Unlike legumes, it does not need a high pH and is very competitive with weeds. It is one of the best plants to prevent nitrate leaching in the fall. Rye is also very tolerant of low winter temperatures. Unfortunately, rye is difficult to kill in the spring and it can be a host for nematodes that attack potatoes. As a cash crop, rye has a limited market in Eastern Canada, although it can be used as animal feed.
Rye is also very susceptible to ergot.
Before potatoes Rye can be planted after another cereal crop. Since it is not winter killed, it needs to be destroyed the following spring by tillage or herbicides. Rye may or may not have a positive effect on the subsequent potato yield. It was common practice early in this century in sandy potato soils of New Jersey and Long Island to have rye or a mixture of rye and vetch turned in before potatoes. Rye's role was to maintain tilth in these soils, nitrogen being furnished by mineral fertilizers.