Hairy Vetch is a terrific nitrogen producing cover crop species. For Hairy Vetch to produce significant Nitrogen it needs to be established in adequate time to have good growth before going dormant in winter. Hairy Vetch must also be inoculated to be productive. One challenge with using Hairy Vetch is that it contains significant amounts […]
Hairy Vetch- a Top Nitrogen Producer Read More »
Winter Barley makes a great cover crop. In fact, in many regions Winter Barley is now being used successfully as a cover crop. Newer winterhardy varieties make Winter Barley much more viable to use in the colder regions of the upper-Midwest. Winter Barley performs better on poorer soils than many other cereal grains and its
Winter Barley-a “forgotten cover crop species” Read More »
Cowpeas are an enigma for Midwestern producers. Sometimes referenced as a “summer soybean,” cowpeas need to have hot weather and adequate moisture to have the best success. Cowpeas do exhibit good drought tolerance. If there is a dry summer, cowpeas should be planted by 4th week of July. Inoculating cowpeas is vital for success. Cowpeas
Cowpeas-some love, some… Read More »
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
Oats…a wonderful and versatile cover crop Read More »
Let’s face it – unless you, the farmer, can derive great benefit from the use of cover crops, this venture will be utterly useless and a waste of time. If there is no benefit, just keep doing the things you’ve already been practicing. However, if cover crops can really add to our bottom line (and
Cover Crop Benefits Read More »
Crimson clover is a real jewel among the cover crop species. Crimson clover is an excellent producer of nitrogen and there are some newer varieties on the market that are very winterhardy even into Michigan. Dr. Eileen Kladivko measured how much nitrogen was produced by crimson clover in a test plot in western Indiana. What
Crimson Clover; a jewel among the cover crop legumes Read More »
Annual Ryegrass is one of the more popular and also one of the more vilified of the cover crops. Those that love it cite the deep fibrous roots and excellent soil tilth improvement. Those that loathe it cite that it does not always survive the winter…or that they can’t kill it if it does! Thankfully
Annual Ryegrass…leading the new frontier of cover crops Read More »
The cover crop radishes and forage turnips that I accidentally planted in my wife’s wildflower garden just over 4 weeks ago lets me make some observations about the differences between the radish and turnip roots. The radishes have a fairly “hairless” root that has very quickly reached 7 ” deep. On the other hand, the
Cover Crop Radishes and Turnips…what are their differences? Read More »