Few diploid varieties perform well in Wisconsin as they go dormant during mid-summer. Currently available tetraploid varieties are Bastion, Citadel, Condesa and Fantoom. Perennial ryegrass should be grazed closely and frequently. It recovers rapidly and tillers extensively. Plants will not stockpile well and must have good snow cover to survive the winter.
Ryegrass is susceptible to crown rust.
This disease can seriously defoliate the plant. Plant only rust resistant varieties if possible. Perennial ryegrass, like other ryegrass types, can also be frost seeded in early spring to help maintain it as a component of a permanent pasture. Both forage and turf types of annual ryegrass are available, as with annual ryegrass, but plant only forage type should be planted cultivars for grazing or cut forage. As such, it is intermediate in many of the above mentioned traits.