Spring rye: when it is sown and its ripening, growing conditions and harvesting

Spring rye is not as popular in Russia as winter rye due to lower yields. Consider the description of spring rye, preferred regions and climate for growing, the best varieties. What technology is used to grow a crop, planting and care features, protection from pests and diseases, harvesting and preserving the crop. How does spring rye differ from winter rye.

Description of spring rye

Rye belongs to the cereal family. Plants have long, fibrous roots that penetrate the soil by 1-2 m. It bushes well, and is distinguished by high absorption of nutrients. One plant produces up to 10 shoots, under favorable conditions - much more.

Rye stalk is a hollow straw, with 3-7 internodes, straight, pubescent under the ear. Reaches a height of 0.8-1 m. The leaves are long, narrow, flat, 15-30 cm long, up to 2.5 cm wide. 8-1.2 cm. Spikelets have long awns, 3-5 cm each. The crop is pollinated by the wind.

The fruit of spring rye is an oblong caryopsis with a groove in the center. The grains of spring varieties are smaller than those of winter ones. Size - 4-10 mm long, 1.5-3.5 mm wide. A thousand seeds weigh 12-45 g. The color of the grain is brownish, gray-green, yellow and reddish.

Best varieties

Elite varieties of rye are characterized by unpretentiousness and endurance, resistance to lodging, little disease, productive. In Russia, the mid-season variety Onokhoyskaya is most often cultivated.Vegetation of plants lasts 76-100 days. The variety is grown in Eastern Siberia. Onokhoyskaya well tolerates summer drought and spring frosts. Plants are weakly bushy, prone to lodging, after ripening, the grain may crumble. The weight of a thousand grains is 24-30 g. The quality of the flour is good.

Svitanok and Vyatka varieties are used for reseeding frozen winter rye. The vegetation period for the variety Svitanok is 120-130 days. The bush is straight, with a strong stem, the leaf is light green. The ear is 8-10 cm long, the plants grow up to 1.2-1.6 m in height. The weight of a thousand grains is 40 g. The variety is characterized by resistance to root rot, mold and powdery mildew, gives good yields on soils with a lack of nitrogen.

Vyatka's vegetation period is 100 days. Plants are resistant to cold, sprout together, bush. Productivity - 40 c/ha. Vyatka rye is resistant to lodging, but when heading in wet weather, the ear is partially empty.

Terrain and climate for growing rye

Rye germination begins already at a temperature of 1-2 °C, optimally - at 6-12 °C, plants sprout at 4-5 °C. Rye loves moisture, especially it needs a lot of water at the stage of budding, earing and at the stage of flowering - filling the grains. But the crop is also drought tolerant thanks to well developed roots.

Culture among all cereals is the most undemanding to the composition of the soil and acidity. Grows on podzolic soil not suitable for wheat. On light soils, its yield is second only to barley. Rye gives the best yields on chernozems, gray forest light and medium loamy soils. It grows poorly on heavy clay soils, dense, waterlogged and s alty.

Cultivation technology

The forerunners of culture for the Volga region, the east and southeast of the Non-Black Earth region are pure steam. For the north-west of the Non-Black Earth Region - fallow after perennial and 1-year-old grasses, legumes, buckwheat, flax, lupine, early potatoes.For sandy loam and sandy soils of the Non-Black Earth Region - steam after green manure.

Preparation of soil and seeds

Tillage includes stubble plowing, 20 cm autumn plowing. Grasses, vegetables and legumes are followed by disking and cultivation. Then fertilizers are applied: the full rate of phosphorus and potash and partially nitrogen. Phosphate fertilizers can be applied when sowing in rows of 15-25 kg per hectare.

Rye seeds are treated with fungicides before sowing and dried. Treatment reduces the chance of seed and seedling infection from infection in the soil or on the surface of the seed.

Preparation for sowing and sowing

Rye is sown in several ways: narrow row, row and cross, with a technological track of 1.8 or 1.4 m.Seed rates per hectare for the Non-Chernozem region - 5-6 million, the Central Black Earth zone - 4.5-6 million, the Volga region - 3.5-5.0 million, Siberia and the Urals - 6.0-6.5 million On sandy soils and sandy loams, the rate is increased by 8-10%, the same amount is increased with late sowing.

What time of year is spring rye sown

Seeds can be sown in early spring when soil temperatures are suitable for seed germination. Optimum sowing is carried out in the first 5 days of field work. Harvest when the grain reaches waxy or full ripeness. Thus, the crop grain is harvested on different dates, the harvesting time depends on the weather and the maturity of the variety.

Fit features

If the soil is moist, the grain is buried 2-3 cm on heavy soils, 3-4 cm on medium soils and 4-5 cm on light soils. If the top layer has already dried, increase the depth by 1-2 cm.

Rules for crop care

The list of works includes: rolling after sowing, harrowing 5-7 days after sowing, fertilizing with nitrogen. In the Non-Black Earth region, 2-4 irrigations are carried out on sandy soils, which increases the total amount of grain harvested.

Protection from diseases and pests

In addition to pre-sowing treatment of seeds with fungicides, plants are treated with fungicides and insecticides when pests or signs of disease are detected. Weeds are controlled with selective herbicides. Continuous herbicides applied before planting.

Harvest and storage of crops

On average, spring rye ripens 3 months after sowing. Harvesting is carried out in a short time, in one of two ways: by direct combining, when the grain is fully and simultaneously ripened, its moisture content is at the level of 20%. In case of non-simultaneous ripening, separate harvesting is used at the stage of wax ripeness with a grain moisture content of 35-40%.Plants are mowed, laid in windrows and left in place to dry, which lasts for several days. Then they are picked up and threshed.

Grain is stored in dry spacious indoor warehouses. Mostly bulk storage is used. Seed rye is stored for 1 year, food rye - 3-4 years.

Planting rye to improve soil

Rye is considered one of the best green manures, which is why it is so popular in this regard. Sown on a field or in a plot, for the period before mowing the green mass, it accumulates in it a lot of nutrients that long roots get from the lower layers of the soil. After the greens rot, the nutrients are used by subsequent crops to feed.

Roots loosen the earth, prevent erosion and weathering, strengthen. Rye competes for food with weeds, suppresses them, after which the infestation of fields is significantly reduced.

Differences from winter rye

Winter and spring differ in the duration of vegetation, which is 260-360 days. Cold resistance allows it to remain under the snow and not freeze even in severe frosts. The cold resistance of the crop is higher than that of winter wheat. In snowless winters, plants withstand frosts down to -20 ° C, under snow 20 cm thick - up to -50-60 ° C.

Winter rye is also more drought tolerant due to its ability to make better use of autumn and spring moisture reserves. It surpasses spring varieties in terms of productivity, which is why it has become more widespread. In Russia, winter rye is cultivated everywhere. It sows areas in the Central, Volga-Vyatka regions, in the Urals and in the Volga region.

Spring rye is sown mainly in the northern regions due to its moisture-loving and undemanding nature of soil fertility and acidity, rapid germination in cold weather in spring, and a short growing season that allows the grain to ripen in a short summer.

It is used as a main crop in regions where it is risky to plant winter varieties due to the risk of freezing. Or they are used in the spring to reseed fields of winter crops. The crop is also sown as green manure, soil improver, predecessor of almost all vegetable and industrial crops.

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