Cover Crop Radish

Feb 03 2012

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).

Dave planting into peas June 3 2011 — 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.

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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

Row after planting into peas — 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).

Seed corn placement when no-tilled into peas — 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.

Pea roots at Dave's — 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!

Oct 05 2011

Planting cover crop radishes with wheat? How do you plant them?

Planting Cover Crop Radishes with Wheat – A Growing Practice

Cover crop radishes planted with wheat at seeding time?

Last year I posted about how farmers in NW Ohio are seeing increases in wheat yields by 4-7 bu/acre by planting 2-4# of cover crop radishes in with their wheat seed. In the fall of 2010 there were more acres of wheat planted in Indiana, Ohio and lower Michigan than in many years before, and several of those acres had radishes planted with them with the hope of increasing yields.

Several test plots were planted as well. Unfortunately, the seed was planted into very dry soil and it did not rain until late October or early November so the radishes grew very little (if at all). So the grand “radish seed planted in with the wheat seed” experiment was pretty much a flop in 2010 in the eastern Corn Belt. However, I heard reports from Oklahoma and New York that claimed to see value in this practice. By the way, 2# per acre is plenty. 4#/acre is too much seed.

How to Mix Cover Crop Radish Seed with Wheat Seed

As I have shared about this potential practice around the Midwest I often-times get the question, “How do I mix the radish seed with the wheat seed?”

Option 1

I first mention the “coffee can and paddle” approach of adding the seed. As you fill the drill add some radishes and use a paddle (or even a tree limb) to stir it in. With that approach I usually get a confused and almost angry look from producers that think I am mocking them (Seriously, I am not!).

Option 2

Since most farmers are more sophisticated than that I recommend adding the radish seed to the wheat seed at the seed house. Then I get angry calls from the wheat seed suppliers about adding a “weed seed” into their bagging system!

Option 3

So I have concluded that the easiest way (and the way to recommend that will not get me in hot water) is to add the radish seed with the fertilizer that will be applied just before or after the wheat is planted.

Option 4

I’m open to suggestions. If any of you do this differently will you please help out our fellow wheat producers? Thanks!

DSCN4182 — These radishes are about the size we should expect to see when the season ends if planted with wheat. These radishes show the potential growth in just over 6 weeks since planting..

Dec 07 2010

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

The first day of December brought the first day of snow in northern Indiana. After the inch or so of snow and some Arctic air the cover crops are shutting down. Over the past three weeks we received around 5″ of rain so the cover crops were actually growing fairly well heading into December. Now the question is, what can we tell in December as the cover crops are shutting down. My answer is “plenty”!

Now that the radish tops are wilting and the peas and annual ryegrass are falling closer to the soil surface you can see the radish tubers more easily. From the radish tubers I believe we can now see how much nitrogen is being produced from the crimson clover and Austrian winter peas. Now, this is NOT scientific…but it is pretty obvious that the radishes were considerably larger where there was more crimson clover. I’ll be posting videos so you can make the observation for yourself.

For your information, the Mixes we are looking at on this post have similar species (different varieties) at different rates/species in the mix. The first video has more annual ryegrass than the mix in the second video. The second mix has more crimson clover and also one more pound per acre of the radishes, So the big difference is in the amount of clover in the mixture.

Now, I’m not saying one mix is better than the other. It really depends on what your goals are. In mix #1 there are more deeper roots because of the annual ryegrass. In mix #2 there appears to be quite a but more Nitrogen being produced (therefore larger radishes-even though there are more radishes to feed). Mix #2 has approximately 10# of Bruiser annual ryegrass, 7# of AU Robin Crimson Clover, and 3# of GroundHog Radish. Mix #1 has approximately 15# of Bounty Annual Ryegrass, 3# of crimson clover (I don’t know if it is VNS or a variety) and 2# of Tillage Radish per acre. Both mixes have outstanding radishes, outstanding annual ryegrass and I know mix #2 has an outstanding crimson clover. So it’s not like one good mix and one bad mix…both are good.

So, which mix do you want? Do you want more nitrogen? Or do you choose less nitrogen but 5# more annual ryegrass for additional deep roots? Let me know what you are looking for!

Nov 23 2010