This article was originally posted on December 14, 2010. Benefits of Mustard Mustards are a good cover crop for a variety of reasons. One of the main benefits is that they have high levels of glucosinolates. According to Cornell University: The practice of using mustard cover crops to manage soil-borne pathogens is known as biofumigation. [...]
Sometimes apparent myths prove to be true and sometimes they prove to be…myths! In March 2013 I asked my brother Don Robison from Robison Farms to help me figure out how cover crops might effect soil temperatures. We have looked at data in previous posts trying to answer the question “Do Cover Crops that Survive [...]
I am blessed to hear from farmers around the world about their cover cropping adventures. One young man, Brian Scott, from Carroll County, Indiana has generously shared his information with me again this spring. This post is Brian’s report from early May, 2013. To see Brian’s photographs, click here. We dug a few pits in [...]
National Wildlife Federation has extended the deadline for submitting applications for farmer cover crops champions and outreach cover crop champions – local and regional cover crop leaders who can provide region-specific information and farming knowledge to farmers and crop advisors. Selected applicants will receive benefits in the form of financial support for time and travel, [...]
Almost two years to the day I posted an article about Killing Tall Annual Ryegrass. The problem of a wet and chilly 2011 has resurfaced an ugly head to be a wet and COLD spring of 2013. But over the past week or so temperatures have warmed into the 70′s and 80′s with cover crop [...]
UPDATE FROM RMA–Haying and Grazing of a Cover Crop – FINAL – 5-8-13 Cover Crops and Crop Insurance on Collision Course again? Cover Crops and Crop Insurance issues seem to be heading to a collision course again this spring in much of the Midwest. In the Corn Belt wet fields have prevented planting with less [...]
Fact or Fiction? Cover Crops that Survive the Winter Keep the Soil Colder in the Spring than Fall-Tilled Soil – Part 3 As of today (April 17, 2013) there is 0% corn planted in Iowa and Indiana with 1% in Illinois and Ohio. It is now wet and cold…not just cold. As my brother Don [...]
Fact or Fiction? Cover Crops that Survive the Winter Keep the Soil Colder in the Spring than Fall-Tilled Soil – Part 2 On Friday April 5, 2013 my brother Don recorded the temperatures in soils on our home farm near Greenwood, IN (central Indiana). The previous week Don took soil temperatures coming out of a [...]
Fact or Fiction? Cover Crops that Survive the Winter Keep the Soil Colder in the Spring than Fall-Tilled Soil This is a question I get over and over again. And most of the time it’s not really a question. It’s actually someone stating to me why they are not going to plant cover crops. But [...]
Cover crops are working in Iowa! While that may not mean much to my eastern corn belt friends it means a lot in Iowa and the upper Midwest. Working with Sarah Carlson from Practical Farmers of Iowa and Tom Kaspar from ARS at Ames, Iowa, we’ve been attempting to identify what cover crops will be [...]
Planting cover crop radishes with wheat? How do you plant them?
Cover Crop Turnips – A Good Choice Over Radishes?
Formula for Killing Tall Annual Ryegrass
Cover Crops Provide Improved Corn Yields in On-Farm Trial
Myths Debunked on Cover Crops and Colder Soil Temperatures? – Final Report
Root Pit Reveals 40″ Cereal Rye Roots
Cover Crop Champions Wanted
Cover Crops: Buy One Year, Get Another Year Free
Dave: Hi Chris! The annual ryegrass that overwinters wi...
Chris Hollen: Hi Dave,
Great article once again. I have one q...
Dave: Steve, That is a good question and the answer is ...
Dave: During the summer the soil has shown to be cooler ...
DCP: Interesting that the cover crops do not keep the s...
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