Welcome to RyegrassCoverCrop.com

Annual Ryegrass has many benefits as a cover crop.   The number of acres planted each year in Annual Ryegrass - especially in the Midwest US -  has expanded rapidly over the past decade. 

Annual ryegrass has been used in forage applications for generations. Its use as a cover crop was well established through more than a decade of university research and field testing. To this, there is the experience of many thousands of Midwest growers who continue to enjoy the benefits.

If this is your first time to the web site please consider the following pages:

The purpose of this web site is to provide a knowledge base for growers, consultants, and researchers.

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Special Feature:   Jamie and Jim Scott of Pierceton, Ind., talk about how they've found success growing an annual ryegrass cover crop in a cooler climate. Special Thanks to No-Till Farmer

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Growth and Development of Annual Ryegrass from Planting to Burndown:

Annual ryegrass will not develop more than 2 or 3 leaves after seeding and prior to cold conditions in winter. The cover crop stand may look thin and poor but will develop some roots during warm periods, or even under snow in winter, and grows rapidly in the spring.

It has been observed that later planted ryegrass may only have 2 leaves by December but measured root development has been 10-14” deep in fragipan soils and deeper in less restrictive soils.

By mid-April and sometimes earlier, most of the annual ryegrass root growth in depth has occurred. Rooting in first year no-till fields has been in the 28-31” range for fragipan and claypan soils and 48-50” in better soils. After three years of no-till crops and ryegrass cover crops each year, the rooting of the crop and ryegrass has been increased to 45-60” deep. Annual ryegrass top growth is normally 8-12” in height when these rooting depths have been measured.