Tilling Rye for Green Manure

[hunterridgefarm]

I needed to add nitrogen to my 4 acre bottom that I plant. I planted around 3 acres last September and till about a 3/4 acre in Feb to plant potatoes and onions. A couple of weeks later till a little more for veggies and such. Well time got away from me and the rye was 6' tall a few weeks back. I re-tilled the section for veggies last week so to plant this Saturday. I knew better, but, I tried to run the 5' tiller through the 6' rye. One pass and the tiller was full of rye.

I had to bush hog some lots this Saturday so since the bush hog was on the tractor I dicided to mow down the rye. Chopped the rye good except where the tractor tire just laid it over. So tilling is not an option. I need to plow or disc first. The whole point of buying the tiller was to get out of plowing and this is the first time I have planted rye. It has rained today so the ground will be soft enough to disc tomorrow. The disc should chop the rye up enougn to allow me to till.

I need to get the rye tilled in since I will be planting watermellon and cantaloupe in about two weeks. Pumpkins will go in the 1st or second week of June.

To get to the point of this thread. How many of you plant rye for a green manure and when do you till it in? A foot or two tall seems to work good with the tiller... but 6'.

Thanks
David

Next year if this happens I will cut and bale!

 

[charlz]

If it grows to 6' do you really need to add nitrogen??

Cordless sawzall with a course blade does wonders for cleaning stuff out of my 3pt tiller :thumbsup:

 

[Luremaker]

Wow, 6' high winter rye. Mine has never gotten over 40"-45". I usually till it under when it is around 24"-30" tall. You might want to pull out the RC to shred it up before tilling.

Here's a picture of my rye when being tilled a few years back. I'd love to see a picture of your 6' rye.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

If it grows to 6' do you really need to add nitrogen??

Cordless sawzall with a course blade does wonders for cleaning stuff out of my 3pt tiller :thumbsup:

Ya got a point there.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

Wow, 6' high winter rye. Mine has never gotten over 40"-45". I usually till it under when it is around 24"-30" tall. You might want to pull out the RC to shred it up before tilling.

Here's a picture of my rye when being tilled a few years back. I'd love to see a picture of your 6' rye.

That is about the height mine was at the end of Feb first of March. It really amazed me how tall it got. I did take a couple of pics Saturday before I bush hogged. I will try to post them tonight.

I used the RC but the problem is the tires on the tractor flattens the rye before the rotary cutter can cut it.

 

[hunterridgefarm]

here is a picture of the rye before I mowed it down. We had to move to the edge of the field for my wife to take a picture.Out in the middle you could not see us. I am 6' and you can see how tall the rye is behind us.

 

[mjarrels]

Did it for many years in Wa. State, worked Great.

mark

 

[backdoor]

I planted 2 acres of rye last fall, in my deer killing field. It was Abruzzi variety, planted in early September with a little hairy vetch mixed in. Deer ate it to the ground and kept it there till March. The rye is about like hunterridgefarm has now. This is my first year of letting it grow past a foot or so, usually I plow it in so I can plant buckwheat or sunflowers for a summer food for the deer. I left it this year to see if turkeys might eat the dried seeds. I saw squirrels eating the heads last year where I left a very small patch standing. I don't have a tiller. I'll either disk it or plow and disk it in before September so I can plant again for this deer season. Also, the last two years I have planted about 1 acre of peas in the spring, Wando variety, just broadcast with a fertilizer spreader and lightly disked in, to help my soil. They are just beginning to bloom now. Last year we picked all we wanted, then plowed the rest in. Deer don't bother the pea plants like they do most everything else around here. I have about 1/2 acre with mixed pinto, october, limas, and blackeye peas planted. They'er coming up great now, but the deer may get them before they produce seeds.

 

[mostly_gas]

Used buckwheat to do the same thing. Plowed it under after it dropped blossoms (I think) which was about 4 weeks and repeated. Then I put my lawn in:thumbsup: