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De Forest, WI | Depends where you are. It is hard to find named varieties. Most is now VNS (Variety not stated). I am in Wisconsin and Hancock and Spooner seem to do well. ALL rye, I don't care the variety, will lodge to some point. I have rye that is 5.5 to 6' tall in spots and it is still mostly up. Wheat across the road is flat as a pancake. I plant 2-2.5 bu/acre. P and K go on in the fall and Urea and AMS in the spring. I shoot for 10lbs of S from the AMS with balance of N from Urea. I shoot for 60lbs/A of N. If you will leave the straw on the field then you can drop to 30lbs/A N. In many places the straw will bring you more money than the grain. If you have a small mill or a brewery in the area you may be able to sell the grain to them if you can't sell it all for cover crop. Most elevators won't take it.
If you sell for food you need to have it checked for Ergot. This is a fungal disease that replaces the grain with a fungal growth (looks like a black/purple spicklet where the rye kernel should be). Ergot needs to be less than half a percent. Any more and it is unfit for human or animal. If you have never grown rye to grain before then it probably won't be a problem. | |
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Any secrets to growing quality Rye?
