Ashburn, GA, (very close to Heaven!) | Thirty days ahead of planting. I don't know where you are, but that is a decent rule of thumb. Our new cover croppers, however, may burn down a little sooner than that to keep the rye from getting too big. We see rye get six feet tall, fall over, and some are really intimidated by dealing with that thick, twisted, tough to plant through cover, and it doesn't bother some others. Imagine a blown over corn crop and how hard it is to combine, and you have a picture of tough to plant through rye. We usually plant about one bushel of rye to the acre.
We use glyphosate to kill the rye. We have a lot of winter and early spring weeds in some places around here, and may have to apply 2,4-D in early March for broadleaves, then get the rye in April for the cotton.
If you are drilling the rye, consider going at an angle to the planned row direction, as that will decrease "blowout" or build up in front of planting. |
Rye Cover
