Winter Rye versus Winter Wheat

[wolc123]

My wife tried all day to find some rye as I wanted to plant some this weekend. She came up empty there but was able to score a couple bushels of wheat and some AWP, so I will go with that instead. I have heard some say that deer prefer wheat a little over rye anyhow and that has lined up with my own observations over the years. The plots I am planting are not well suited for corn next spring anyway, being poorly drained and subject to spring flooding, so there is no real reason for the better nitrogen scavanging ability of rye. Corn is my go-to crop when it comes to putting meat in the freezer, but the wheat/AWP will be a nice backup in case the turkeys clean out the corn before I fill all of my doe tags.

[Lickcreek]

My wife tried all day to find some rye

Few places in my area carry any cereal grain seed of any kind so I always call a couple weeks ahead and they pick it up an have it ready for me.

Winter rye will grow on almost any kind of soil under almost any kind of conditions so one can get away with out fertilizing it unless…you expect heavy grazing and/or are establishing clovers and building up soil nutrient levels.

In those cases fall is the perfect time to add lime and fertilizer! My friend Walt is trying to build up some poor soil that has been in pasture for decades so each time we plant, we add N-P-K and pellet lime. Eventually we hope to get Ag lime put on but for now the pellet lime will suffice and we apply 400#’s per acre yearly.





Because the plots are hidden, he will have heavy grazing so we put on 200#’s of 46-0-0 urea and 400#’s of 6-24-24 to encourage rapid growth from the rye, oats, peas and GroundHog forage radish but also help establish a healthy stand of Alice white clover and Alta-Swede Mammoth red clover.



Walt has a 3 pt spreader that works well to spread lime, fertilizer and seed!

[Lickcreek]

I mixed the winter rye, oats and forage peas all together and spread the larger seeds right after I had applied the fertilizer and lime.



The skies were threatening as I hurried to get the seeds tilled in and cultipacked!



I spread the radish and clover seeds with the bag seeder and cultipacked again



And the strip plots are complete for another year with strips of white clover, strips of brassicas and strips of the winter rye, oats, forage peas, forage radish and clovers. (since then we have recieved several inches of rain... )



This is a case of extremes you could say…extremely heavy grazing combined with extremely depleted soils that are very low in nutrients, PH and organic matter. Initial costs then are higher then normal but as P&K levels are raised they will eventually only require maintenance applications.

Healthy rye and radish plants will mine subsoil nutrients and add tons of organic matter and healthy clovers will furnish the bulk of the nitrogen needed when they are tilled under. Late winter/early spring we’ll soil test and determine what if anything will be needed when these rye/clover plots are tilled under for a rotation to brassicas next summer and the cycle of feeding whitetails and using crop rotations will continue.


Some of you will wonder….why bother? Just plant some “stuff” and forget it! Those of you who have experienced crop failures due to soil crusting or drought or find your crops yellow, pale and barely surviving will come to understand the importance of building soil organic matter through crop rotations.

Failed crops don’t hold deer and they leave landowners frustrated and disappointed…plot with a plan for the future and failure won’t be an option you’ll have to worry about….

[wolc123]

I am hoping the wheat/AWP mix will bring in some deer during archery season in about a month. The jury is out on my corn, they are not hitting it at all yet, which is unusual for me at this time. The tables are somewhat turned from a normal year, when my dairy-farming nieghbor's corn towers above my own. This year their corn is short and looks kind of yellowish and has short ears. It looks like it will be lucky to make 100 bu/acre, while mine is dark green and tall with long ears and multiples on many stalks, looking like it may push 175 bu/acre. The nieghbors have planted corn so many years straight in the same ground that it is no wonder it looks like a bust this year, in spite of almost optimum rains. There are no weeds at all in their corn while mine has white clover sprouting between the rows but none in the rows because of high-concentration roundup applied there while cultivating. The good thing is that the nieghbors harvest all thiers prior to gun season, so it should get better then. I am betting that the deer's corn needs are being met right now by those easy-to reach, short little ears next door. I just dont know if the wheat/AWP mix will be enough to draw them out during bow season daylight hours.

[Lickcreek]

The jury is out on my corn, they are not hitting it at all yet, which is unusual for me at this time

I would be willing to bet that once they harvest theirs, that deer will turn on yours with a vengence!

Your healthy corn is a testament to your clover/corn rotation and I suspect that later in the season you'll reap the benefits. Keep us posted on how the corn compares to the wheat/pea combo as far as deer preference later on...

[Lickcreek]

An 1 1/2" of rain only days after planting the cereals had them germinating at 5 days after planting.



Winter rye and oats...the rye usually starts out witha reddish coloring while the oats tend to be a little more green in color.



I till the seeds in and pull a cultipacker behind the tiller but a certain percentage of seeds are bound to be pulled up to the surface....note here that the oat seeds on the surface have not germinated as readily as did the rye.



GroundHog Forage Radish seeds also germinate quickly and will do so on the soil surface with plenty of moisture.

[Lickcreek]

4010 Forage Peas...the peas will also germinate on top of the soil but they need continued rainfall to survive until roots reach the moisture zone.



If rain causes the seed to germinate and the the sun comes out for a week the seeds my dry out before reaching moistre below the surface.



Shooting for a 1-2" planting depth on peas usually insures a successful planting should one hit a dry spell after planting.



Rye and radish seeds work very well to overseed into standing crops like soybeans at leaf turn, thin brassicas, killed sod or cover crops....all they need is a little rain...

[whitetail fanatic]

LC, how does barley compare to rye? I wanted to do a last minute plot of rye and peas, but the local coop doesn't have just pure peas, they have 50# bags of 50%/50% barley and peas. Does barley tiller and use nitrogen like wheat, or is it more like rye? Will it survive the winter?

Also, would I get much out of adding peas this late? I know the rye would still have time to get plenty of growth, but I've never planted peas before, so I'm not sure about those. Would I gain much by adding peas to a rye plot this late?

A week or so ago I planted about 3 acres of rye and red clover. Did about 90#/acre rye plus 15# medium red clover per acre. It's coming up nicely! thanks LC and everyone for all the great info posted on here!

[Lickcreek]

Barley is kind of lower on the forage list but certainly wil work and if it's winter barley it wil survive the winter. Doesn't have all the soil building attributes of rye and forage quality is usually on the lower end when compared to other cereals but it will work in a bind.

Plenty of time to plant peas...they only have to get a few inches high to be very attractive to deer...