Winter rye cover crop

So I've been thinking about months away From now when the tree leaves begin to drop and we near harvest our bud.... in my area the dark green canibis will really contrast with typical fall colors.

Winter rye or known as winter wheat stays bright green through winter. Anyone try blending themselves in with it? It's very cheap and grows by just tossing seed around. Looks like a normal grass to most. It would require planting about the time plants start to flower, not at initial planting of mj.

It would then be a fantastic mulch or thatch the next year.

Thoughts?

I planted some winter rye along with red clover last Fall and the rye came up within a week of planting.

Can wait to see how it does once the snow melts.

one of the overlooked .....green manure crops......

best in growth.......

Only downfall I see is the rye eating up all the nitrogen, you guys have any issues with that? Mixing with red clover would be good to fixate free nitrogen from atmosphere but clover grows so slow

troutman said:

I planted some winter rye along with red clover last Fall and the rye came up within a week of planting.

Can wait to see how it does once the snow melts.

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Nice rabbit and deer food. Should distract them from your plants. They love the shoots.

I'm putting clover and Buckwheat (for pest prevention) May 1st.

Tiresmoke19 said:

Only downfall I see is the rye eating up all the nitrogen, you guys have any issues with that? Mixing with red clover would be good to fixate free nitrogen from atmosphere but clover grows so slow

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Hum... never thought of that but if you cut away a sq foot, it shouldn't be an issue. I think.

Is the idea that winter rye will help the plants blend in?

Also, if one plants clover at the beginning of the season, could winter rye essentially be planted on top of it in August? Could you maybe cut out a few chunks of clover and throw rye in it its place?

My thought was for blend in yes as the winter rye stays green like some native grasses. Problem is those native grasses are usually in areas to wet for canibis.

Yes you can definitely over seed your clover with rye. I do a few acres of this for wildlife on my land. Great place to find shed antlers in spring!

Rye is so easy to grow that I've had it grow a few inches tall in the box of my truck from a spilled bag

I planted the rye and clover to build up the soil. I'm not worried about how much nutrients are locked in the
plants while they are still alive. Eventually they will be returned to the soil. My regular plant fertilizers will help
me until then.

BTW: I applied an entire bag of lawn fertilizer on the area to help things along.

Once the snow melts, I'll be spreading dolomitic limestone to bring up the pH which is on the low side now.

If your returning the green manure into soil anyways should look into tillage turnips. They pull up nutrients from deep and hold it up close to surface for next crop.

Rocky fields some smart farmers now plant fall turnips rather than plow and have to pick stones.

Hi everyone!!
From personal experience, l would be extremely careful about introducing any green manure crop, seed, without knowing that they come with a disease free status.
Last year l did a green manure crop, that l started in autumn and alowed to run to seed in summer, in an attempt to introduce another phosphorus source for flower. I bought it from a local nursery and it consisted of rye corn, tic beans, annual lupins and barley.
The unfortunate result of this was the introduction of one or more fungal infections which, as some of you may know, are, almost, impossible to treat and almost, impossible to diagnose, given that symptoms manifest in mirror ways for different fungal infections; l definitely have rust because it has presented on some of the grasses ( rye and barley) that have grown from the seeds. This is the worst disaster l have seen in 25 years!!!!!!!
My research shows that once infected, the fungus is systemic within the plant (clones) and seed and only systemic fungicides can really control the infection!!
This is the worst news for me because there is dead plant material all through the garden containing spores ready to re-infect plants in spring.
If you are going to plant a green manure crop l would highly recommend digging it in in the spring, three to four weeks before planting, when the plants are at their healthiest.
Having said this, l know Schrews has had great success with long running cover crops.
I hope this helps just one person from the deviation l endured this year!!! ️

P.S. If anyone has any advice regarding an ipm strategy for this year, l cannot tell you how grateful l would be. Please direct me to a thread so we can chat and not clog up this one !! Cheers

I just didn't have time to plant anything this year. I'm like a dog chasing squirrels when it comes to spots, so it would be a waste anyway.

A very intrusive plant stays bushy and green until it freezes off in december, and it really takes a hard freeze to shed the green leaves. Im talking about asian bush honeysuckle and everybody will hate you if you plant it but i still recommend.