Cereal Rye: The King of Cover Crops
Learn why cereal rye is the most popular cover crop on farms today. Keith Burns walks you through cereal rye's cold hardiness, deep root mass, compaction-busting ability, and long-lasting residue — plus how to boost it with legumes like hairy vetch or winter pea.
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0:00 If there was ever a poster child for cover crops it would be cereal rye.
0:04 Serial rye is the king of all cover crops. It's the most widely used and for
0:08 Good reason. Hey everybody, Keith Burns here with green cover and I'm here to
0:12 Tell you that cereal rye is the most popular cover crop because it has the
0:17 Whitest window of planting this stuff is so cold hearty it will germinate in 34°.
0:22 Soils nothing else does that and if it's 38° and the sun is shining this thing.
0:28 Will be photosynthesizing and feeding your soil all winter long because it's
0:37 Compaction layers it gets really tall. It'll get 5 to six feet tall if you let.
0:42 It grow out that long and it's high carbon to nitrogen ratio really helps.
0:46 Reduce erosion and provides long lasting residue for helping to suppress weeds.
0:51 Well into the summer. So if you're looking for a real workhorse for a cover crop, consider cereal rye and add things like hairy vetch or winter pea if you want a little nitrogen fixing kick along with it.