About Annual Ryegrass:

The Annual Ryegrass is a perineal grass that grows predominantly in the winter and early spring. This type of grass can hybridize with the other grasses surrounding it, which makes identifying there offspring very difficult. Annual Ryegrass can be planted as a cover crop for the winter months. Sporadically this plant has been known to cause illness in livestock due to a fungus call “ryegrass staggers”.

Family: Poaceae family

Annual Ryegrass Scouting and Prevention:

The best place to look for Annual Ryegrass would be in fields, pastures, roadsides, orchards and vineyards. A mature plant can grow up to 3 feet tall and have rounded and slightly flattened clustered stems in the cross-section. The leaves are very flat blades and can range from 2 to 10 inches. A very distinguishing feature of the Annual Ryegrass is that the leaves are rolled into the bud. The flowering process takes place in April through to September. The flower head is approximately 3 to 12 inches and is made up of small, stalkless spikelet’s alternating from one another. Annual Ryegrass flower is light green and has needle like wisps on the individual flowers.

Annual Ryegrass Control:

If Annual Ryegrass is part of your planting cycle, it is very important that you make sure all seeds are out of the machines used. Tillage and/or herbicides are another way to minimize regrowth in fields. When trying to get rid of Annual Ryegrass with herbicides, it is crucial that you do it under the right conditions. It is ideal to apply glyphosate at 3pt/ac when it is sunny and hotter than 10°C with the grass being approximately 6 to 9 inches tall. You may have to do this 2 or 3 more time to make sure the ryegrass is burned down enough. To maximize your coverage and damage to the ryegrass, mixing in simazine or atrazine to the tank with other herbicides and applying it 14 to 21 days after the glyphosate was applied is ideal. These 2 chemicals must be activated by rain.

Latin / Alternative Annual Ryegrass names:

• - Lolium multiflorum Lam.
• - Italian ryegrass

Additional Annual Ryegrass Resources