The following was originally posted on May 27, 2011 when the Eastern Corn Belt was suffering with severe flooding and wet conditions. In 2013 the Upper Midwest – especially Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin – is flooded and wet. Many farmers are considering taking the crop insurance for prevented planting. Even if it would stop raining […]

Planting into “Out of Control” Peas – The Rest of the Story
In September 2011 I posted about an Ohio farmer that planted into “out of control” peas and shared about his story of how the field was looking pre-harvest. I have recently visited with Dave (the producer) and he shared the information that a number of you asked for…and also surprising yield data. Dave farms with […]
Cover Crops in the Great Plains – a view from a long time cover crop user- Part 2
In this cover crop post I again quote Paul Conway from Kansas, who is giving his input on cover crops in the Great Plains. In this article, Paul shares his experience with Austrian winter peas, field peas, chickling vetch, and hairy vetch. Dave, Austrian Winter Peas: I have limited and disappointing experience with Austrian Winter […]

Cover crops for gardens – and my wife, the cover cropping queen!
My wife Sally must love me…or at least she is observant to see how cover crops are improving the soil in our family gardens. Over the nearly 19 years we have lived in our home we have had a garden where we often have raised vegetables for the Hispanic families that we minister to. A […]

Farmer Report from Ohio – Planting into “Out of Control” Peas
My good friend David from Mercer County, Ohio is a great cover crop advocate. Over the past few years he and his father-in-law have begun planting cover crops after their wheat crop is harvested. The first year he planted oats and cover crop radish and this past year they planted a mixture called N-Vest® Groundbreaker […]
Cover Crop plots in December-What can we tell now? part 2
In this post we look at two more videos of mixes on December 2, 2010. This first mix in this session is of Austrian Winter Peas and GroundHog Radishes. The seeding rate is 30# Peas and 5# of Radish per acre. The main thing we observe in this plot is the larger radishes than we […]
Video of Austrian Winter Pea Roots 11/11/2010
Puny, they just look puny this year! Those Austrian Winter Peas are supposed to be 30″ tall like 2009…well, with less than 2″ of rain in NW Ohio since mid-July, I guess they look pretty good…but still puny. THAT is why I take a shovel with me…I want to see what they are really doing […]
Radish / Pea Mix Video
I have been visiting a farm in eastern Whitley County Indiana over the past month and have seen a few fields of an Austrian Winter Pea/Radish mixture. These fields were wheat fields that had dairy manure knifed into them after they had been harvested and deep tilled. The video shows what a great stand the […]

Austrian Winter Peas
Austrian Winter Peas are a good cover crop for producing nitrogen. These peas have better cold tolerance than Canadian Field Peas yet still grow well when planted after wheat or other summer annuals. It’s preferred to plant them in August after the hottest days are normally past. Below I list the advantages and disadvantages of […]
Categories
- Adding Nitrogen to cover crops (1)
- Cover Crop Benefits (71)
- Breaking Up Compaction (18)
- Cover Crop Roots (12)
- Erosion Control (1)
- Higher Yields (21)
- Lower Inputs (4)
- Manure management (6)
- Soil Improvement (15)
- Water infiltration/percolation (3)
- Weed Suppression (4)
- Breaking Up Compaction (18)
- Cover Crop Challenges (68)
- Aerial Application (9)
- Aerial Application into Soybeans (2)
- Chemical Use and Cover Crops (7)
- Cover Crops in Iowa (3)
- Cover Crops in Wisconsin (6)
- Crop insurance (4)
- Delayed Spring Planting (8)
- Dormant Seed (2)
- Establishing in dry conditions (2)
- High-boy application (1)
- Killing Annual Ryegrass in the Spring (7)
- Misinformation and Myths (5)
- Prevented planting (11)
- Radish Smell (1)
- Risk Management (5)
- Seed Selection: What to Plant After… (11)
- Seeding Rates (2)
- Stand Establishment Following Cover Crops (5)
- Timing of Planting (3)
- Wild Radishes (1)
- Winterhardiness (3)
- Cover Crop Champions (1)
- Cover Crop Wearables (1)
- Cover Crops – Return on Investment (2)
- Cover Crops & No-Till (1)
- Cover Crops effect on spring Soil temperatures (4)
- Cover Crops in Minnesota (4)
- Cover Crops in the Northland (8)
- Education (70)
- Aerial Application Certification (2)
- Cover Crop Meetings (9)
- Cover Crop Plots (12)
- Cover Crop Research (12)
- Decision Making Tool (2)
- Field Days (11)
- Improved Varieties (6)
- Midwest Cover Crops Council (3)
- Midwest Cover Crops Field Guide (1)
- Online Training Seminars (4)
- Radish Plot (7)
- Surveys (3)
- Webinars (3)
- YouTube Videos (13)
- Grazing Cover Crops (10)
- Cover Crops for Forage (3)
- Fall Grazing (3)
- Lower Yields possible (1)
- Terminating Cover Crops (1)
- Types of Cover Crops (60)
- Annual Ryegrass (10)
- Austrian Winter Peas (9)
- Cowpeas (2)
- Crimson Clover (10)
- Hairy Vetch (2)
- Kura Clover (1)
- Mustard (1)
- Oats (4)
- Radishes (24)
- Red Clover (2)
- Sorghum Sudangrass (1)
- Sudangrass (1)
- Turnips (4)
- Winter Barley (1)
- Winter Cereal Rye (12)
Newsletter
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Cover Crop Turnips – A Good Choice Over Radishes? April 14, 2012
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Planting cover crop radishes with wheat? How do you plant them? October 5, 2011
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Austrian Winter Peas June 12, 2010
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Cover Crops for Fall and Winter Grazing July 26, 2012
- Winter Cereal Rye July 15, 2010
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New articles out on Cover Crops in the Upper Midwest March 27, 2014
- Broadcast Recording Available from National Cover Crops Conference February 28, 2014
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Cover Crops- It is Amazing how much interest there is these days! February 23, 2014
- Cover Crop Meetings Winter 2014 December 18, 2013
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More Fall Cover Crop Field Days Coming October 17, 2013
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Dave: Scott, Where are you from? And, have you taken a ...
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Dave: Steve, I do not have answers to your questions......
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Dave: JD, Interseeding at V5/V6 is proving to be "risk...
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Dave: Edith, Mississippi State University did some work ...
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Dave: Mike, Good question! Michigan State University r...
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