Learning about the benefits of planting cover crops.
Join me with Wisconsin NRCS at the Badger Plot Cover Crop Research Site on October 2, 2013 @ Jeff and Jerry Kreuziger Farms near Clyman, WI. Sessions will run from 9:30-Noon or 1:00-3:30 CST. This looks to be a great day to learn more about cover crops and soil health in southern Wisconsin/northern Illinois regions.
For more information see Badger Plot Research-Producer Day.
Walking in cover crop fields in northern Indiana is easy compared to doing it northern Wisconsin.
In northern Indiana my main issue is tripping over large radish tubers sticking out of the ground.
In northern Wisconsin my main issue was that plus watching out for bears. I’m not talking about the Chicago Bears…but real live black bears! Although I did not see any while conducting cover crop field days near Coleman, WI on October 18, 2012, hearing the stories about the bears raising havoc while AgVentures Co-op employees were harvesting corn plots made me quite nervous.
The cover crop plot was fabulous. There were 5 different mixes to observe plus straight radishes planted at 8#/acre. The cooperator plans on taking yield tests over each different cover crop mix in his 2013 corn crop. If he is able to do that I’ll keep you informed of the results.
Sarah Carlson from Practical Farmers of Iowa reminded me that cover cropping north of I-80 is different than cover cropping in northern Indiana. She’s right. But how different is it, and why is it different?
Sarah is quoted in a very good article in Corn and Soybean Digest that helps explain the differences.
Several farmers in Wisconsin and northern Illinois are having cover crops aerial applied with good success. But I agree with Sarah; there are still challenges.
I see the following challenges to using cover crops North of I-80 after corn and soybeans:
While not every producer North of I-80 will have success with cover crops after corn and soybeans, there are a number now that are happy with their results.
My message is to use wisdom and best management practices.
IF you want to try cover crops after corn and soybeans and you are north of I-80, realize that you are not the first person to try it. Many have gone before you with good results.
Don’t give up before you investigate the possibilities.
Now, if you are north of I-90…
The Midwest Cover Crop Council (MCCC) has added different states and cropping systems to their useful cover crop selection tool. This tool is a very helpful item that assists producers in choosing what cover crops can be used in their counties with their cropping systems and their choice of cover crop characteristics.
Most recently Michigan State and the MCCC released a tool to help vegetable producers determine what cover crops will work best in their systems and for the attributes they desire. As I understand it, there will soon be a similar tool for Wisconsin vegetable farmers.
Wisconsin row crop farmers do have a cover crop selector tool that has been added within the past few months.
If you are looking for an additional way to check out different cover crop species then click here. And you can check on most of the common species used for cover crops in the Midwest by checking out the many blog posts on www.plantcovercrops.com.
In previous posts I have shared about the importance of applying cover crops at the correct time. I also looked at the difference in how cover crops emerged in corn and soybean fields when aerial applied in the fall of 2011. In the past several weeks I have traveled over much of Indiana and northwestern Ohio looking at aerial applied cover crops.
Four things I have noticed so far:
1) Aerial applicators seem to be doing a much better job in 2011 than in years past.
2) Correct timing of aerial application into cash crops is vital (that the crops are mature enough for cover crop success).
3) Corn and soybean variety maturity differences can change “success” rates.
4) It appears that row spacing in soybeans makes a big difference, especially in establishing crimson clover.
I was in a soybean field in Jasper County, IN, with Dan Perkins, SWCD Watershed and Conservation Program Specialist. It looked as though about one-half of the field had been harvested a week or so earlier than the other half because the cover crops were considerably taller and more dense in the earlier bean maturity area than in the later bean maturity part of the field.
But I was wrong about the harvest date…there was only 1 day harvest difference between the two areas. One difference was the genetic maturity of the varieties of soybeans. One variety was a 3.0 maturity and the other was a 3.4 maturity. Incidentally, the farmer reported that the two varieties yielded virtually the same.
Another key observation was made with differences in row spacing, particularly with crimson clover. In the 15″ and 30″ rows the crimson clover looked very good with an even stand and good growth. But in the fields with 7″ rows the stand did not look quite as good. In fact, in some fields with 7″ rows, the crimson clover was hard to find. The annual ryegrass and the cover crop radishes had a better stand than the crimson clover in the 7″ spaced rows, yet even they had considerably less growth than in the wider spaced rows.
Why does this matter? It matters because P-H-O-T-O-S-Y-N-T-H-E-S-I-S matters.
In many eastern corn belt soybean fields that the cover crops were aerial applied in are quite varied this year. Overall there has been very good moisture and adequate time for the cover crops to germinate and grow, but the rate of growth has varied considerably based on how mature the soybeans were at planting date. While the soybeans have been off for over a month as of this posting you can look at the photo taken on November 22 and still see a difference in cover crop “coverage” and growth.
The stands have been good over all but the amount of growth from that stand seems to vary a bit more than in past years.
The take-home message is that we need to make sure that crops are mature enough when applying cover crops. And if planting into fields with 7″ rows, maybe wait until 75% leaf yellowing to assure more sunlight hitting the ground when the seed is germinating. Sunlight really is important…just like my 9th grade biology teacher said it was.
Cover crop cereal rye has been getting some “bad press” over the past month. It has been suggested that there is a connection with cover crop rye and Goss’s Wilt in corn (cereal rye making the Goss’s Wilt disease worse in corn).
I have talked to a few agronomists who had never heard of cover crop rye being a host for Goss’s Wilt, so I did my normal Google search to see what I could find out.
Some corn hybrids ARE susceptible to Goss’s Wilt. Some have greater levels of resistance. Here is a publication from The University of Nebraska that shows the severity of Goss’s Wilt. This disease is a real problem in the Corn Belt and there are many frustrated farmers that have Goss’s Wilt on their corn.
I also discovered that cereal rye is more of a deterrent to Goss’s Wilt, rather than a “cause.” By using cereal grains in between corn crops the Goss’s Wilt bacterium population is greatly reduced. Cereal rye is actually an excellent choice for a cover crop to help reduce the risk of Goss’s Wilt.
To reduce Goss’s Wilt it would be wise to consider the following steps:
For an excellent article on this topic by Sarah Carlson at Practical Farmers of Iowa, click here. You can reach Sarah at sarah@practicalfarmers.org
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 Mix (a mixture of Austrian winter peas and cover crop radishes). The summer of 2010 set some records for being exceptionally dry. Neither the peas nor radish grew the way anyone hoped for, but David did find radish roots around 20 inches deep. The peas were less than spectacular but still acceptable for as dry as it was.
As I have reported in several previous posts, the weather in NW Ohio and the Eastern Corn Belt was the wettest in 120 plus years of keeping records. The Austrian winter peas and volunteer wheat over-wintered. In early May David was convinced that they would no-till directly into that “mix.” But the rain came and came often! By early June the peas had grown quite a bit, like up to four feet tall…and that is what they no-tilled into. Actually, David said it was the “most mellow soil” he planted into all spring.
I joke that David was nearly written out of the family will when he started no-till planting his corn! The neighbors were all watching but David persevered and kept planting…even though it was not as easy or as early as he hoped it would be. A few days later David e-mailed me more photos…and then a week later more photos…
So now the neighbors are wondering about this David “kid” that married into this operation. Maybe he is not as foolish as they thought earlier in the spring! Exactly four weeks after planting the corn was over “knee high by the 4th of July” and now the neighbors are asking what that cover crop was!
But the dry summer of 2010 was now being duplicated by another dry summer and the summer of 2011 has been much hotter than 2010. So how has the no-till corn fared during these challenging conditions? Very well, actually.
So will David plant cover crops again? Yes! In fact they are already in the ground and waiting for rain to emerge. David has been very excited all the way through this process as he has been confident he is doing the right thing for his soil and the future of his farming operation. Thanks to David for providing the photos and information to encourage all of us that cover crops are an exciting option that we should all consider.
Frost seeding clover into wheat has been a standard practice for many years. Many producers have used “60/40 Plowdown Clover” in their wheat…but in many areas that practice has stopped as double crop soybean plantings have pushed further into northern Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois. If double crop soybeans are not an option (or not desired) then a great choice for a cover crop in 2011 is Medium Red Clover. While the 60/40 Mixture generally included 60% Mammoth Red Clover and 40% Yellow Blossom Sweetclover it seems more economical to use VNS Medium Red Clover because of the pricing of the seed this winter. Be sure to use a pre-inoculated seed when sowing into your wheat so you get much improved clover production and N production.
Below are the advantages and disadvantages of using Medium Red Clover as a cover crop. (This cover crop will pretty much be used in wheat acres.)
Advantages:
Advantages
Disadvantages:
While in northwest Ohio in the Fall of 2010 for a manure management field day, some area farmers told me that wheat producers are adding 2-4# of cover crop radishes per acre to the wheat in the drill…and experiencing excellent results.
Some reported gaining 5-7 bushels per acre by adding the radishes. Others even reduced their nitrogen application by 20% and still got a 5 bu/acre increase where the radishes were planted with the wheat versus where there were no radishes.
As one gentleman said, “It is like having a bunch of ‘french wells’ in the field.” The ground dries faster, the radishes scavenge N and hold it until spring…then slowly release the N to the wheat crop in the spring…cool huh? These won’t be the “state fair” size radishes when planted that late, but they will be 5-12″ deep, maybe the size of your ring finger. It’s an idea to consider!
Crimson clover is a real jewel among the cover crop species. Crimson clover is an excellent producer of nitrogen and there are some newer varieties on the market that are very winterhardy even into Michigan. Dr. Eileen Kladivko measured how much nitrogen was produced by crimson clover in a test plot in western Indiana. What she found was quite amazing! After around 90 days the crimson clover had produced over 140# of nitrogen per acre! Now, this was a limited test of one plot but the best of the other plots came in at just over 50# N produced. That is a significant amount of nitrogen.
Crimson clover mixes very well with annual ryegrass (to help the ryegrass be healthier and growing better when there is no manure applied). It also mixes well with cover crop radishes and or turnips. Crimson clover is generally considered more shade tolerant so it works well aerial applied into standing corn.
Crimson clover MUST be inoculated for best success.
I have listed some advantages and disadvantages below:
Advantages of Crimson Clover:
Disadvantages of Crimson Clover:
