While in southern Minnesota in early September 2013, I was asked when a farmer should plow his cover crop field this fall because he needs the fields to be “black” this winter in preparation for next spring. I shuddered. There I was in a beautiful field of cover crops that were jump-starting some biology on […]
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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
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The corn is now harvested at Robison Farms in rural Greenwood, IN and we are pleasantly surprised. Accurate Yield Estimates We actually achieved a somewhat higher yield than the hand check “guesstimate” that my brother Don and I made back in August. We reported this yield in the blog post Cover Crops Provide Improved Corn Yields
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Can you still gain value in a cover crop when it is planted after wheat in a dry year? During the week of October 15, 2012 I traveled a wide swath of Wisconsin looking at cover crops. In the eastern half of the state the cover crops looked very good. In the western half the
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Radishes, Crimson Clover, and Bears 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
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All of what is reported below was accomplished after only one year of cover crops. This work was inspired by a conversation Don and I had last winter with Dr. Eileen Kladivko from Purdue University. As I say in cover crop meetings, Don’t expect a miracle the first year – but look for one. Over
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During the first week of April I was in several root pits in northwest Indiana and boy did we find plenty of interesting factoids! I was assisted by Eileen Kladivko from Purdue University on one day and Barry Fisher, Indiana NRCS State Agronomist, on another day. What We Found in the Cover Crop Root Pits
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In late September of 2011 I was walking in our family corn field in central Indiana–in the pouring rain. Following the wettest spring in the eastern corn belt in 100 years we had a summertime drought that saw less than 2 inches in July and August combined. In that same time period we had 32
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