Planting Cereal Rye for deer
Secale cereale
Deer hit this hard. That is the point.
- Seeding rate
- 100 to 120 lb
- per acre, broadcast
- Minimum plot
- 0.25 acre
- smaller gets browsed out
- Plant
- Late summer to mid autumn
Rates are broadcast figures. Drilling runs roughly a third lower. These are starting points from extension guidance and have not yet been re-checked against a second source per record, so treat them as indicative and soil test before you buy seed.
About Cereal Rye
The crop that is hardest to fail with, and the one to plant if this is a first attempt or the soil test came back bad. Cereal rye germinates in cold soil, tolerates pH down to 5.0 where clover will not establish at all, grows on ground that has never been limed, and survives winters that kill oats outright. It will produce something on almost any site. Note that this is Secale cereale, cereal or winter rye, not annual ryegrass (Lolium multiflorum). They are different plants and the seed bags look alike. Annual ryegrass is cheaper, less palatable, and hard to get rid of once established. Broadcast at 100 to 120 lb per acre. That is heavy, and so are the bags, so budget for it. Deer preference is moderate rather than high, and it drops further once the plant matures and goes stemmy in spring. It is a reliable crop rather than a preferred one, which is a fair trade on difficult ground.
Soil and care
- Soil pH
- 5 to 7
- Drainage
- Average garden soil
- Water
- Low
- Growth rate
- Fast
- Maintenance
- Low
Similar to Cereal Rye
Other food plot forages with the same deer rating.
- Crimson CloverTrifolium incarnatumZones 5–9Frequently damaged
- Forage ChicoryCichorium intybusZones 3–9Frequently damaged
- Forage OatsAvena sativaZones 5–9Frequently damaged
- Forage RadishRaphanus sativusZones 3–9Frequently damaged
- Forage SoybeansGlycine maxZones 5–10Frequently damaged
- Iron Clay CowpeasVigna unguiculataZones 6–11Frequently damaged
Protecting Cereal Rye
Deer will destroy this without protection, so the question is which kind you are willing to pay for.
- How tall a deer fence needs to beEight feet, and six is the most common expensive mistake in deer fencing.
- What a deer fence costsMaterial ratios are stable even when prices are not, and installation reliably doubles the figure.
- Repellent that actually worksThe egg-based recipe that reproduces the active ingredient in the commercial sprays that win university trials.
- Check it is actually deerDeer tear and leave a ragged stub. A clean 45-degree cut is rabbits, and slug holes get blamed on deer constantly.
Where Cereal Rye grows
Hardy across most of these 51 states on zone range alone. Mountain and coastal areas sit outside the ranges used here, so check your own zone before ordering.
- Pennsylvania
- New Jersey
- New York
- Connecticut
- Massachusetts
- Virginia
- Maryland
- Michigan
- Wisconsin
- Ohio
- Indiana
- Illinois
- Minnesota
- Missouri
- North Carolina
- Tennessee
- Georgia
- Texas
- Colorado
- California
- Oregon
- Washington
- New Hampshire
- Vermont
- Maine
- Rhode Island
- Delaware
- West Virginia
- Kentucky
- South Carolina
- Florida
- Alabama
- Mississippi
- Louisiana
- Arkansas
- Oklahoma
- Kansas
- Nebraska
- Iowa
- North Dakota
- South Dakota
- Montana
- Wyoming
- Idaho
- Utah
- Nevada
- Arizona
- New Mexico
- Alaska
- District of Columbia
- Hawaii
Browse from here
Every list Cereal Rye belongs to.
Hardy in these zones
Common questions about Cereal Rye
- What is the seeding rate for Cereal Rye?
- Broadcast 100 to 120 lb per acre. Drilled rates run roughly a third lower. Soil test before buying seed, because pH matters more to the outcome than the rate does.
- When should I plant Cereal Rye?
- Late summer to mid autumn. It is a cool-season crop, so the window is set by your average first frost rather than by the month.
- How big does a Cereal Rye plot need to be?
- About 0.25 acres as a realistic floor. Below that, deer graze the crop faster than it establishes and you get bare ground instead of forage. Local deer density moves this number more than anything else.
- Do deer actually eat Cereal Rye?
- Frequently Severely Damaged on the Rutgers scale, which measures how heavily deer damage a plant. On an ornamental that is a warning. On a food plot crop it is the specification.
- What hardiness zones does Cereal Rye grow in?
- Cereal Rye is hardy in USDA zones 3 to 9. Outside that range it will either not survive winter or will struggle with summer heat.
- How big does Cereal Rye get?
- Mature height is roughly 24–48 in. Growth rate is fast.