Cool Season Annual or Winter Annual
Fall Rye is an upright winter cereal. It is also called cereal rye. After it vernalizes, it can get tall. When spring seeded, it remains vegetative throughout the summer. It is very winter hardy, and tolerates high levels of salinity. Residues of fall rye have allelopathic properties, so rotation needs to watched. Fall rye has a high tolerance to drought and moderate heat tolerance. Flooding tolerance on the other hand is low. Straw is wiry and can be difficult to deal with.
Seeds per pound: 19,000 Seeds/sq ft/pound 0.9
Uses:
- Erosion control
- Soil builder
- Nitrogen scavenger
- Weed suppression
- Grazing potential
- Hay potential
Strengths:
- Very winter hardy
- Quite saline tolerant
- Covers the ground quickly
- Low nutrient requirement
- Suppresses weeds
Concerns:
Can become a weed, ties up copper in the soil, palatability drops as the plant matures, Rye is prone to ergot infection.
Grazing:
Very good. Hardy, wide window of grazing, good regrowth if not vernalized.
Hay:
Very good. If cut before headed out, most varieties are rough awned.
Mycorrhizal support? Yes
