RYE

Rye is known for its cold resistance, so it is most commonly used as a cover crop for pre-winter sowings. Winter rye is sown at the end of summer or early autumn so that the area is covered with a green carpet in spring. This cover crop is better at suppressing perennial weeds than others, but it also suppresses neighboring crops. Therefore, it is not advisable to grow rye in mixed sowings. Additionally, this cereal cover crop suppresses soil-borne pathogens. Rye grows well on any soil and is suitable for land reclamation, but it is important to remember its property of drying out the soil.

Rye is mowed in May, 2-3 weeks before planting main crops such as squash, pumpkins, cucumbers, tomatoes, late cabbage, and others.

A downside of rye is the complexity of its further processing and plowing. The stems have a fairly strong structure and decompose slowly.

A significant advantage of rye as a cover crop is that as it decomposes, it enriches the soil not only with nitrogen but also with potassium. Microorganisms contained in the biomass create conditions for the absorption of poorly soluble phosphorus compounds by dissolving them. Accordingly, the soil retains a complete NPK complex of nutrients, allowing subsequent crops to develop fully.