Cowpeas are an enigma for Midwestern producers. Sometimes referenced as a “summer soybean,” cowpeas need to have hot weather and adequate moisture to have the best success. Cowpeas do exhibit good drought tolerance. If there is a dry summer, cowpeas should be planted by 4th week of July. Inoculating cowpeas is vital for success. Cowpeas need to be planted ¾ -1” deep and have excellent weed control to establish well. When a good stand is established and growing, cowpeas can produce 70-150# nitrogen/acre. The past few years cowpeas have been expensive to use.
Advantages of Cowpeas
- Produces N
- Excellent for forage
- Winterkills
- Excellent summer choice
- Improved drought tolerance
- Works well mixed with oilseed radish
Disadvantages of Cowpeas
- Expensive in recent years
- Needs hot weather to excel
- Winterkills
Plant Cowpeas at 60-120#/acre.
Hello, love your site! I planted cowpeas with sorghum sudan on 4/30/11 as a green manure crop. The cowpeas grew really well, even with sorghum sudan competition, in acidic soil, and a mild and wet summer. Was really happy with the stand. Located in southern Maryland.
[...] like annual ryegrass, cover crop radishes, oats, cereal rye, Austrian winter peas, rape, kale, cowpwea, Hairy Vetch, Phacelia, turnips, and crimson clover. Some of the cover crops were in fields that [...]