Plant Cover Crops

Learning about the benefits of planting cover crops.

Austrian Winter Peas

Prevented Planting Row Crop Acres – Which Cover Crops Can Help?

The following was originally posted on May 27, 2011 when the Eastern Corn Belt was suffering with severe flooding and wet conditions.  In 2013 the Upper Midwest – especially Iowa, Minnesota, and Wisconsin – is flooded and wet.  Many farmers are considering taking the crop insurance for prevented planting.  Even if it would stop raining – which does not appear will happen anytime soon – many farmers will not be in their fields for two weeks.  While locations are different, the recommendations below still apply.  Please keep the farmers in the Upper Midwest in your prayers; they need it!

For other options that might include growing cover crops for forages click here.

More rain tonight on already flooded fields create a tough situation for many Midwestern farmers.
More rain tonight on already flooded fields create a tough situation for many Midwestern farmers.

In 2010 there were wet spots in fields that were never planted,  so some ingenious farmers planted cover crops in those spots after they dried out.  Now in 2011 there are several entire fields that may not be planted to cash crops at all.  I have heard from two friends in Ohio that are working on plans to help northwest Ohio farmers know what to use on their prevented acres.

Maybe this is not an issue where you live.  I hope you never have to face a spring like this year in the Eastern Corn Belt, where many producers in Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, and Michigan are struggling to get their crops in the ground.  The forecast is for many more days of rain to finish out the month of May.

For wet spots in fields there are many good options like these cover crop radishes that were planted later in the season in a field of sweet corn.

For prevented planting the cover crops may not be harvested until after November 1st.

So what are the options for planting cover crops in the prevented planted fields?  Below I will list the options with a few of their benefits and also some disadvantages.

Oats

Advantages

  1. Provides erosion control
  2. Scavenges nitrogen
  3. Grows a deep and fibrous root mass
  4. Promotes mycorrhiza growth
  5. Quick to establish
  6. Relatively inexpensive
  7. Can be broadcast and lightly tilled in
  8. Can be added to other cover crops to add additional value
  9. Can spray with broadleaf herbicides if necessary to control weeds

Disadvantages

  1. While they provide cover and decent root growth they do not provide additional nitrogen to the soil (at the most it would be very minimal)
  2. Best to use seed oats vs. bin run oats for optimum value
  3. If planting wheat after oats there may be some “grass after grass” issues (I’m not confident this will be a problem and would welcome comments)

 

Field Peas or Austrian Winter Peas

Austrian Winter Peas and cover crop radishes were planted into prevented planting acres in Michigan in 2010. These peas were producing nitrogen for the 2011 crop while fields that were sprayed or tilled for weed control had no such benefit.

Advantages

  1. Can provide 60-120 # nitrogen/acre (excellent if following with wheat in the fall)
  2. Can be broadcast and lightly tilled in (1″ or deeper)
  3. Can be added to other cover crops to add additional value (add to oats)
  4. Can spray with broadleaf herbicides if necessary to control weeds

Disadvantages

  1. Slower to establish than oats
  2. More costly than straight oats
  3. Seed MUST be inoculated at the time of planting

 

Crimson Clover

Advantages

  1. Can produce up to 150# N/acre within 100 days (great option if following with fall planted wheat or Winter Barley)
  2. Fairly quick to establish
  3. Relatively inexpensive
  4. Can be broadcast and lightly tilled in (1/4-1/2 inch deep)
  5. Can be added to other cover crops to add additional value (add oats at 1 bu/acre)
  6. Can spray with broadleaf herbicides if necessary to control weeds (This article is for seed production in the northwestern part of the USA)

Disadvantages

  1. More costly than straight oats
  2. Slower to establish than straight oats
  3. Seed MUST be inoculated (it may be purchased pre-inoculated)

 

Cowpea

Advantages

  1. Can produce 60-150# nitrogen/acre
  2. Can be broadcast and lightly tilled in (1″ or deeper)
  3. Can be added to other cover crops to add additional value (add to oats)
  4. Can spray with broadleaf herbicides if necessary to control weeds

Disadvantages

  1. Cost and availability of seed
  2. Slower to establish than oats
  3. Seed MUST be inoculated

Other crops to consider: Berseem Clover, Fava Beans, and others.

For further information, please read this excellent article by Barry Fisher, NRCS Agronomist from Indiana, who wrote on this very topic in 2009.

Planting into “Out of Control” Peas – The Rest of the Story

In September 2011 I posted about an Ohio farmer that planted into “out of control” peas and shared about his story of how the field was looking pre-harvest.  I have recently visited with Dave (the producer) and he shared the information that a number of you asked for…and also surprising yield data. Dave farms with his father-in-law Ron in Mercer County, Ohio near Rockford (NW Ohio).

Sometimes it takes courage to farm with cover crops! Dave and his father-in-law Ron planted with confidence as the ground was "very mellow" compared to other ground without a cover crop.

Here are Dave’s observations and the 2010-2011 field history:

  • Hog Manure applied late summer of 2010 – 5000 gal/ac
  • No other fall fertilizer
  • N-Vest Groundbreaker Mix (Austrian Winter Peas and GroundHog Radish) planted Labor Day weekend 2010

Peas that survived – and other weeds, wheat, clover, etc. – were sprayed (after a wet, wet spring) on June 2, 2011.

________________________________________________

Herbicide/Insecticide Mix: (rates per acre)
20 gal Water
Alliance – .2 gal   (1 gal/100 gal water)
Roundup WeatherMax – 44oz
Weedone 650 – 1pt
PowerLock Surfactant – 6oz
Baythroid (insecticide) – 2oz

Corn was planted on June 3, 2011.

Additional Fertilizer applied (in addition to nutrients from manure and N from peas)

20 gal/ac 10-34-0 starter fertilizer with 1qt/ac zinc

40 gal/ac 28-0-0 side dress with Agrotain N stabilizer

Results

Even though several acres in the area were too wet to plant this field of peas was in great shape as you can see the row closed "perfectly" behind the planter.

Weigh wagon test showed 215 bu dry yield.  Dave guesses the whole field average was between 200-215 dry (he has no scales at home to check weight of entire crop).
Dave also thinks that the yield was 10-15 bu better that most of their other corn (w/o manure and w/o cover crops).

The seed placement of this no-till planting into the peas was "near-perfect".

All things considered…the wettest spring in Eastern Corn Belt History, late planting date, planting into 3+ foot tall peas, < 1″ of rain in the month of July (with 22 days 90 degrees or more), a wet fall that delayed harvest..and the result was over  200 bushels/acre.  I’d take that everyday for that part of Ohio, and so will Dave and his father-in-law Ron.

The roots on the peas were massive by early June. Don't expect this in most years but this certainly did not hinder planting, getting a good stand, or attaining a very high yield!

Other observations from Dave:

Positives:

Better soil structure

Deeper root penetration by corn roots

Great seedbed to plant into

Great soil cover after cover crop was killed

Better water retention thru the dry months

Nutrients saved from hog manure

Negatives:

Too much growth in wet spring

Took a lot of time to plant due to pea growth

 

Thanks Dave for sharing your story!

Cover Crops in the Great Plains – a view from a long time cover crop user- Part 2

In this cover crop post I again quote Paul Conway from Kansas, who is giving his input on cover crops in the Great Plains. In this article, Paul shares his experience with Austrian winter peas, field peas, chickling vetch, and hairy vetch.

Dave,

Austrian Winter Peas: I have limited and disappointing experience with Austrian Winter Peas.  They always winter kill and they must be planted at an inconvenient time.  It seems that the areas where they do well do not follow a simple geographical line.  Austrian Winter Peas do very well about 60 miles south of me in central and southern Kansas.  Ironically, they seem to do fine in the Nebraska panhandle, which is much colder than we are. I think consistent snow cover makes the difference.

Field Peas: also know as Canadian field peas or forage peas. I’ve grown these in early fall with oats and forage radish. I don’t know how much nitrogen they fix but they do winterkill by early winter –  mine haven’t died yet – probably consistent lows in the middle teens will do it.

I also plant them in early spring the same time as oats, killing them for June planted cash crops.  Mowing after flowering will effectively kill peas.  Where peas shine is in mixes and in cool climates.

The pea/oat or pea/triticale is excellent for haylage or silage. These mixes have the same benefits for livestock farmers as the soybean/summer grass mixes.

In much of the Midwest and east, double cropping is possible, oat/peas followed by soybean/milo or sorghum-sudan.  Further north, the oat/pea mixes would mature too late.  In that regard, I think that field peas could be managed as a summer annual (like soybeans) in the Great Lakes states, upstate New York, Pennsylvania, and New England.

Peas can handle routine summer temperatures in the low-mid 80s. Peas can be grazed. Peas aren’t shade tolerant so they don’t do well when sown into row crops.  Frankly outside the mixes I think the clovers may be more versatile.

Chickling Vetch: Also known as “AC Greenfix.” It will fix nitrogen faster both in the fall (it winterkills about the same time as the peas) and in the spring.  AC Greenfix seed is more expensive and harder to plant due to it’s shape.

Hairy Vetch: As you know, hairy vetch is the strongest nitrogen fixer among the annuals.  Hairy vetch easily fits into vegetable rotations. I have seen two foot vine growth and numerous fat nodules on vetch in early-mid April after a mildly wet fall and an early spring.  It will be harder to fit into field crop rotations, especially corn-soybeans.

Here the optimum time to plant hairy vetch is September, but it can be planted as late as mid October.  It needs minimal soil contact which isn’t a problem in a normal fall. A dry September/October, like I had this year, is a problem.

I know that you have some experience with flying in hairy vetch into maturing corn or soybeans.  Another option is to plant it very late (mid-late November) and hope it doesn’t germinate until the soil warms up in late winter-early spring.   I don’t think people realize how versatile hairy vetch can be.  In the northern areas suited for field peas (see above) hairy vetch could be managed as a summer annual. [I have seen hairy vetch flower, drop seed which stays dormant during a hot dry summer – Dave’s EMPHASIS HERE – this is why I caution growers about Hairy Vetch.]  When the weather cools down in late August the vetch seed sprouts.  It is still warm then through September and early October with temperatures similiar to the Great Lakes states and New England in the summer.  So why couldn’t vetch be planted in early summer in these areas?

Years ago I planted hairy vetch in April between wide rows of vegetables just to see what would happen.  I remember lots of growth by July, despite a hot dry summer. The soil under the vetch was cool and moist.  The vetch did not grow enough to fix much nitrogen by May but it may have fixed enough nitrogen for mid-summer planted crops.

In 2012 I will plant hairy vetch and other vetches (purple) in the spring and record how they do.

Finally, new cultivars of hairy vetch come out which may have promise.  I will try a new variety called Purple Bounty, which is supposed to mature two weeks earlier but with less winter hardiness.

 

Cover crops for gardens – and my wife, the cover cropping queen!

My wife Sally must love me…or at least she is observant to see how cover crops are improving the soil in our family gardens.  Over the nearly 19 years we have lived in our home we have had a garden where we often have raised vegetables for the Hispanic families that we minister to.  A few years ago we had nearly 50 chili plants of various types (Jalapeno, Serrano, Habanero, etc…) and we raised several bountiful crops.  But we found that after raising these crops that we had few if any earthworms and our soil was becoming more compacted year after year.  We decided to put the gardening on hold in some plots as we look to improve our soil.  Just as last year, Sally planted different cover crops in August into some garden plots.  I need to explain, these plots are in the front of our house…right near the road!  My wife is a pretty bold cover crop user (and a good advertiser as well).

This Austrian Winter pea and cover crop radish mix fill one garden patch.

Why would she plant cover crops in our gardens?  The main reasons are to enhance the soil quality with earthworms and to reduce soil compaction.    Sally is a pretty “eco-friendly” gal as she recycles everything and she knows the value of taking care of the soil.  What we have found in the past 12 months is an increase in our earthworm population and several more roots in the soil to help build organic matter.  I expect that we will have some veggies in these garden plots next year.  I’m confident that Sally is doing the right thing by improving our soils…even if it is only a few square feet at a time!

 

A mixture of turnips, cover crop radish, and crimson clover is helping build the soil in my wife's garden plots.
The front of the Robison "Agronomy farm" house in Winona Lake, IN. Note that Sally let's me have a "Cliveden pasture green" house too! It must be love!

 

Farmer Report from Ohio – Planting into “Out of Control” Peas

The cover crop radishes varied in size with the amount of moisture in the field in the fall of 2010.

My good friend David from Mercer County, Ohio is a great cover crop advocate.  Over the past few years he and his father-in-law have begun planting cover crops after their wheat crop is harvested.  The first year he planted oats and cover crop radish and this past year they planted a mixture called N-Vest® Groundbreaker Mix (a mixture of Austrian winter peas and cover crop radishes).  The summer of 2010 set some records for being exceptionally dry.  Neither the peas nor radish grew the way anyone hoped for, but David did find radish roots around 20 inches deep.  The peas were less than spectacular but still acceptable for as dry as it was.

No-tilling corn into this mix of peas and wheat looked like an easy task in early May when this photograph was taken...but the rains kept coming!
This is not what was expected! Early June 2011 was wet and the peas were tall.

As I have reported in several previous posts, the weather in NW Ohio and the Eastern Corn Belt was the wettest in 120 plus years of keeping records.  The Austrian winter peas and volunteer wheat over-wintered.  In early May David was convinced that they would no-till directly into that “mix.”  But the rain came and came often! By early June the peas had grown quite a bit, like up to four feet tall…and that is what they no-tilled into.  Actually, David said it was the “most mellow soil” he planted into all spring.

Just a few days after planting David sent me the photos of a beautiful stand of corn where the peas had been over 4 feet tall.
Three weeks after planting the corn looked great and the cover crop was dead. This photo was taken June 21, 2011.

I joke that David was nearly written out of the family will when he started no-till planting his corn!  The neighbors were all watching but David persevered and kept planting…even though it was not as easy or as early as he hoped it would be.  A few days later David e-mailed me more photos…and then a week later more photos…

Exactly four weeks after planting and the corn looks remarkable.

So now the neighbors are wondering about this David “kid” that married into this operation.  Maybe he is not as foolish as they thought earlier in the spring!  Exactly four weeks after planting the corn was over “knee high by the 4th of July” and now the neighbors are asking what that cover crop was!

In mid-July, six weeks after planting and the weather has been HOT and dry...but according to David, the field "shows less stress" than conventionally tilled field that had no cover crops.

But the dry summer of 2010 was now being duplicated by another dry summer and the summer of 2011 has been much hotter than 2010.  So how has the no-till corn fared during these challenging conditions? Very well, actually.

There was less than 2" of rain in a very hot July and yet the field looks quite good considering the heat and dryness that it has experienced.

So will David plant cover crops again?  Yes!  In fact they are already in the ground and waiting for rain to emerge.  David has been very excited all the way through this process as he has been confident he is doing the right thing for his soil and the future of his farming operation.  Thanks to David for providing the photos and information to encourage all of us that cover crops are an exciting option that we should all consider.