Oats are one of the more versatile cover crops as they can be planted various times of the season and used as an excellent cover and an excellent forage crop. Oats work well alone, but especially well in mixes with oilseed radishes, turnips, Berseem and Crimson Clovers, and Austrian Winter Peas, etc… Oats work well for erosion control and are very good nutrient scavengers. Oats (and mixes with radishes or turnips) work very well for manure nutrient management.
Advantages of Oats
- Scavenges N
- Deep and fibrous root mass
- Works well with aerial application
- Excellent for forage
- Winterkills
- Oats work very well with other cover crops in mixes
Disadvantages of Oats
- Bin run oats will have weed seed in them
- Winterkills
Plant Oats at 1 ½- 2 bushels/acre for cover/grain; 3 bushels/acre for cover/baleage
[…] of my goals in the field is to measure roots on species like annual ryegrass, cover crop radishes, oats, cereal rye, Austrian winter peas, rape, kale, cowpwea, Hairy Vetch, Phacelia, turnips, and crimson […]