Plant Cover Crops

Learning about the benefits of planting cover crops.

cover crop seeding rates

Cover Crop Field Day Set at Robison Farms

CISCO Seeds, Robison Farms, and Dougherty Fertilizer are sponsoring a Cover Crop Field Day and Root Dig at the Greenwood, Indiana farm. If you’ve not had an opportunity to see cover crops in a real life farm setting, this will be a great meeting for you . There will be multiple species available to look at and expert agronomists on hand to answer questions.

 

When:

Wednesday, November 30, 2011 from 2-4 P.M.

Location:

Corner of Five Point Road (300 East) and Main Street (Rocklane Road) east of Greenwood, IN

Contact:

If you have questions or need further information contact  Don Robison at donrobison@ciscoseeds.com or 317-357-7013

  • Rain or shine we will have a gathering (call if the weather is bad for “plan B”)

 

Cover Crop Field Day Highlights

Come see ten different mixes and/or species of cover crops in a large plot setting.
  • 1100’ lineal feet of cover crop plots
  • 10 different mixes or straight species shown
  • guaranteed weather! (not saying what kind)
  • working with NRCS, SWCD, and Dougherty Fertilizer
  • root digs (weather contingent)
  • Cover Crop Agronomists on hand for tours and Q/A sessions
  • See over 150 acres of various Cover Crops withing 1/2 mile of plots

 

Purpose of the cover crop field day

To see different species of cover crops in a real to life situation. This was a soybean field that had the cover crops applied over the top of the standing crop at roughly 50% leaf drop.

 

Species You Will See

 

  • Radishes
  • Turnips
  • Crimson Clover
  • Oats
  • Winter Rye
  • Annual Ryegrass
  • Austrian Winter Peas
  • Several Mixes including the above species

 

 

 

Directions:

From Indianapolis

  • Take I-65 South to Exit 99. Turn Left at end of ramp and travel 1.5 miles east to the plots

From Louisville

  • Take I-65 North to Exit 99. Turn Right at end of ramp and travel 1.5 miles east to the plots

From Columbus, OH

  • Take I-70 West to Indianapolis, follow 465 South to I-65 South to Exit 99. Turn Left at end of ramp and travel 1.5 miles east to the plots

From Terre Haute

  • Take I-70 East to Indianapolis, follow 465 South to I-65 South to Exit 99. Turn Left at end of ramp and travel 1.5 miles east to the plots

 

Just down the road we plan on digging another pit where Annual Ryegrass and Appin Turnips were applied after hog manure was knifed in after wheat.

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.

Cover Crop Radish – Rate Per Acre

Radish plot 7-10 028
Two different cover crop radish varieties both had larger tubers in the area where I thinned the plants to 4" apart (shown).

In my cover crop radish plot I have thinned some rows to 4″ between plants and in two rows I have left them thick (I figure I’m at the 12-15#/acre range). After 6 weeks there are some pretty telling signs that 12-15#/acre is too thick and possibly a waste of money.  Most of the varieties that have been thinned to 4″ have larger tubers than in the thicker plots.  That is not always the case, but I think it’s safe to say that the heavier planted radishes do not have the larger of the tubers.

Radish plot 7-10 011
Cover crop radish tubers planted at the 12-15#/acre rate after 6 weeks.
Radish plot 7-10 013
Here is the same variety at 6 weeks when thinned to the approximately 5#/acre rate.

Cover Crop Seeding rates DO matter

As an agronomist I try real hard to recommend the correct seeding rates.  For instance the “recommended” seeing rate on radishes has been 10-12#/acre but in reality only 3-5#/acre does a lot of good in mixes and 10-12 is WAY too thick (and expensive).   Annual Ryegrass rates for cover crops is 1/2 that for forage. In fact, some producers use 12-15#/acre now and achieve very nice stands. Cutting seeding rates helps save the producer money and that is almost always a good thing, right?

GroundHog Radish by itself at 5#/acre is not thick enough to stop erosion.
Radish by itself at 5#/acre is not thick enough to stop erosion. But 10-12#/acre is expensive. 3-5#/acre in mixes seems to be just right.

However, there is another side of the coin.  We do need to achieve adequate coverage to reduce erosion.  Thin stands of cover crops might provide some purpose but they may also give a false sense of “security” that you’ve actually “done enough” to help.  I guess the question is “what IS enough to help?”  I’d suggest that 50% ground cover is not enough to give erosion control.

With the help of NRCS, past experiments in MI and OH, and other cover crop friends  we determined that 35#/acre was going to be thick enough for Austrian Winter Peas and Radishes.  Crimson Cover with Radishes seeded at 17-20#/acre looks just right.

So how do we know what the right seeding rate is?  As I said earlier, I work with NRCS experts and do a lot of test plot work.  In the fall of 2009I helped plant over 15 different cover crop test plots in OH, MI, and IN.  Most of the plots are identical but in some of the plots we are experimenting on new mixes and different seeding rates.  We take notice of plots that look thin and determine why.  Did we get a good catch?  Were the legumes inoculated so they can grow aggressively?  Or, did we just plant too low of a rate?

In the plots in Southern Illinois I wrote about previously there were some plots that were quite thin.  I wish I had taken photos of them.  They had about 30% ground cover.  The Hairy Vetch was not  inoculated and it had few nodules and it was growing very slowly compared to the other inoculated legumes.  I did not put those entries in the plot, but I wondered if they’d be thick enough when I saw the seeding rates they used.

It’s one thing to try to save money for the producers…and I’m all for that, IF the savings are actually savings. I guess it depends on the producers goal.  Would producers plant their corn crop at 1/2 or 3/4 rate to save money?

What do you think?