Central Florida... Winter Rye Grass Seed?

[EddieWalker]

Anyway, Rye does not vine out like Bahia, so one seed generates one blade of grass.

Joe,

While I agree with almost everything you said here, and I'm no grass expert, I wanted to question whether you meant Bahia? Both Bermuda and crabgrass vine out and spread by runners, not Bahia.

From what I understand, Bahia is a good pasture grass, but is bad for hay. It doesn't hold it's protein and the stalks cause problems. Here in East Texas, Bahia is the native grass, and it's much hated by everyone due to those long stalks that come back about two days after you cut them.

Bahia also grows in small clumps. It doesnt' spread, but is more of lots of the small bushes that make mowing very bumpy and rough on small mowers. On a CUT you wouldn't notice this.

Bermuda will come up and look just like Rye grass at first, but then it will branch out and spread along the surface of the ground. As it spreads out in all directions, the runners will establish there own root systems. This makes Bermuda extremly nice for stoping erosion.

If you're really planting Bahia, why?

Eddie

 

[Mike120]

I certainly agree with Eddie....Why would anyone want Bahia? I've finally gotten most of it out of my horse paddocks, replaced with Common and Cheyenne Bermuda. Now if I can only get rid of it in my hayfields!

I just spread the Rye seed with a pto driven hopper spreader and put in on at about 50# per acre. Because there's already grass there, I don't bother with dragging it. As soon as it rains, the stuff sprouts and the horses love it. I rotate my horses among the paddocks and wait until the rye is a couple of inches before I put them in. I'll probably start seeding the first part of November and likely seed the last one around X'mas, depending on and how fast they eat it.

In the spring, I start mowing the empty paddocks around March to give the Bermuda a chance to start back up. If you let the Rye die out naturally it holds back the Bermuda.

Mike

 

[JoeR]

Hi Eddie,

You are correct, I meant to say Bermuda vines out.

In my area, Bahia is more tolerant of drought and insects. Bahia also requires less fertilization too. In order to properly hay bahia you minimize the grass from producing seedheads, and this can be a weekly task. I think bahia is similar in nutritional value but not as palatable unless the grass is short. The newer the growth, the more palatable it is. Some cattle do not like bahia since older grass tends to be rough, and the tall seedheads hit their eyes when they are trying to graze. Also, bahia has less haying yield than Bermuda. I think I read you can get up to 4-6 tons of hay per acre on Bermuda. I can't remember where I read that...

 

[MrSteve]

Thanks again for the replies, a lot of great info.