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Plant Cover Crops

Learning about the benefits of planting cover crops.

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Feb 05 2013

“So God Made a Farmer”

I’m sure you have already seen the Super Bowl commercial from Dodge Ram trucks.

But just in case you haven’t, I have posted the video here for your enjoyment!  By the way, it is okay to be PROUD and even tear-up if you want to.  I am proud and I did cry a bit too.

Written by Dave Robison · Categorized: YouTube Videos · Tagged: So God Made a Farmer

Feb 03 2012

Cover Crop Road Trip

Cover Crop Education On the Road

Hi folks. I know that most of you have been dying for new blog posts and a newsletter from me. I realize that you can’t sleep at night because you are wondering “is Dave okay?” I appreciate that – even if it’s not true!

So where have I been? I have been busy putting on cover crop meetings across the Midwest since late December.  I have been blessed with the opportunity to speak at some wonderful venues lately:

  • Indiana CCA Annual Training Meeting (on aerial applying cover crops)
  • Practical Farmers of Iowa annual meeting in Ames, IA (various topics)
  • Southern Indiana Grazing Conference (on grazing cover crops)
  • Indiana Hort Congress annual meeting (benefits of cover crops)
  • West Ohio Agronomy Day meeting (aerial application)
  • Allen County (IN) Master Gardeners Annual meeting (cover crops in gardens -and lawns!)
  • Many SWCD meetings
  • Several Amish meetings
  • I even made it out to Wisconsin to visit with industry professionals
  • I also worked with a  southern Indiana seed corn dealer and aerial applicator
  • You may have seen me at the Ft. Wayne Farm Show or at other meetings and conferences
In my spare time, I learned Spanish, Mandarin Chinese, and got a part time job as an aerobics instructor. So, as you can see, it’s been busy.

Upcoming Cover Crop Opportunities

There are some key meetings coming up that I think you should consider attending:

  • The Ohio Forage and Grasslands Council is holding their annual meeting on February 10 in Reynoldsburg, OH at the Ohio Dept. of Ag. building from 8:30 AM-3:45 PM.  I will be speaking twice on “How to Maximize Forage Production.”
  • On March 6, I will be speaking at the Conservation Tillage and and Technology Conference in Ada, OH.  This meeting is always an excellent learning and networking opportunity for cover croppers.
  • On March 7, I will be speaking at the Great Lakes Forage and Grazing Conference in East Lansing, MI.
  • One of the very best meetings on cover crops is the Midwest Cover Crop Council Annual Meeting.  This year it is being held at the Beck Agricultural Center in West Lafayette, IN – generously donated by the Beck family – Beck’s Hybrids – on February 28-29.  The main day for farmers to attend will be the 29th.
  • Then on March 1 there is the Greater Wabash River RC&D Workshop on Soil Productivity at the same facility.

Along with these meetings and conferences I will be a guest lecturer at Ball State University while also conducting several cover crop and forage meetings in Wisconsin, Ohio, Michigan, and southern Indiana.

 

Cover Crops From the Bottom Up

Root pit digs start in late March and early April.  With the mild winter we are having in the Eastern Corn Belt, I’d bet roots have grown deeper than expected as many cover crops do not yet appear to have gone dormant.

I have lots of stories from producers that are excited about their cover cropping experiences.  I’ll do my best to get those on the blog as soon as possible.  Watch recent (and not so recent videos) on You Tube on the covercropdave station.

 

Keep sending me or telling me your stories.  I hope to run into you this winter at some of these meetings/conferences.  Be sure to say “hi”.

Dave

Written by Dave Robison · Categorized: Education, YouTube Videos · Tagged: cover crop education, cover crops, Dave Robison

Jun 25 2011

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.

Written by Dave Robison · Categorized: Cover Crop Challenges, Cover Crop Plots, Stand Establishment Following Cover Crops, YouTube Videos · Tagged: cover crop research, cover crops, stand establishment following cover crops

Dec 08 2010

Cover Crop plots in December-What can we tell now? part 2

In this post we look at two more videos of mixes on December 2, 2010.  This first mix in this session is of Austrian Winter Peas and GroundHog Radishes.  The seeding rate is 30# Peas and 5# of Radish per acre.  The main thing we observe in this plot is the larger radishes than we saw with the mixes of annual ryegrass, crimson clover and radishes.  Now, in this mix there are more radishes than in the previous two plots (see previous post).  So we have 2-3#/acre more radishes yet larger radishes.  Again, this is NOT scientific, but it sure appears that the radishes, which are luxury consumers of nitrogen, are much larger…thus I conclude, have been fed more  nitrogen from the peas.  It was quite surprising to me to see how much the peas have grown sine I last saw the plot in early November.  The cooler weather seemed to really allow them to grow at a faster pace.

In the second video on this you will see the plot that appears to have the most nitrogen produced.  This mixture is of 17#/acre of AU Robin Crimson Clover and 5#/acre of GroundHog Radish.  In this plot the radishes are noticeably larger in girth and above ground growth.  In fact as you look across the plot it is obvious that this plot is the most “robust” in its growth. In the spring of 2011 I anticipate that the AU Robin Crimson Clover will still be producing more nitrogen.  From previous cover crop field pits we have dug this fall we have found roots on the crimson clover at 24″ deep.  So we have deep rooted cover crops with both items in this mixture as well.

In both of these plots you have excellent nitrogen production and nutrient scavenging!  Personally I like that for a cover crop.  What do you like?

Written by Dave Robison · Categorized: Austrian Winter Peas, Crimson Clover, Nitrogen from Cover Crops, Radishes, YouTube Videos · Tagged: Austrian Winter Peas, cover crop radishes, cover crops, cover crops after wheat, Crimson Clover, Groundhog radish, nitrogen production, oilseed radishes, Tillage Radish

Nov 23 2010

Big Radish fed by Crimson Clover

The video below shows the value of Crimson Clover in a cover crop setting.  Crimson clover has been tested and shown to produce as much as 140#/N after it has been planted after wheat.  The plots in this video were planted around July 29, 2010 by the Jasper and Newton County SWCD folks (Thanks Dan and Rose) at the Churchill Farms near Lake Village, IN.  The mix is called Crimson Cover-All sold in the N-Vest(R) line up by CISCO Seeds.  The planting rate was 21#/acre (approximately 16# Crimson Clover and 5# GroundHog Radish).  There was under 3″ of rain at this site from July 25 through Mid-October.  The soil is a sandy loam.  There was no additional fertilizer put on the plot.  The Radish in this video was weighed at Country Acres in Francesville, IN at 12# 14 oz.  It was one heavy radish…full of nutrients and water!  As that radish decomposes the water and nutrients will be released into the soil for the 2011 crop and for building organic matter.

Written by Dave Robison · Categorized: Breaking Up Compaction, Cover Crop Roots, Crimson Clover, Radishes, YouTube Videos · Tagged: Annual Ryegrass, AU Robin Crimson Clover, Crimson Clover, deep roots, Groundhog radish, legumes for cover crops, nitrogen production, nutrient scavenging, prevented planting acres, Radish, soil compaction, Tillage Radish

Nov 17 2010

Annual Ryegrass Roots Video – 40″ deep in 2 1/2 months!

I was in western Pulaski County of Indiana again yesterday afternoon (11/16/2010) at the Leman farm. This is the third year that the Leman’s have used cover crops. Curt Leman dug some pits for us so we could see what kind of rooting depth we have achieved since the annual ryegrass was planted on Sept 4, 2010. When I got in the pit I was very pleasantly surprised! I found ryegrass roots that are already 40″ deep! Watch the video to see what other goodies I found!

After digging out the section of soil that had the dark band we found that we actually had corn roots from the 2010 crop that were at least 36″ deep. My friend from Michigan who is a “corn guru” tells me that in most soils in most years that corn roots go 18″ deep…so we gained approximately 18″ greater depth of corn roots by using annual ryegrass for one year…impressive isn’t it!?! And, we didn’t dig deeper than 40″ so possibly the roots went deeper than that. I believe that helps explain our improved corn health and yield where we had ARg as a cover crop vs where we had no cover crop (again, see previous post).

In the photo you see the dark band of soil found at the 30-36″ soil depth. The following video reveals what I could not see when in the pit…

I anticipate we will dig in the spring at the Leman farm again. What we found after 10 weeks was literally amazing!

Written by Dave Robison · Categorized: Annual Ryegrass, Cover Crop Roots, YouTube Videos · Tagged: Annual Ryegrass, flying cover crops into corn, roots

Nov 17 2010

What Cover Crop Geeks Do For Fun…

Written by Dave Robison · Categorized: Crimson Clover, Radishes, YouTube Videos · Tagged: cover crop radishes, Crimson Clover

Nov 13 2010

Video of Austrian Winter Pea Roots 11/11/2010

Puny, they just look puny this year!  Those Austrian Winter Peas are supposed to be 30″ tall like 2009…well, with less than 2″ of rain in NW Ohio since mid-July, I guess they look pretty good…but still puny.  THAT is why I take a shovel with me…I want to see what they are really doing IN and TO the soil. Take a look at this video to see what I found.  Thanks to Greg Fretti from CISCO for helping video this segment so I could dig.

Written by Dave Robison · Categorized: Austrian Winter Peas, Cover Crop Roots, YouTube Videos · Tagged: Austrian Winter Peas, Cover Crop Benefits, cover crop radishes, cover crops, cover crops after wheat, produce nitrogen

Nov 11 2010

Radish and Crimson Clover Video

This video was taken from a cover crop plot in Newton County Indiana.  The plot was in a field that was prevented from being planted by water ponding in the Spring of 2010.  The mix is called “N-Vest Crimson Cover-All Mix” and is sold by CISCO Seeds.  Even with very little moisture, (it was planted in late July) the mixture grew very well

.  Steve Houghton, Seed Division Manager with CISCO is my guest on this video.  Thanks Steve!

Written by Dave Robison · Categorized: Crimson Clover, Radishes, YouTube Videos · Tagged: cover crop radishes, Crimson Clover, oil seed radishes, oilseed radishes, Radishes

Nov 10 2010

Cover Crop Slurry Seeding Video

Dr. Tim Harrigan from Michigan State has been working on slurry seeding cover crops the past few years with very good success.  I’ve included his video to let him tell you how he’s doing it!

Written by Dave Robison · Categorized: Manure management, Slurry Seeding Cover Crops, YouTube Videos · Tagged: cover crop radishes, cover crops, manure management with cover crops, oil seed radishes, slurry seeding cover crops

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