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Annual ryegrass problem #874170

Asked June 22, 2024, 11:51 AM EDT

We had an agronomist working for a seed company recommend we plant a tetraploid annual ryegrass as a cover crop, and as a nurse crop, on some acreage we are baling for hay. This ryegrass is completely taking over the field where it was used as a nurse crop in the fall of 2020. Every winter except this past winter we frost seeded with timothy and orchard to try to fill in the dead spots. I sprayed the field last August with a 1-1/2 qt./acre solution of glyphosate and replanted using only a 50/50 mixture of orchard grass and timothy. The field came up almost entirely in ryegrass again. All the other acreage where we only used the ryegrass as a cover crop to crowd out fescue also is coming up year after year with this ryegrass. The front field, planted with just timothy and orchard, is about 40% ryegrass now. Can you help me with a solution to minimize or rid my acreage of this "annual" ryegrass?

Greene County Ohio

Expert Response

Hi,

Below are two factsheets on control. You may consider applying the herbicide at a different time than previously to kill the ryegrass. Over seeding with other grasses will be more effective once the ryegrass is removed. Reach out to your local county Extension office or feel free to call OSU Extension Brown County at<personal data hidden>.

https://agcrops.osu.edu/newsletter/corn-newsletter/2024-14/ryegrass-control-and-cover-crop-termination
An Ask Extension Expert Replied June 25, 2024, 10:07 AM EDT

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