A SEASON WITH COVER CROPS: Trying Annual Ryegrass

The fall of 2005 was my first try with annual ryegrass. I broadcast about 22 pounds of Saddle Pro brand with 150 pounds of 21-0-0-24 fertilizer. This was spread after soybean harvest on 9-26-2005. I use a Phoenix rotary harrow to slightly incorporate the seed. It received rain that same night after seeding. That fall it was warm and I got nice growth. In fact it never went dormant that winter. In mid January a root dig revealed that the roots were down to a depth of 12 inches.

First try at Annual Rye-grass. Seeded fall 2005 at 20 lbs.

As I spread liquid hog manure on it in December and again in February the annual ryegrass greened up noticeably each time.

The fall of 2006 was colder and wet. I seeded about 15 pounds of annual ryegrass with fertilizer again. It was later though (10-05-2006). It sprouted and got a fine hair like shoot, but it froze out this winter and none survived.

In the summer of 2007, I seeded the annual ryegrass after wheat harvest on 8-31-2007. This was done after hauling manure from barns and pits. This year the rate was 12 pounds per acre and again with 21-0-0-24 fertilizer. There was nice growth (6 inches) going into fall. That winter was open and cold and the annual ryegrass froze out. Vary little survived by spring. Due to earlier seeding, and growth well into December the rooting depth was still there.

Annual Rye-grass seeded after wheat stubble, September 2007.

I had tried strip tillage back about 1997 and never did get to plant a crop of corn on them. I tried it in wheat stubble without killing volunteer wheat and weeds in the fall. By spring the strips were grown over with volunteer wheat and were impossible to follow, especially without any type of guidance.

Starting in the fall of 2007 I made strips in bean ground that was planted to corn in 2008. This was done with a rented tractor and Remlinger 6 row strip till tool bar. The tractor also had RTK and auto steer guidance. This was necessary as I plant with a 12 row planter and the strips had to be accurate enough to match.

Spring Planting, 2008

I also used cereal rye as a cover crop that fall on one field that I made the strips in. Cereal rye is a lot tougher and can be seeded later and still grow late into the fall. I’ve never seen it freeze out over the winter. A broadcast seeding with fertilizer is all that is needed to establish a stand. As there was about two weeks between the seeding date and the day I made the strips, the cereal rye was already emerging. The strip till operation took everything out of the row and left the middles with a live cover. The next spring I had a nice clean dry spot to plant into. This was just one years experience but I liked what I saw and did try it again for the fall of 2008. This time I used annual ryegrass.