Plant Cover Crops

Learning about the benefits of planting cover crops.

soybeans

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.

Photo Diary – Soybeans planted into a Cereal Rye cover crop – part 3

My cover cropping and no-till friend Dave from Central Indiana has allowed us to look in at his farming operation this year. (Did you notice I have friends named Dave who plant cover crops?) –  In previous posts Dave has shared about his no-till planting and spraying soybeans into cover crop cereal rye and later he shared about the progress the beans were making in the rye cover crop.  Dave has a knack for photography and farming and I greatly appreciate that Dave is willing to share his thoughts and experiences with all of us. Below is the note Dave sent me about his cover crops and his no-till soybeans. (I am using this with Dave’s permission).

 

I thought it would be a good idea to snap some final pictures of the soybeans behind my house that were no-tilled into Cereal Rye before we harvested them. It has been very exciting to watch this on-going experiment this season. I am optimistic that this field will yield very well. Since the last photos that I sent you in early July, I foliar fed the field on July 29th, but never had to go back in to spray with Roundup for weed control since the burndown application I made six days after planting. There are a very few random weeds in the field, but nothing of any significance. One negative observation with this field has been that the soybeans got very tall and thus have lodged in some of the darker ground. I planted them at 180,000 seeds / acre in 15″ rows not knowing how they would emerge through that heavy cereal rye cover. Next year I will likely use this same cereal rye cover strategy ahead of soybeans on a much larger scale but will probably back the planting population back to around 120,000 – 135,000 seeds / acre. I also might consider, depending upon the growing season, using Cobra Herbicide at a late vegetative stage to help control the soybean height and also trigger an immune response to help against White Mold. I could see White Mold being a potential problem with this system because of the very heavy residue cover not allowing enough air movement into the canopy. I will probably try to harvest this field next week sometime.

I asked Dave if he saw white mold this year and he replied “I didn’t see a white mold issue this year because the weather turned off very hot and dry. I think if we have average temperatures and average or above average moisture during a growing season, white mold could be a possible problem with this system.”

Now for the photos that Dave sent…

Beautiful soybeans, weed-free, no-till planted into a cereal rye cover crop
These soybeans planted into a rye cover crop are clean and heavily podded on Dave’s farm in a year that has been hot and dry after a wet, cold spring.

The soybeans are lodging a bit in the darker soils but over-all this field looks awesome!

I was speaking at a cover crop meeting this past summer at Purdue University and I mentioned Dave and this “trial” he was doing and a gentleman came up to me after the meeting and he told me he knew Dave.  He told me that Dave is “the best” farmer he has ever met!  It’s obvious that Dave is an “elite” farmer!

 

Why Soybeans Look Great After Cereal Rye

Barry Fisher, Indiana State Agronomist for NRCS in the pit in the grassy area that had shallow roots.

In Mid-August I had the honor of speaking at a cover crop field day in Tipton County, Indiana.  At that field day there were some root pits dug that were quite interesting.  One of the pits was in an area where some top soil had been removed and fill dirt had been put back over the top of where soil had been removed.  Now that area is a “grassy pasture-like” area.  What surprised me was that the roots on the forage grasses were not particularly deep into the soil profile – only 10-15″.  I found them to be much more shallow rooted than expected.

In the other pit the producer had been no-till farming for a number of years and for the past six years using cover crops as well.  In this pit we found soybean roots much deeper than forage grass roots!  See the video here. The cover crop used last year in the field was winter cereal rye.  The soybean crop looked excellent in a very dry time of the year.

Observations from the pit in the soybean field:

  • soybean roots around 40 inches deep
  • large nodules approximately 20 inches deep
  • dense, thick, healthy soybean roots
Markers along the side wall of the soil pit show evidence of soybean roots found at different depths.
Large soybean nodules found around 20 inches deep following a cereal rye cover crop in a continuous no-tilled field.

Obviously we don’t know the yield on the soybeans yet but they sure podded up well and I’m confident went through the drought better than shallower rooted soybeans.

Photo Diary – Soybeans planted into a Cereal Rye cover crop- part 2

I am so pleased to present these photos of how well my friend Dave’s soybeans planted into tall cereal rye looks. Dave is from central Indiana between Indy and Lafayette. See the previous photo diary here.  I know Dave gained lots of encouragement to try this from Howard and Mike Weller from the Continental, Ohio area. Click here see the Weller’s presentation that they gave at the Ada, OH cover crop meeting.  Enjoy the photos sent from my friend Dave!

This photo was taken June 21. The rye is falling down and the beans look beautiful!

 

 

Another view taken on June 21, 2011.
This photo was taken the morning of July 1 after a rain shower. The beans are now just about to outgrow the rye stubble. Note the cleanliness of the field…no weeds and no escapes on the rye.

 

 

 

 

Another photo taken July 1, 2011.

 

 

The soybeans are growing well in this cover crop of cereal rye!
You cannot beat farming! No-till soybeans into a cereal rye cover crop, a rain on July 1 and a rainbow! Perfect!

 

 

 

Photo Diary – Soybeans planted into a Cereal Rye cover crop

I am very blessed to know a number of producers that are passionate about cover crops and crop production profitability.  One such producer is a fellow named Dave from NC Indiana.  (Dave is very humble and does not want notoriety so I will not use his last name or exact town.)  However, Dave has agreed to allow me to “follow his crops after cover crops”.  This will be more of a photo diary.  I think you will be excited to see how cover crops work for Dave and how awesome his crops are.  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!  By using cover crops he has improved his profitability.

An April view of cereal rye that was planted into corn stalks in the fall.
Planting soybeans into standing rye in Mid-May.
Cereal Rye seven days after sprayed with a 100% kill rate.
The soybean stand is “perfect” after being planted into standing cereal rye.