Tomatoville® Gardening Forums - View Single Post - Winter rye, when to kill it, how long to transplant?

creister · May 29, 2008

Outsider,

I have planted a legume rye/wheat cover crop for 3 years now. I also practice no till. Once the rye has a seed head on it, you can cut it. I then cover the residue up with compost and shredded leaves. Usually around 3 + inches of mulch. I have not had much trouble with resprouts on the grains, and if they do, as Dice said, they are very easy to pull out.

I will ususally cut the cover crop about a week before I plant out, seeds or transplants. I've never had any trouble with allelopathy from the rye. Everything comes up/grows if I do my part. I now have about 4 inches of humus on top of my clay soil, and around 2 or more inches of very friable clay below that. Worms are in abundance. I am very pleased.

I usually cut mine down with a weed eater, and then run my mulching mower over it. Works great. Please note, that my soil warms pretty quick due to our mild winters and warm springs. I also wanted to mention that two years ago, we had avery mild winter. The rye/wheat was over 4ft. tall when I cut it down.

May 29, 2008	#6
creister Tomatovillian™ Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: Abilene, TX zone 7 Posts: 1,478	Outsider, I have planted a legume rye/wheat cover crop for 3 years now. I also practice no till. Once the rye has a seed head on it, you can cut it. I then cover the residue up with compost and shredded leaves. Usually around 3 + inches of mulch. I have not had much trouble with resprouts on the grains, and if they do, as Dice said, they are very easy to pull out. I will ususally cut the cover crop about a week before I plant out, seeds or transplants. I've never had any trouble with allelopathy from the rye. Everything comes up/grows if I do my part. I now have about 4 inches of humus on top of my clay soil, and around 2 or more inches of very friable clay below that. Worms are in abundance. I am very pleased. I usually cut mine down with a weed eater, and then run my mulching mower over it. Works great. Please note, that my soil warms pretty quick due to our mild winters and warm springs. I also wanted to mention that two years ago, we had avery mild winter. The rye/wheat was over 4ft. tall when I cut it down.