Rye and Bermuda

Surely lots of folks have had this problem.....invasive spring rye. I know about herbicides and when. What I am interested in is how mature can a seed pod on a stem of rye be and not re-seed? I (guess) I realize that once the plant dies the seed is ready to overseed the field, but what about the seeds on stems that get cut before the plant is mature?

I have a Bermuda patch I need to get Bermuda off but the Rye has just taken over and since it is a spring grass and Bermuda waits till it gets hot.....tough luck. I tried bailing it last year but I rolled it and the bales didn't last the season in the weather....just rotted. I planted some GMO Rye in another field and it did ok against the weather, same baling person (me), equipment, technique and all that.

I did a lot of www surfing and all I got was poison it or how to grow it.

Thanks,
Mark

Pre-emerge helps but often alow's even less desirable plants to move in. Rye shade's out a lot of broad leaf so I just graze it and count my blessings for haveing less bitter weed. My biggest complaint is delaying fertilize application to avoid rye sucking it up sometime's miss's needed rainfall. You might pre-emerge a portion of the field in fall to see if you like it in spring.

Darn,

Thought you were talking about drinking rye whiskey in Bermuda.

Count me in for that.

"<font color="#6699ff">[b:654c4848f0][i:654c4848f0]What I am interested in is how mature can a seed pod on a stem of rye be and not re-seed?[/i:654c4848f0][/b:654c4848f0]</font>"

Reviewed the following <a href="http://aggie-horticulture.tamu.edu/archives/parsons/turf/publications/ryegrass.html">article on ryegrass</a> from Texas A&M Agrilife Extension.

One of the author's statements is "[b:654c4848f0][i:654c4848f0]The ryegrasses flower in early spring and seed mature in early summer.[/i:654c4848f0][/b:654c4848f0]"

We cut our Coastal Bermuda field as soon as the Bermuda is "ready" in early Spring.

This is usually within the first couple of weeks in May before the ryegrass "burns tan" and drops its' seeds.

Hope this helps.

Mark
Once you have ryegrass infest your Coastal it will be present next year even if you cut it before seeds mature unless you apply a herbicide. If your ryegrass hay rotted you must have baled it at too high moisture. I've baled/fed many ryegrass bales that cattle consumed &amp; weren't rotten. I applied 1 qt of glyphosate per acre in mid February and although stunted the ryegrass was still present in my Coastal field I baled last week

Naw, sorry. My wife liked Bushnells. I was a sourmash guy. But for relaxing after a hot day's work, it was the bubbly stuff. Those days are long gone. Dr. told me #2 was looking at you. I quit cold turkey. BS is normal. Phew. Family history of it. Didn't need the bubbly. Don't miss it and sipping a beer while mowing pasture or my lawn was one of my favorite pastimes. Life moves on.

Those comments were my feelings exactly and my actions. Here the spring comes in wet and when it stops it stops. If you don't have your fertilizer dissolved and absorbed, you are wasting your time and money so it has to go in early. Obviously rye is first to the table and there goes your Bermuda feed.

I think you nailed it on the baled too wet. As I said below springs have been really wet (after our 5 year drought departed) and the field was
just a mess. Rye was around 15-20" and thick. In a lot of places the weather had laid it over. I ran the tedder over it numerous times. Add
that to the highly irregular field: 3 terraces cross it; they are on a bias to the rectangular property lines, one side is the drain for the
terraces so it's the variances of the up hill and down hill sloughs that usually don't completely dry out and all. The GMO is on flat ground,
rectangular, no terraces and was planted, not volunteer so it went in and came off later as the weather cooperated.

Yesterday I experimented with several solutions. The original idea was to clip the tops off the Rye but not disturb the Bermuda shoots that were up about 4". I adjusted my brush hog tail wheel and the 3 pt for a 4" clipping height. That worked ok on the uphill parts of the field where the grass was thin and dry, but where the Rye was lush, the tractor tires smashed it down and the hog just ran over the top totally missing it.

What finally worked was to leave the tail wheel up but drop the 3 pt so that the front of the hog was in the normal cutting position...just off the ground a couple of inches.

Position of the tractor was important in that you cut a fresh row such that only one wheel was stomping down product; the other was rolling over mowed ground but right up against the uncut product.....made for a 30% loss in your cutting width but it was a workable solution whereby before I didn't have a solution so take it on the chin and get on with it. Grin

Last was cutting direction. In going around in circles as is usually the custom (around here) you are mowing in the direction of stomped down product. However if you go back and forth, every cut is in the opposite direction and having the mower low in front and high in the rear (making a wedge sort of thing) and going against the downed product, it pushed it back up and whacked it. Whadda deal.

So my quest to retain the nutrients the Rye consumed is being fulfilled in that the clippings will fall down and mulch, being too short for the rake and baler to pick up on the Bermuda bailing runs and will remain in the field to improve it's production efficiency.

Going to jot this down so I don't forget for next year.

Thanks guys for taking the time to help me with this.

Mark

Thanks James. You nailed what I was looking for in an article; something from the ag extension guys. Will check it out and bookmark.

"<font color="#6699ff">[b:654c4848f0][i:654c4848f0]it will be present next year even if you cut it before seeds mature unless you apply a herbicide.[/i:654c4848f0][/b:654c4848f0]</font>"

We have had success using <A href="">Pastora</a> herbicide on our Coastal Bermuda field.

"[b:654c4848f0][i:654c4848f0]Ryegrass (Italian, perennial): For best results when ryegrass is greater than 2" in height or for heavy populations, apply PASTORA? at 1 ounce per acre and follow with a second application at 1 ounce per acre in 3 to 4 weeks.[/i:654c4848f0][/b:654c4848f0]"