Plant Cover Crops

Learning about the benefits of planting cover crops.

Soil Improvement

New articles out on Cover Crops in the Upper Midwest

During the week of March 18-21 I spoke at the Legacy Seeds Cover Crop Meetings to over 150 people in three Wisconsin towns

Appin Turnips make an outstanding cover crop and forage crop too!
Appin Turnips make an outstanding cover crop and forage crop too.

about cover crops.  During each meeting I showed why folks should consider using cover crops (erosion control, nutrient management, compaction reduction, aeration/infiltration, etc…).  I also implored producers to be creative about applying cover crops (aerial application, Hi-boy type spreaders, maybe interseeding into short corn, etc…).  Lastly I showed how many farmers are reporting increased profitability by using  cover crops.

Many farmers attending the meetings had at least some experience with cover crops and those that talked to me personally had very good experiences.  It was fun to talk to farmers that are excited about both soil health and profitability.

At the meeting in Sparta, Agri-View Newspaper Crops Editor, Jane Fyksen was present and taking notes for a story she was writing for the publication.  Jane did a great job in her reporting of what I said.  I want to share those articles with you.  The first article is entitled “Finding a cover crop mix to fit every need” and the second one is entitled “Aerial and overseeding of cover crops: Making it work“.

I have conducted over 40 cover crop talks this year from Omaha to Ontario and from Syracuse, NY to Chippewa Falls, WI.  I am amazed how far this cover cropping idea has come.  I am also very excited to see what will happen in another 8-10 years.

I cannot wait for warmer temperatures so we can see what cover crops survived this past record setting-cold winter.
I cannot wait for warmer temperatures so we can see what cover crops survived this past record setting-cold winter.

 

 

 

 

Fall Cover Crop Management

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 are jump-starting some biology on a “biologically dead” field and the farmer wants to kill his biology driving mechanism.  UG!  The main reason he wanted to till the field was to have warmer soils in the spring where he had black soil.  I shared that our research sowed much different results.  His thought process sound right but has proven to be a myth, not a fact.

A beautiful stand of Oats, Berseem Clover, and Pasja Hybrid Brassica on prevent plant acres in SO. MN
A beautiful stand of Oats, Berseem Clover, and Pasja Hybrid Brassica on prevent plant acres in SO. MN

I told the farmer to leave the cover crops in all winter and use conservation tillage next spring.  (He’s not a no-tiller.)  We dug some shallow root pits for a field day and we found many problems that I believe can be somewhat rectified if the cover crops are left in all winter.

We found many soil health problems in this prevent plant field

  • Severe compaction– many areas had compaction starting at 2-3″ deep.  Part of that was from spring tillage of wet soils…but the compaction was about 8″ thick as the soil was coming up in blocks the size of cinder blocks!
  • Lack of soil biology – I know this because we found a significant amount of corn fodder 2 foot deep that was not even breaking down.  It would have been buried with the deep ripper 18 months ago.  I could not believe my eyes!
  • Lack of aeration in the soil – the soil was literally rock hard.  We did find a few earthworm channels but it was so dry that worms were small and deep.
  • Low organic matter – I’m not sure how low it was but there was very little soil structure.  I talked with a regional NRCS employee and the local SWCD specialist and both men lamented that many of the soils in that region were “about as bad as this one”.
We found corn fodder two feet deep that had not yet decompose after over 18 months.
We found corn fodder two feet deep that had not yet decompose after over 18 months.

I need to be fair.  The farmer currently renting this field has only farmed it a few years and he is making major strides to improve this farm.  But he has lots to accomplish before he has a healthy field.  Having cover crops are a great first step and he knows it.

Other solutions (instead of cover crops) being proposed to fix the “tight” soils (“unhealthy” soils) in the region

  • Tile – LOTS and LOTS of tile has been installed in prevent plant acres this year.  Farmers know they need aeration and percolation in their “tight” soils.  The regional specialist from NRCS lamented that many farmers don’t believe that cover crops are a solution to make their soils better long term.  Tile is not bad; but tile and cover crops are a much better solution.
  • Deep ripping – this will get air into the soil and break up compaction, but will it build soil health?  No, it will not  (note the corn fodder found 2 foot deep in a root pit).  Let cover crops naturally deep rip the soil.
  • Tillage- and lots of it – many fields in the area had been tilled (disked, field cultivated, etc…) four times already to control weeds…Unfortunately it also reduces organic matter and soil structure and soil health.

So what should happen with the cover crops heading into winter?

  • Leave the cover crop growing into the winter – This will give the best opportunity to help with aeration and percolation.  This also helps build soil structure and reduce compaction.  (See deep ripping, and tiling above…just let the cover crops do this naturally!)
  • Sarah Carlson from Practical Farmers of Iowa recently wrote an article about this topic and you can find it here Prevent Plant, Cover Crops, Now What 2013.
  • Let the cover crops keep putting down deep roots – we found roots of crimson clover, radishes, cereal rye, annual ryegrass, oats, and Pasja all around 24″ deep.  Let them keep growing deeper to open up the soil to get air and moisture deeply into the soil profile.
This 5 week old PileDriver Radish shows the compaction zone starts at around 2-3" seep. Roots on this radish went over 24" deep despite very dry conditions.
This 5 week old PileDriver Radish shows the compaction zone starts at around 2-3″ seep. Roots on this radish went over 24″ deep despite very dry conditions.
This field had very poor soil structure. The regional NRCS specialist told me that many fields in the area had similar issues
This field had very poor soil structure. The regional NRCS specialist told me that many fields in the area had similar issues

Results of Farmer Cover Crop Survey Conducted by SARE and CTIC

Folks,
If you want to see how cover crops provide a very good ROI across a wide geographic region then this report is for you!  Thanks to Rob Meyers from SARE and the folks at CTIC for conducting and publishing this survey.  It helps me to see that the results on our home farm (and many of your farms too) were duplicated over a broad area.

Cover crops REALLY help with yield :)
Cover crops REALLY help with increasing yield 🙂            (BTW, we are NOT really standing up.)
Here is Rob’s e-mail.  Check out the link to see the whole report.
We are releasing today the results of a farmer survey on cover crops that was conducted by SARE and the Conservation Technology Information Center (CTIC) this past winter.  A majority of the surveys were completed by farmers attending Midwest conferences this past winter but we also had some respondents to the online version of the survey from across the U.S.  The survey analysis and report development was completed by CTIC under a contract from North Central Region SARE.  Questions on the survey were developed with the input of MCCC steering committee members.  The report is available online at:  http://www.northcentralsare.org/CoverCropsSurvey
Key findings included the following:
  • During the fall of 2012, corn planted after cover crops had a 9.6% increase in yield compared to side-by-side fields with no cover crops.  Likewise, soybean yields were improved 11.6% following cover crops.
  • In the hardest hit drought areas of the Corn Belt, yield differences were even larger, with an 11.0% yield increase for corn and a 14.3% increase for soybeans.
  • Surveyed farmers are rapidly increasing acreage of cover crops used, with an average of 303 acres of cover crops per farm planted in 2012 and farmers intending to plant an average of 421 acres of cover crops in 2013.  Total acreage of cover crops among farmers surveyed increased 350% from 2008 to 2012.
  • Farmers identified improved soil health as a key overall benefit from cover crops.  Reduction in soil compaction, improved nutrient management, and reduced soil erosion were other key benefits cited for cover crops.  As one of the surveyed farmers commented, “Cover crops are just part of a systems approach that builds a healthy soil, higher yields, and cleaner water.”
  • Farmers are willing to pay an average (median) amount of $25 per acre for cover crop seed and an additional $15 per acre for establishment costs (either for their own cost of planting or to hire a contractor to do the seeding of the cover crop).
Please help us distribute this information to your colleagues and farmers in your region.
Rob Myers, Ph.D.
Regional Director – Extension Programs
North Central Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE)
University of Missouri
238 Ag Engineering Bldg.
Columbia, MO 65211-5200
Phone 573-882-1547
Email myersrob@missouri.edu
Web http://www.northcentralsare.org/

Inoculating Cover Crop Legumes Pays Off

Several farmers have asked me why they need to spend an “extra” 4-6 cents per pound to inoculate the legume seed they are planting for producing nitrogen with their cover crops.  I get asked this especially about Austrian Winter Peas and Cowpea.

However, if you are planting Crimson Clover, Berseem Clover, Kura Clover, Alsike, Hairy Vetch, Sunn Hemp, or Medium Red Clover it’s just as important inoculate!  Why?  I’ll list a few reasons below:Inoculated peas are significantly better at producing nitrogen

  • Legumes are planted as cover crops most specifically to produce nitrogen.
  • Legume seed is relatively expensive; if it does NOT produce nitrogen, then it is exceptionally expensive.
  • The inoculant is a species specific bacteria that allows that plant to fix nitrogen.  If there are not enough bacteria there is limited nitrogen production from the legume plants.
  • A healthy legume cover crop can produce nearly 200 units of nitrogen
  • Even if you have produced a similar crop in your field within a two year time period, it still pays to inoculate each year since many of the bacteria prove to be “weak” and unable to perform like a healthy and vigorous bacteria.
  • If inoculating Peas or Cowpea you will need to do a “seedbox” treatment.  There are not yet inoculants that can be pre-applied that will allow you to have healthy bacteria. Therefore, most inoculant companies suggest putting the inoculant on within hours of putting the seed in the ground.

Be sure to get very good coverage on all of the seeds.

Do not hurry. Each seed needs coverage to actually be inoculated. I know that sounds silly, but I have seen many fields and plots where only some of the pea or vetch  plants were performing well.  The ones that looked poor had no nodules.

Many companies sell pre-inoculated clover seed.  If yours does not, then either find another supplier or purchase the correct inoculant from your current seed supplier.  Do not waste a great opportunity to produce as much nitrogen as possible. It is  less expensive to produce nitrogen than it is to purchase it.

A well inoculate Austrian Winter Pea nodule will be pink inside like the one above.
This photo shows a mixture of well inoculated and poorly inoculated Austrian Winter Pea plants. It is important to inoculate each seed with the nitrogen fixing bacteria.

 

 

Cover Crop Root Pits Reveal Plenty

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

We found several night crawlers and smaller worms as well in each pit we were in
  • Earthworms galore, especially where we had radishes and/or crimson clover. But the earthworms were plentiful in all cover crop species.
  • Earthworm channels 48″ deep in a field that had been long term no-till with one year of cover crop annual ryegrass/radish mix (planted after soybeans).
  • Roots from two different  crops in the same root zone/earthworm channel (soybeans and cover crop roots) over 30″ deep.
  • Earthworm eggs where radishes had decayed.
  • Soybean nodules 26″ deep on roots that went 44″ deep (long term no-till field – 10 years).
  • Annual ryegrass roots that were not as deep following corn as they were following soybeans (less N available for them to grow as vigorously).
  • Canola or oilseed rape in fields where bin run oats had been planted instead of seed oats.
  • Continued evidence of compaction. One year of cover crops does not eliminate all compaction issues (though roots from cover crops did penetrate through the compaction).
  • Radish and radish roots that were 34″ deep last fall were found at 40″ deep this spring (though dead).
  • Living radishes. Several radishes survived the Indiana winter (very mild winter), especially where they were protected by crimson clover and annual ryegrass.
  • 20 earthworm channels and 5 earthworms in an area 8″ by 8″ square at 6 inches deep (in a mixture of annual ryegrass, crimson clover, and cover crop radishes).
  • 700 acres of oats and radishes looking very different in the spring than it did in the fall!  (Click the links to see the different videos)

Miscellaneous Notes from the Cover Crop Root Pits

The farmer from our first cover crop root pit dig on April 4th reported that he saw less visible drought stress where they had long term no-till and cover crops, attributing the healthier plants to increased root depth.

We saw several fields of cereal rye after corn stalks being grazed by beef cattle.

Barry Fisher encouraged everyone to “expand your farm vertically.” In other words, don’t just keep buying/renting more land. Instead, put cover crop roots down deeper to create better land where you farm – and get more yield.

Be sure to control your annual ryegrass instead of waiting on the crimson clover to grow taller.  Much of the ryegrass was 10-12″ tall with the crimson clover at 6-8″ tall.

Farmers are becoming more creative with cover crop applications and types, and they are finding success – not surprising!

 

Other than the "extra goodies" from the VNS oats, this field was ready to plant without herbicide in the spring.
We saw several fields where cattle were grazing cereal rye planted into corn stalks.
Cereal rye in one row and crimson clover and Appin turnips in the other row (mixed together).

 

One of the joys of working with farmers is the excitement I see on their faces when they "get it" about soil health. There were several excited farmers again this spring.
We found several earthworm eggs around the decayed radish holes.
We found roots from soybeans and annual ryegrass in the same root zone/earthworm channel.