Plant Cover Crops

Learning about the benefits of planting cover crops.

cover crop radishes

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.

Photo diary- Corn after a cover crop (after corn)

“Planting this corn field was like planting into a garden” said my friend Dave.   He has been a ‘cover cropper” for six years now.  This year Dave no-tilled approximately 50% of his acres.  Dave is one of the most innovative guys I know…but he’s also “cautious”; he does not want to lose money!  That’s why Dave loves cover crops…using cover crops he has improved his profitability.  In this photo diary we will look at photos from April, May and June where Dave had a cover crop consisting of Oats/GroundHog Cover Crop Radish/AU Robin Crimson Clover.  The previous crop was corn.

An April view of the field with the AU Robin Crimson clover that over wintered. The oats and GroundHog Radishes had died out over the winter as expected.

 

A May photo of Crimson Clover that could not be killed yet because the field (and all other fields in the area) was too wet to spray. Normally by the date the photo was taken the Crimson Clover would have been dead and the corn would have been planted.

 

No-Till Corn on Corn planted into Oats and AU Robin Crimmson Clover

Cover Crop Radishes…be a good neighbor!

As I look at the forecast for Valentines week I see mid-4o’s on the way!  Hallelujah! With many areas from Colorado to Virginia under ice or snow this will be a very welcomed relief.  But with warmer temperatures on the way I think it’s important to “be a good neighbor”.  We want our neighbors to be excited about us using cover crops, right?  Well, when the radishes “start to a smellin'” we should make sure that the neighbors know what is going on.  Also, let the local gas company, local fire department, local farm store, local grocer, local postal worker, etc…know that the smell that is emitting around your fields of radish is the smell of good stewardship!  Click here to see that Radishes have many benefits!

Radishes have great benefits and grow well with minimal water (as seen on Mike Werling's farm in 2010). However, when they start smelling bad, let the neighbors know what is going on...so they will "enjoy" the fact that you are doing great things for the soil and groundwater.

The main challenge with Radishes is the odor they emit as freezing and thawing occurs.  As good stewards we should consider using them…and being forthright with our neighbors.

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?

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.

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!

Radish / Pea Mix Video

I have been visiting a  farm in eastern Whitley County Indiana over the past month and have seen a few fields of an Austrian Winter Pea/Radish mixture.  These fields were wheat fields that had dairy manure knifed into them after they had been harvested and deep tilled.  The video shows what a great stand the farmer got and the growth of the radishes!  We found one plant that had a 28+” deep tuber/tap root.  That’s how much was in the soil!  At 4″ below the soil surface I found where there had been quite a bit of compaction.  The radish was “crumpled” or “wrinkled” at the 4″ depth range.  Out of the 15 radishes we dug up only one radish had not bored through the compaction layer.

This GroundHog radish had a 28+" deep tuber/tap root.
The Austrian Winter Peas were growing very prostrate in this field. When I lifted the plants up they measure over 12" tall to up to almost knee high.
The radishes showed where there was compaction that caused some wrinkling of the tuber. The tubers grew through that compaction which shows the powerful ability of the cover crop radish.

Big Differences in Cover Crop Radishes

This tuber of GroundHog Radish was fairly typical where there was good fertility. This came from a very sandy soil near Melvin, MI. The farmer is very pleased with the results on his 300 acres of radishes.

There are big differences in cover crop radishes.  Some are outstanding and consistent; deep and fairly large tubers (tuber girth seems to be related to fertility and age of stand).  In the thumb of Michigan I saw over 300 acres of fields planted at 10#/acre that were just what the farmer wanted.  We found most of the tubers 8-12” deep and we could not really find the real bottom of the roots as we broke them off in the soil.

These GroundHog Radishes were all within 30” of each other on a blow sand hill. While not all are big, they are all holding nutrients.
 

While some varieties have good tubers, in other instances I have found real problems.  In a field in NE Indiana a SWCD director brought some radishes from a farmer’s field that were verysmall.  The farmer planted around 100 acres of a VNS radish and he was not happy.  I don’t blame him…look at the photo below.

The three radishes to the left are VNS and the radish to the right is the GroundHog variety. The VNS had been in the soil for 3-4 more weeks than the GroundHog radish.

What makes this story even more interesting is that the VNS radish (VNS = Variety Not Stated) cost the farmer 30-40 cents less per pound than the improved variety.  Unfortunately, he’s unhappy because his radishes are not performing.   The farmer saved $3-4/acre and is frustrated.  Two things…and this is for dealers and producers…#1 –Choose to buy from a trustworthy source #2) IF there is a big price savings…beware there is a reason for that spread!  Saving 15-20% on seed is HUGE!  If there is that much saving ask questions and get good answers!