Rye
 

I have had a few rye seeds to sprout in the back of my pickup bed.

Has anyone had success with rye in a food plot without using fertilizer?

As expensive as fertilizer is, I'm trying to save a few dollars if possible.

i have thrown it down in sandy soil with no prep and it grew. it is very cheap seed so i would say just throw it in the ground and have at it.ive had deer eat the popped seed that was laying in the brush that didnt take to the soil.

Rye is a great food plot choice for the fall. It will grow without fertilizer, just don't expect a lush green plot that is waist high. If you can afford it, 50-100 lbs/a of urea will help it a lot and is probably all you need.

Soilman is correct urea will help winter rye big time.

It will depend on what's been growing previously. Of all the grains, rye has the ability to "scavenge" for nutrients. Around here nobody fertilizes rye, but there's adequate nutrients left over from the previous crop. If you suspect soil fertility is low, then spreading fertilizer will be money well spent. Now is a good time to find bargains on fertilizer sold at wal-mart and other big box stores. Lawn fertilizer without crabgrass/weed control would work well.

That's the main point IMO. If it has been used for ag or food plots before, there is already probably adequate nutrients in the soil. Soil history has a lot to do with if you can get by with no fertilizer or not.

The deer do know the difference between plants that have enough nutrients and those that do not. They get better nutrition from the plants with the proper levels of nutrients, and will absolutely prefer those above ones that do not.

If they dont have anything else to eat, it doesn't matter so much.

Thanks for the help. A couple of other questions:

1) Soilman, when you say 50 lbs of urea, do you mean a 50 lb bag of 46-0-0 or 108 lbs of 46-0-0 (108 x46%=50)?

2) Is urea best applied when seed is sowed or at a later date?

Tennhunter, 50 lbs/a of urea (46-0-0) is about 1/2 the recommended amount of N for rye (23 lbs/a N, in the northlands here, the recommended rate is 40 lbs/a N). In some experiments we ran at work, there was little difference between rye with a full rate of N vs. a half rate of N. I did mean 50-100 lbs/a of urea. Work the urea into the soil just before planting for best results. If your plot is small, using lawn fertilizer as Haystack suggested may be a good alternative.

Thanks for the info. I'll put my new knowledge to work on Saturday.