Ryegrass is a cool - time of year turf grass that often comes to the aid of dormant warm - season grasses in the winter . It ’s a common resident of winter lawns in the South , but it ’s often confused with another unrelated grass with a alike name .
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Some specie of affectionate - time of year turf grass normally turn in U.S. Department of Agriculture hardiness zones 6 to 10 , such as zoysiagrass ( Zoysia spp . , sturdy in USDA zones 6 to 9 ) and Bermuda green goddess ( Cynodon spp . , hardy in USDA zones 7 to 10 ) , have the disadvantage of going dormant and call on brown when the weather turns nerveless in the wintertime . A solution to that problem is to overseed the sward with rye grass ( Lolium spp . ) , a cool - time of year grass that maintains its green color through the wintertime and then dies out in the spring , leaving the warm - time of year grass to take over again as it regain its people of colour . When they ’re used in this manner , the combination of the two grasses are often referred to as winter rye grass .
Annual and Perennial Ryegrasses
Perennial ryegrass ( Lolium perenne ) is the preferred choice for wintertime overseeding in warm clime because it produces a better sod than yearly ryegrass ( Lolium multiflorum ) . Annual ryegrass will die in the spring , so it is less potential to compete with the establish fond - time of year turf grass as the weather warms . Perennial rye grass is audacious in USDA zones 7 and below , so it will belike stay later in the spring than annual ryegrass . It ’s not tolerant of heat and drought , though , so it ’s unlikely to live on for long in quick , dry climates .
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Ryegrass in the Summer
Perennial rye grass may be able to hold out in sheltered , suspicious areas of the lawn , and when it persists through the summer season , it can have problems as it compete with the warm - season turf grass . Ryegrass is also susceptible to diseases in warm weather , so it ’s not a good all - season turf gage on its own in warm climates . Both one-year and recurrent ryegrasses may compete with the conventional tender - season grasses during especially nerveless springs , so it may be necessary to monish the growth of ryegrass in the spring . blockade fertilization in March and mow very nearly will help oneself to kill the ryegrass and allow the warm - reason grass to take over .
Ryegrass vs. Rye
Ryegrass is sometimes confused with rye whiskey ( Secale cereale ) , an annual cereal dope usually grown for its food grain or as a forage crop for livestock or wildlife . Further jumble the note is that some varieties of rye whiskey can survive through dusty winters and are grown as a winter cover harvest in farm fields and pastures ; these varieties are often called wintertime rye whiskey , but they are unrelated to ryegrass and are never used as a turf grass .
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