye grass are totally two different things cereal rye grows five feet high and usually used for a cover crop! And rye grass is a grass we have planted on low clay wet ground and round baled and wrapped it for balage! Works great! We always mold board plowed any rye under we ever planted never had a problem! We did plant winter barley once and it kept growing in the hay fields year after year! But we just mowed and baled it!

Bob I THINK here it is called cheat.. Just like you say it will take over a wheat field. Real waxy looking when it is growing early in the year.

Oh yeah! I remember when I was a kid (70 years ago) we had to go through the wheat field and cut off the rye heads. Dad always tried to save "clean" wheat seed for next year, but it was always back!

Here in Ohio next door neighbor raised cerial rhy to feed his hogs. The local seed house that was set up as a commercial seed cleaning bussiness had a giant fanning mill for wheat, oats and soybeans. would not run rhy thru that one but thru the one for grass seeds so it would not mix with any wheat as both were impossible to seperate apart even with a gravity table. It was good hog feed tho. He combined it using a AC 60 combine pulled by a Wards tractor that I think had an extra low first gear.

Cheet and Ryegrass are two different grasses. I have both in my bermuda patch along with some tall Fescue....and some Buttercups.

Rye is like a fish bone, one main stem and alternating seeds spaced out along the stem pointing up and away from the root until it matures and the tip rolls over....like a fishing rod tip with a big fish on. Cheet seeds are in clumps on very thin branch stems and hang down from the main stem....Google search the name and they have pictures. I have one field with volunteer rye in it doing just great. I have had this farm 35 years and NEVER planted Rye but it came up big time this year......from where?