🌾 Rye
Field Crops · growing reference
| Days to maturity | 60 days – 240 days, by type |
|---|---|
| Germination | 7 days |
| Planted as | lb |
| Water | ~0.60–1 in a week |
When to plant
In USDA zone 6, for example: Sow around Oct 6, a couple of weeks before your ground freezes — it overwinters and comes away in spring.
| Fall | |
|---|---|
| Zone 3 | Sep 6 |
| Zone 4 | Sep 11 |
| Zone 5 | Sep 24 |
| Zone 6 | Oct 6 |
| Zone 7 | Oct 27 |
| Zone 8 | Nov 11 |
| Zone 9 | Nov 26 |
Dates are the typical window for each zone's average frost dates — your own last frost can differ by a couple of weeks. Zone 10 and warmer is effectively frost-free: plant to the season, not the frost. Southern Hemisphere: shift six months.
Rye Uses
- Cover · 200 days · 30–60 lbs of green manure/plant — Fall-sown, overwinters, terminated at boot/anthesis in spring — weed-smothering biomass and erosion control.
- Grain · 240 days · 12–25 lbs/plant — Winter rye run to ripe grain — rye flour and straw; sown fall, cut the next summer.
- Forage · 60 days · 80–160 lbs of forage/plant — Graze the lush fall or early-spring growth — the earliest green there is; regrows after grazing.
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