Secale cereale
Winter Rye
Common names: Rye, Green Rye
At a glance
- Light
- Full sun
- Lifespan
- Annual
- Hardiness
- Cold damage below −25 °C
- Water need
- Low
Photo: LSDSL · CC BY-SA 3.0 · Source
This description was machine-translated.
Description
Winter rye (Secale cereale) is the most robust green manure for late sowings, surviving harsh winters without protection. Its dense root system loosens the soil, keeps it covered throughout winter, and reliably suppresses weeds. As a non-legume it does not fix nitrogen but protects against nutrient leaching.
Care instructions
Sow winter rye in September or October (week 36‑43) after clearing the summer crop, broadcasting it and then harrowing it flat. It germinates reliably even at cool temperatures. In spring (April, week 15) before flowering, roll or mow the stand and incorporate it into the soil two to three weeks before the next planting.
The care notes were machine-translated from German.
Garden year
SowingSep–Oct
Germination
- Soil temperature
- from 3 °C, ideally 15 °C
- Days to sprout
- 5 to 10 days
- Light
- Sprouts in light or dark
- Sowing depth
- 3 cm
- How to start
- Sow straight into the bed
Soil & site
Soil pH
Soil type
sandy, loamy, well-drained, lean, dry
Rye is the least demanding of all cereals and does particularly well on light, sandy to sandy-loam, free-draining soils that may also be dry in summer. Avoid waterlogging and heavy, compacted clay soils; its strong root system helps loosen the soil itself.
Feeding
Light feeder
Months
Mar–Apr
If you grow rye as a main crop, work ripe compost or well-rotted farmyard manure shallowly into the soil in early spring at the start of growth (from March). As a green manure or catch crop, rye needs no feeding of its own; it uses the residual nitrogen of the previous crop very efficiently, and no autumn feeding is given.
Overwintering
Winter rye is the hardiest cereal and gets through the winter in the lowlands of Germany, Austria and Switzerland outdoors without any protection. Sow it in autumn; as a green manure, mow it close to the ground in spring and work it in shallowly, and as a bread grain leave it standing until the grain is ripe.
Propagation
Methods
- From seed
You propagate winter rye only by sowing. From mid-September to mid-October, broadcast the grains on a well-loosened, weed-free bed and work them in about 2 to 3 cm deep. In a home garden small quantities of seed are enough; if you can't find seed at a specialist shop, ungerminated rye grains from the grocery store will do too. To save seed, leave selected plants standing until the ears ripen from the end of July to the beginning of August, then cut off the ears, hang them upside down to dry further and then thresh out the grains (e.g. by beating them against the side of a bucket). The grains are ripe when they are hard and golden brown. Winter rye germinates frost-hardy, keeps growing over winter and uses every mild spell. As a green manure, mow it or dig it in in spring at the latest four weeks before the next sowing. Note: rye is a wind-pollinated outcrosser whose pollen travels over long distances. For seed that is as true to type as possible, keep your plot spatially separate from other flowering rye. Choose open-pollinated varieties rather than hybrids, because hybrid varieties segregate in the next generation (F2) and give uneven results.
Companion planting
Good neighbors
Rather not
Companion planting is partly traditional gardening lore. Where the reason is known, it is given.
For your garden
Grow Winter Rye yourself
Gartenkern tells you when frost is coming, when to sow and when to harvest, for your location.
Free, no time limit
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