# Rye Grass Planting



## Troy Farmer (Jul 31, 2011)

No tilled 17 acres with rye today with a rented drill. Through a misunderstanding of feed settings I ended up planting about 17 lbs / acre rather than 25lbs/ acre recomended.

Should I go back and cross drill or just not worry about it? Will I get a decent stand at 17?


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## farmersamm (Nov 2, 2017)

Do you know your seeds/inch? That's the important thing. Spacing.

If you got a spacing that's acceptable, then go with it.

Wider spacing gives more robust plant growth, but the plant population might be not what you want. It's a tossup.


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## farmersamm (Nov 2, 2017)

That's a really crappy answer, isn't it 

Honeslty&#8230;&#8230;&#8230;...I'd rather plant a bit thin (given a good fertilizer spread), than plant too full with too little fertilizer.


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## farmersamm (Nov 2, 2017)

Been there, done that.

Crawling around on my hands and knees, scraping the top layer off to expose the seed. Trying to see just where the crap went, and the spacing. Great way to spend the day :angry:

They plant Marshall Rye around here, I suppose same where you are. I absolutely have no idea how the seeds look, and how many to the pound, or what your drill spacing is. Even not sure what kinda rye they plant this time of year.

It might be not too bad of a disaster if the spacing is good, and if the moisture matches the drilling rate.

You can crowd seed, hope for rain, and get nothing. Best to drill for worst case scenario with a light population, and pop your buttons on your shirt when it makes in a dry year. (I'm thinking it will dry up real fast now, it's been too wet)


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## vhaby (Dec 30, 2009)

Ryegrass or rye? The title is ryegrass and 'Marshall' is a variety of ryegrass. Rye is a cereal grain with a seed that resembles a wheat seed. Both are considered cool season forages in southern states.

Taking the time to calibrate a drill before seeding helps to prevent planting less seed per acre than is recommended. Sometimes the Internet can provide a close approximation of the setting for a seeding rate for a particular drill if there is no time to calibrate the drill.

The approximate seeding rate per acre for ryegrass ranges from 20 to 30 pounds of seed broadcast, so 17 pounds of seed drilled per acre is not too far off. Also, ryegrass produces tillers that help fill in spaces between the original plant.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Troy Farmer said:


> Should I go back and cross drill or just not worry about it? Will I get a decent stand at 17?


Your close enough.....you will be satisfied with what you have drilled.

Regards, Mike


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## Troy Farmer (Jul 31, 2011)

Thanks guys. The drill was a Great Plains 7 footer with 7 inch row spacing. The rye grass was Pennington Passerel Plus. I set the drill up by the wrong chart, after all was said and done, seems there are a number of different chart for rye grass. The drill is owned by the local extension service and is rented out.

My mistake, I will know next time.

Again, Thanks!


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## StxPecans (Mar 3, 2018)

I drilled in 20lbs an acre of tetraploid ryegrass lastyear. Ended up making 3 cuttings. First cutting was almost 3 bale an acre 2nd was 2 bale an acre and 3rd was 1 bale. First cutting was put up too wet and heated to 195 and still tested at 18.5 next 2 cuttings were 14%protein. Cows love it all. 
Still too early here to plant as it takes cooler nights to germinate. Still on the fence wether to plant ryegrass,ryegrassand clover or just clover this year.

Although i had 2 years of 1.5 tons an acre of chicken poop and land rested the whole time as i was discing and leveling field for 2 years. The. Came back and applied 50 units of nitrogen after it was about 3 inches tall and after each cutting.

No joke this stuff was 34 inches tall just before boot stage before first cutting.

A week after i fertilized it the first time is what the picture is of.


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## Troy Farmer (Jul 31, 2011)

StxPecans,

A number of folks in my area are making either dry hay or baleage with rye grass to take advantage of more reliable rainfall in the early spring. We had a few dry summers and falls and those who had made hay early (rye grass) had hay. Those who had not made hay early, did not. Right now, most of my tracts are summer grass, bermuda & bahia. I am trying to establish a tract or two with an early crop since I have plenty of summer grass.

I know around here rye grass has been a big producer. Yours looks great. Best of luck.


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## reede (May 17, 2010)

Troy,

The problem that I have typically had with ryegrass hay is that it is hard to get dry to make dry hay out of. When the ryegrass is at the stage that it really needs to be cut, the weather is still cool enough that it takes forever to dry. I have thrown away a lot of ryegrass hay over the years, before I decided to not mess with it anymore for hay. When you do get it dry, it is really nice, both quality and quantity. But it has a waxy layer, and even though it is finer stemmed than the small grains, takes longer to dry. Also, it will reseed itself, even after you cut and bale, it will send up a stalk and make seed really quickly. Ryegrass also has a lot of herbicide resistance, so make sure that you don't mind it coming back in the fields where you plant it, because it will come back on its own.


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## Troy Farmer (Jul 31, 2011)

Reede,

Thanks for the advice. I planted in a field that I am rehabbing that is isolated. Just experimenting. I definitely do not want it in my hybrid bermuda fields!


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