Plant Cover Crops

Learning about the benefits of planting cover crops.

Cover Crop Plots

More Fall Cover Crop Field Days Coming

This fall there are more cover crop field days to attend in Iowa and Wisconsin.

 

For those in Iowa see http://practicalfarmers.org/blog/2013/fall-2013-cover-crop-field-days-scheduled

In Wisconsin there are two field days:

There will be opportunities to look in soil pits in Northern climates to see just what is going on beneath the surface of the soil.
There will be opportunities to look in soil pits in Northern climates to see just what is going on beneath the surface of the soil.

October 21, 2013 – 10:30am – Cover Crop Plot Tour
Hosted by Legacy Seeds’ Kris Tessar and Ag Ventures Shawano
Located at the farm of Paul McClone on Cty BE in Bonduel, WI
Dave Robison will be speaking – Lunch will follow the tour
RSVP to Ag Ventures at 715-524-8812
October 22, 2013 – 10:30am – Cover Crop Plot Tour
Hosted by Legacy Seeds’ Kris Tessar and ADM
Located at the farm of Ken Huber at 3848 Cty P in Oxford, WI
Dave Robison will be speaking – Lunch will follow the tour
RSVP to ADM (Perry or Sue) at 800-367-4057

I hope to see you there!  Dave

 

Badger Plot Cover Crop Research Site – Producer Day Schedule Announced

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.

Damon Reabe from Reabe Spraying Services - Waupun, WI plays a big role in applying cover crops in SE WI. Damon provided this photo.
Damon Reabe from Reabe Spraying Services – Waupun, WI plays a big role in applying cover crops in SE WI. Damon provided this photo.

 

Cover Crop and Forage Meeting Aug 14, 2013

On August 14, 2013 the University of Wisconsin is holding an Agronomy Field Day at the Marshfield Ag Research Station.   The line-up of speakers looks outstanding and CEU credits are available for Certified Crop Advisers.

I will be speaking out at the cover crop plots looking at how we can use cover crops as forages and benefit the soil at the same time.

KY Forages April 2011 041
An Annual Ryegrass cover crop can make excellent dairy quality baleage/silage in the fall if planting after wheat. It also is a fabulous scavenger of N and P with deep roots.

For past blog posts on using cover crops for forages looks here and here.

Four Cover Crop Field Days in NW Indiana and Down-State Illinois

The plots in Indiana and at TNT farms will have soil pits to look at the roots and to see how the soil is benefitting from the cover crops.

I know that there are lots of cover crop field days that I do not list on this site.

However, I usually try to get cover crop field days listed on the Midwest Cover Crops Council website when I hear about them.   However, I have four field days that I believe will be attractive to all of my Midwestern cover crop friends.

The first “event” listed below is actually 2 events on back to back days held in neighboring counties.

 

 

 

 

Jasper/Newton County Cover Crop Field Days – 2 days of cover crop tours put on by Newton and Jasper Counties in Indiana (NW IN). Dan Perkins and Rose Morgan are two of the top SWCD people for putting on field days in Indiana and there will be lots to see.

TNT Farm – Terry Taylor (TNT Farm) is an avid cover cropper and an excellent farmer in down-state Illinois.  Terry is hosting a field day on his farm on November 7, 2012 that promises to be an excellent opportunity to learn about using cover crops on heavier soils.

Dudley Smith Farm Beef Cow-Calf Field Day – I will be speaking on The Role of Cover Crops in a Grazing Program in Pana, IL on November 8, 2012.  I will be working that day with the “best of the best,” Ed Ballard, who introduced me to cover crops and extending the grazing season while using cover crops. I have spoken in years past at this event and U of I always puts on a great meeting that is very valuable to beef cattle producers.

As harvest winds down it is time to plan for 2013.  Please consider attending one of these four meetings to learn more about how cover crops can impact your farming operation.

At the 2011 Cover Crop Field Days in Jasper and Newton County, Indiana, Dan Perkins found a BIG surprise of a radish. It will be interesting to see what is found in the field days this year.

Cover Crops Planted After Wheat in a Dry Year

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 cover crops looked desperately poor.   The difference?  Moisture.

Northwestern Wisconsin – Terribly Dry

While on farms near Osceola, WI (right along the St. Croix River – the river that forms the border between Wisconsin and Minnesota in that part of the state), I observed a sad sight.  Cover crops that had been in the ground for 6 weeks were either not germinated  or had little growth.  While the early part of the growing season had more than adequate rainfall and corn yields were near 200 bu/acre, the last 7-8 weeks has seen less than 1/2″ and the cover crops look…well, they look horrible.

Central Sands Region – Dry But with Some Promise

Near Hancock, in the Central Sands Region of Wisconsin, there is a mixed bag of results.

Where farmers used irrigation to “water -up” the cover crops, there are nice stands with adequate growth to have a “successful” cover crop to achieve many benefits.  Unfortunately, where there was no irrigation used there was much less “success.”

Again, it was dry for several weeks before and after the cover crops were planted after the wheat crop had been harvested.  A few days before my cover crop field day there was a 4 inch rain.  The farmer and dealer present said that the plot “changed overnight” as it had grown so much since there was some moisture.

The beautiful thing about the cover crops in the central sands is that they established and actually looked amazingly good compared to what I envisioned they would. The winter cereal rye was tillered nicely and the oats were 5-6 inches tall.  The radishes, oats,and rye all drilled through the compaction zone that we found at 3-4 inches deep.

What was not apparently impressive was the crimson clover or Austrian winter peas – at least not for coverage or height. The crimson clover was only about 1 inch tall and the peas were 3-4 inches tall.  However, what was surprising was how many nodules were on the clover and peas and that the roots were 4-5″ deep and through the compaction zone as well!

Northeastern Wisconsin – What a Difference Moisture Makes

The crimson clover was not at all impressive even though the seed was planted 7 weeks previous to this photo being taken. However, with virtually no rainfall it is amazing there was any clover established at all in the Central Sands Region of WI.
Seven or eight weeks of dry weather did not help cover crops in this field near Osceola, WI emerge very quickly in 2012. Will there be any value to this cover crop? Sadly, no.  Note how small the radishes and turnips are.  These cannot be declared valuable to this farmer.  Thankfully the winter Rye should survive the winter.

 

 

 

With less than 1/2″ of rain since planting into dry soil, this cover crop field in western Wisconsin near Osceola never had a chance to achieve the goals the farmer had for it improving the soil.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is the test plot in the Central Sands Region.  From Right to left; Radishes, Oats, Winter Rye, and various mixes. Are these cover crops valuable? I believe so because they are through the compaction zone and the rye and many of the mixes will have components that survive the winter.

 

 

If you enlarge this photo you will be amazed how many nodules are on this tiny crimson clover plant. The roots were over 5″ deep which was through the compaction zone at the Hancock, WI plot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cover Crops and Bears?

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 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.

This cover crop plot near Coleman, WI had beautiful radishes with large tubers – and thankfully NO bears!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The radishes were from 1″ to 3″ in diameter and quite deeply rooted. There was manure applied after wheat harvest so the radishes were “well fed”.

 

 

 

Cover Crops in Noble County, Indiana

State and local Soil and Water Conservation Districts have been a wonderful partner over the past 4 years in helping to educate farmers about the value of cover crops in their local area.  Over the past four years Indiana SWCDs have planted or overseen over 300 cover crop test plots.  Recently the Noble County (Indiana) Soil and Water Conservation District held a field day where they did a great job of educating area farmers on the benefits and applications of cover crops for their county.

First, they put together a cover crop information sheet showing the various seeds and mixes that can be planted, as well as the seeding dates for their area.

Second, they provide a list of local suppliers for seed, herbicides, and applicators.

But most impressive is the test plot they put out. Working with a local farmer, they seeded 9 different plots, along with a “check” plot, which had no cover. They purchased the seed from Ag Plus, which is located in Columbia City, IN.

Below are pictures from the plot, which were taken on October 11, 2012. The plot was seeded at 3/4 inch using a drill – on August 24. Stacey McGinnis, from Noble County SWCD noted that quite a lot of volunteer wheat came back up and the ground was fairly compacted (soil is a silty clay loam). On Monday, October 8, there was a killing frost.

When asked what the goal of the test plots were, Stacey commented “to get farmers who are on the fence about cover crops to begin to experiment” and “to get farmers who are using some cover crops to begin to try some of the mixes, which will give them more benefit.”

Below are the pictures from the plot, along with a brief explanation of some of the benefits below each picture. You can click on the picture to see a larger version. Also, hover your mouse over the picture for a quick description.

Winter Rye

Winter Rye:

  • can be established later than many other cover crops
  • will overwinter
  • works extremely well when the next crop is soybeans

Winter Rye & Radish Mix

With winter rye and radish mixed together, you get:

  • all the advantages listed above for winter rye, plus the radish will:
  • scavenge left-over nutrients
  • break up compaction
  • invite quite a few earthworms to the party

Austrian Winter Peas & Radish Mix

Along with the advantages of the radish, Austrian winter peas produce nitrogen for the next crop. So, by mixing these two together, you have a nitrogen producing and nitrogen scavenging environment all mixed into one.

Oats

Oats are great for several reasons. Oats:

  • scavenge nitrogen from the soil.
  • have a deep and fibrous root mass.
  • are excellent for forage.
  • winter kill very easily.
  • work very well with other cover crops in mixes.

Oats & Winter Rye & Turnips

This mixture of oats, winter rye, and turnips has several advantages for livestock producers. The oats produce a tremendous amount of forage for the fall, while the winter rye will over-winter and give you more forage for the spring. The turnips adds a lot of protein for the livestock, but are also very capable nitrogen scavengers themselves.

Buckwheat

 

Buckwheat is a useful green manure crop. It can produce significant amounts of dry matter. Up to 3 tons of dry matter per acre has been obtained after 6 to 8 weeks of growth on relatively unproductive land under Pennsylvania conditions. When plowed under, the plant material decays rapidly, making nitrogen and mineral constituents available for the succeeding crop. The resulting humus improves physical condition and moisture-holding capacity of soil. Where a second crop of green manure is desired, rye may be drilled into the buckwheat stubble and plowed under in the spring. The rye frequently can be drilled into the buckwheat stubble without previous disking or plowing. Buckwheat green manure may also fit into fairly tight rotations such as when a crop is harvested prior to mid-July and a succeeding crop is not scheduled until fall. If volunteer buckwheat is harmful in the succeeding crop, then the green manure crop of buckwheat should be destroyed before a large number of seeds mature.

http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/afcm/buckwheat.html

As noted above, there was a killing frost on this plot on Monday, October 8. However, that is not what killed this buckwheat. This buckwheat plot was killed 3 weeks prior with a light frost. Notice also that the oats and radishes look just fine, even after the first killing frost.

Annual Ryegrass

Annual ryegrass is:

  • deep rooted and helps mine minerals from deep in the soil profile.
  • an excellent erosion control crop.
  • a luxury consumer of nitrogen and tremendous scavenger of N.
  • easily aerial applied into corn and soybeans.
  • an excellent forage crop.

Annual Ryegrass & Crimson Clover & Radish

This is a cover crop mix on steroids. Two excellent compaction breakers are mixed with the nitrogen production of the crimson clover.

No Cover Crop

As you can see, where there is no cover crop, weeds are starting to take root.

Thanks to Stacey McGinnis at the Noble County SWCD for this excellent cover crop work. Thanks to Mark Perry from Beck’s Hybrids for sending these pictures to me and keeping me up to speed on the cover crop work going on in Noble County. And thanks to Jim Eiler from Ag Plus in Columbia City for hustling some last minute seed over to this site so they could get everything planted at the same time.

If you’ve not had a chance to get out to a cover crop field day or a cover crop test plot, and there is one in your area, try to schedule a time to take a look. Let the experimenting begin.

Cover Crop Field Day Set at Robison Farms

CISCO Seeds, Robison Farms, and Dougherty Fertilizer are sponsoring a Cover Crop Field Day and Root Dig at the Greenwood, Indiana farm. If you’ve not had an opportunity to see cover crops in a real life farm setting, this will be a great meeting for you . There will be multiple species available to look at and expert agronomists on hand to answer questions.

 

When:

Wednesday, November 30, 2011 from 2-4 P.M.

Location:

Corner of Five Point Road (300 East) and Main Street (Rocklane Road) east of Greenwood, IN

Contact:

If you have questions or need further information contact  Don Robison at donrobison@ciscoseeds.com or 317-357-7013

  • Rain or shine we will have a gathering (call if the weather is bad for “plan B”)

 

Cover Crop Field Day Highlights

Come see ten different mixes and/or species of cover crops in a large plot setting.
  • 1100’ lineal feet of cover crop plots
  • 10 different mixes or straight species shown
  • guaranteed weather! (not saying what kind)
  • working with NRCS, SWCD, and Dougherty Fertilizer
  • root digs (weather contingent)
  • Cover Crop Agronomists on hand for tours and Q/A sessions
  • See over 150 acres of various Cover Crops withing 1/2 mile of plots

 

Purpose of the cover crop field day

To see different species of cover crops in a real to life situation. This was a soybean field that had the cover crops applied over the top of the standing crop at roughly 50% leaf drop.

 

Species You Will See

 

  • Radishes
  • Turnips
  • Crimson Clover
  • Oats
  • Winter Rye
  • Annual Ryegrass
  • Austrian Winter Peas
  • Several Mixes including the above species

 

 

 

Directions:

From Indianapolis

  • Take I-65 South to Exit 99. Turn Left at end of ramp and travel 1.5 miles east to the plots

From Louisville

  • Take I-65 North to Exit 99. Turn Right at end of ramp and travel 1.5 miles east to the plots

From Columbus, OH

  • Take I-70 West to Indianapolis, follow 465 South to I-65 South to Exit 99. Turn Left at end of ramp and travel 1.5 miles east to the plots

From Terre Haute

  • Take I-70 East to Indianapolis, follow 465 South to I-65 South to Exit 99. Turn Left at end of ramp and travel 1.5 miles east to the plots

 

Just down the road we plan on digging another pit where Annual Ryegrass and Appin Turnips were applied after hog manure was knifed in after wheat.

Cover Crop Radish Research reveals interesting data and information

In the summer of 2010 I entered a number of “cover crop” radishes into research plots in Michigan and Minnesota.  Some of the products I entered were given to me from a supplier in Oregon. They had collected seed samples from Europe that had been touted as cover crop worthy.  They weren’t. Fortunately those varieties never hit the US market – that I am aware of.

I also entered two other radishes that actually performed very well.  What we found is that not all cover crop radishes are created equal.  While many of the top selling radishes grew the way you would hope, there were some that did not perform well at all.

Here’s what I mean: The “lesser performers” either bolted and went to seed production early, or they had very small tubers, or both.

Now in the summer of 2011 we have planted new plots in MI and MN along with some plots in my garden “agronomy plot” in Winona Lake, IN (NE IN).  I planted my plots WAY too thick as it was very dry and I was hoping to get emergence.  I watered two times after planting the plot and that helped quite a bit.  Over the last week we received nearly 5 inches of rain, so I have a very thick, robust radish stand.

What I am seeing after 6+ weeks of growth is interesting.  I purposely planted the “wild looking radish” (“VNS Daikon Radish” on the tag) that was sold out of North Dakota in the summer of 2010 so I could compare it to Oregon grown VNS Radish.  I included two named products, GroundHog and SoilBuster (a mixture of two varieties) in the plot as well.  On the GroundHog I entered seed from two different years 2009 and 2010 to check for consistency (GroundHog is actually a true single variety of radish).

VNS stand for "Variety Not Stated" and in some cases "Buyer Beware." The Oregon grown VNS Daikon Radish is a far superior radish for cover crops than the VNS Daikon Radish from North Dakota.

I have a few early observations on these 6+ week old radishes (planted August 19, photos taken Oct 6):

  • The GroundHog from both seed crop years look the same (green top on tuber, similar tuber type and size).
  • The Oregon grown “VNS Daikon Radish” is far better than the North Dakota grown “VNS Daikon Radish” (seed purchased from the Pulse Group).
  • The North Dakota grown “VNS Daikon Radish” looks like it did in 2010 – already bolting (it started bolting at 4 weeks) and very little root.
  • The Oregon Grown “VNS Daikon Radish”  has shorter top growth than both GroundHog and SoilBuster.
  • The Oregon Grown “VNS Daikon Radish”  has smaller tubers than both GroundHog and SoilBuster.
  • GroundHog had more top growth than SoilBuster.

My conclusion so far:

The two named radishes (that are actually varieties) seem to actually show more “value” (more top growth and larger tubers) than either of the VNS products.  What does that mean to producers?  That maybe the few extra dollars you pay per acre is actually money well spent.

Both named products showed larger tubers and more top growth than the Oregon Grown VNS Daikon Radishes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The tag from the North Dakota VNS Radish. Notice the "ND" under origin in the upper right. Click on the image to make it larger.

 

Do Cover Crops Hinder Corn Population?

Cover Crop Problems?

Corn Planted into Bruiser Annual Ryegrass

I often hear folks saying that farmers should be careful planting into cover crops. There is fear that:

  • “there will be slugs.”
  • you “can’t adequately kill the cover crops.”
  • you can’t depend on getting a “normal” stand.

Well, here we are after one of the wettest Springs in the Eastern Corn Belt history and we have had challenges getting the crop in.  But getting a good stand planting into cover crops has NOT seemed to be a problem.

Cover Crop Testing

Corn Planted into "Forager Mix" - a mix of Oats, Cereal Rye, and Appin Turnips

In the Fall of 2010 I conducted a test at  Robison Farms near Greenwood, Indiana.  My brother Don and I simulated aerial application of 9 different cover crop entries (mixes and straight species).  While we had very little rain in the Fall until late October, we had excellent winter and spring growth on most of the non-irrigated plots.  We had the same plot entries in a different part of the field that received 3″ of irrigation (weekly applications of 0.5″ rain for 6 weeks) and all of the cover crops did very well in those plots.

Stand Establishment Results

Corn Planted into a "Kitchen Sink Mix" (foreground) vs no cover crop in background - where Don is standing).

Stand establishment results were very positive towards no-till planting into cover crops as we look at the Robison Farms results.  My take home is that in an exceptionally wet year we did not lose any stand because of the cover crops.  In most areas we actually held steady or improved (slightly) compared to the no-till without cover crops.  Slugs?  None. Cannot get them killed?  I’d say better than 99% kill rate…and less broadleaf weeds in the cover crop plots.

This is one location in one year…one very wet, very challenging year.  Many farmers have told me how their stands were at least as good in their cover crop fields compared to having no cover crops…and some have some great stories about how they actually planted earlier in their cover crop fields than they could in their non-cover crop fields.

What was your experience this year? I’d love to hear from you.

Here is a video that shows what my brother Don and I observed.