Learning about the benefits of planting cover crops.
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:
There are some key meetings coming up that I think you should consider attending:
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.
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
I often hear folks saying that farmers should be careful planting into cover crops. There is fear that:
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.
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 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.
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?
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.
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!
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.
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!