Hybrid winter rye: When should you apply nitrogen fertilizer?

University of Minnesota Extension educator Tarah Young talks with the Red River Farm Network about nitrogen management for hybrid winter rye.

TRANSCRIPT

Red River Farm Network: This is the Soil Fertility Minute presented by the Agricultural Fertilizer Research and Education Council (AFREC). We’re speaking with University of Minnesota Extension educator Tarah Young about hybrid winter rye nitrogen management.

Tarah Young: We found that spring nitrogen applications are far more important than the fall pre-plant nitrogen applications. In fact, the spring nitrogen can make up for a no fall application, but vice versa isn’t true. So applying a small amount, that’s usually less than 30 pounds of nitrogen per acre, that we found, basically at planting, and supplying the rest in early spring produced the best yields. We also found that the late fall and early spring applications produced similar yields, and we also tested different nitrogen efficiency products. And they performed no better than the regular urea at the same rate in late fall.

Red River Farm Network: AFREC is a farmer-led program advancing soil fertility research. Find out more at MNsoilfertility.com.

Learn more in this June 2025 blog post: Hybrid winter rye nitrogen management: 5 key takeaways for Minnesota growers