Ryegrass Seeds: Latest Prices and a Detailed Guide to Planting Methods
Ryegrass is a grass commonly used on golf fairways and an excellent forage grass widely introduced and cultivated around the world. It is a perennial plant of the genus Lolium in the grass family (Poaceae), growing in meadow grasslands and commonly seen in roadside wetlands, widely distributed in the Kashmir region, Pakistan, Europe, the warm temperate zone of Asia and northern Africa. Let us take a look below at ryegrass seed prices and planting methods!
How much does a jin of ryegrass seeds cost?
The price of ryegrass seeds is about 8 to 15 yuan per jin, but prices vary greatly depending on variety, quality and market. Ryegrass is divided into perennial ryegrass and annual ryegrass. Generally, annual ryegrass is mainly used as winter forage, while perennial ryegrass is mostly lawn-type; its cold and heat tolerance are both poor, and it does not tolerate shade. Under suitable soil and climate conditions it can grow for more than 2 years, but in China it is generally used only as a biennial forage grass, with about 2 to 3 jin of seed per mu.
Growth habits of ryegrass
Ryegrass prefers a cool, humid climate and is suitable for growing in areas with cool summers and winters that are not too cold. It can grow fairly well at around 10°C, with below 27°C being the suitable temperature for growth, and it grows poorly at 35°C. Strong light, short daylight and lower temperatures favor tillering, while excessively high temperatures cause tillering to stop or the tillers to die midway. It is relatively tolerant of moisture, but poor drainage or an excessively high water table is also unfavorable to the growth of ryegrass. It is not drought-tolerant, and especially hot, dry summers are even more unfavorable. It has relatively strict soil requirements and prefers fertile soil, not tolerating poor soil. It is slightly acid-tolerant, and the suitable soil pH is 6 to 7.
Sowing methods for ryegrass
1. Land preparation and fertilization: For planting ryegrass, choose a plot with loose soil, fertile texture, flat terrain and convenient irrigation and drainage. Before sowing, plow and clear weeds, break up clods and then compact the plot, applying 1000 to 1500 kg of farmyard manure or 40 to 50 kg of calcium magnesium phosphate fertilizer per mu.
2. Sowing methods: There are three sowing methods for ryegrass: drilling, dibbling and broadcasting, generally mainly drilling, supplemented by dibbling and broadcasting.
① Drilling: Open furrows in the prepared land with a row spacing of 20 to 30 cm and a sowing width of 5 cm; after sowing, cover with about 1 cm of soil and water thoroughly.
② Dibbling: Sow at a hole spacing of 15×15 cm with 8 to 12 seeds per hole; after sowing, cover with about 1 cm of soil and water thoroughly.
Planting methods for ryegrass
1. Clearing weeds: There are three methods of weed control for ryegrass: pre-sowing soil treatment, pre-emergence treatment and seedling-stage treatment. Pre-sowing soil treatment means using glyphosate and similar products to clear weeds in the field one day before sowing; pre-emergence treatment means spraying glyphosate after sowing and before emergence.
2. Reasonable fertilization: When sowing ryegrass, about 3000 kg of organic fertilizer per mu is required as base fertilizer, and the seed is mixed with 20 kg of calcium magnesium phosphate fertilizer for seed dressing. Nitrogen fertilizer should be applied as topdressing at the seedling stage and after each harvest, with 5 to 10 kg of urea per mu; if biogas slurry is used for irrigation, the yield-increasing effect is even more pronounced.
3. Timely irrigation: Ryegrass is relatively sensitive to moisture conditions. Water appropriately at the tillering, stem elongation and booting stages, and irrigate promptly in case of drought to keep the soil moist, which gives an obvious yield increase.4. Harvesting and utilization: The first cut of ryegrass can be made 40 to 50 days after sowing. When cutting, it must be harvested regardless of whether growth is good or bad. The stubble left after the first cut must not be lower than one cun, and thereafter it is cut once every 20 to 30 days according to growth conditions.
5. Pest and disease control: After ryegrass emerges, the main pests are cutworms and white grubs, which can be controlled by spraying related pesticides such as trichlorfon and lambda-cyhalothrin before dark; cutworms can be controlled by irrigation.