cover crops Animal

[Anonymous-0]

Hey Animal the tillage radish's are really stinkin, I hope they get all their rotting done soon. I have everything set up to put the row crops in 1/3's for 2012, thats gonna give me a cover of clover or radish after wheat which will help out the following corn crop. Im gonna try to overseed about 50 acres of rye into corn in early June. I think Im liking this option the best for me to add biomass and hold the soil along the hillsides. Ive just seen way too much washing the last 5-10 years, Ive been doing at least one thing different every year to try to help erosion, and my land is in pretty good shape but some of the farms in my area are apparently getting worse as crop prices get better. Lots of guys treating farmland like an old chore coat, use it until its no good and hopefully be retired by then I guess. I actually have some plans for kids and so forth.

 

[Animal]

Well good for you! I am also thinking outside the box, after wheat I am going with buckwheat and then cereal rye. In my hay I am going with A/C greenfix next month, weather permitting, after first cutting I am going back with ceral rye and of coarse those stinking little radishes in all of it over winter..I wanted to start on my crop roller next week some time just as soon as I can get that darned grain drill out of the shop. I am in the process of putting new grain meters on it so I can get that geenfix in. Keep us posted on your progress, I think its very interesting!

 

[cydectin]

Just wanted to chime in and say, "good going on the cover crops." These heavier than normal rains that we have been having the last few years is taking a toll on a lot of cropland. Ditches are in every field you drive by. Good thing is that as the ditches get bigger the equipment to farm it gets bigger so it is no big deal. Problem is that once that dirt is gone it will never be gotten back, but hey that is someone elses problem, right. When I helped my dad and brother on their farms, we used no-till and then slowly incorporated covers. We always planted wheat and would sow red clover in it. Then we started using rye grain. Now any crop ground that is not seeded in wheat or rye to cut for seed is is planted in rye spread with a buggy and an Aerway aerator run over it to take out shallow compaction and stir some dirt over the seed. We get better stands no-tilling in the rye than we do in the bean or corn stubble and it sure is nice to drive the sprayer or combine into a gentle sloping part of the field and not have to slow down because of a ditch. The farm sure is pretty first thing in the spring as every thing else around is dead and brown looking except for the cover crop fields. I am now farming for myself and I am using covers too. Many benefits to using covers and I could go on and on. Good luck and I will keep watching your posts on this subject.

 

[ihman73]

We have been no-tilling both corn and soybeans for over 20 years and I would like to try some cover crops. Any suggestions or information would be most helpful. We farm mostly lighter timber soil on rolling ground in southern IL.

 

[Animal]

I think we are all learning, so just jump on the wagon and go for the ride.

 

[cydectin]

I would keep it simple at first and get more creative as your confidence builds. Here is what we have done on clay pan soils with very little topsoil. We used clover under sown in wheat and rye to cut for seed. We stopped following the clover with corn due to weedier conditions and vole and mice problems and also the clover nitrogen would not show up the following year in the corn due to clay soils and the tops not being incorporated into the soil. We plant beans after the small grain clover combo followed by rye cover then back into corn. The clover corn never did as good as the corn folowing the rye. I know this may sound stupid but it holds true on our soils. Rye grain in my opinion is almost bullet proof as far as covers go. Can be sown later in the fall and still make cover by freeze up. Always had better stands of clover under rye than the wheat. Rye can be broadcast and a little dirt stirred over it and you should get a stand. It is more important to stir dirt over it in bean stubble than it is in corn stalks as the bean leaves seem to make a mat that the rye cannot get started in. Can be flown on standing corn or beans when the beans are just starting to drop leaves. Rye is easy to kill with burn down chemicals. We had also tried ryegrass which we had a hard time killing with glyphosate. I think the variety was Marshall and I believe it was RR ready when we got it. It was great stuff at producing root and top growth but to hard to kill. My brother is going to try cowpeas and tillage radishes following some wheat and we will see how it goes. Feel free to pose specific questions if you like and I will help you if I can for free. If I have to lie, then I"ll charge you. Learned the last line from politicians.

 

[donjr]

Maybe I'm lucky to live in Maryland, because we've been getting state money to plant cover crops. Part of the 'Save the Bay' initiative. We've been planting covers for years now- no-til and covers seem to go hand-in-hand. We're now allowed to harvest wheat for a lesser final payment (we get a planting payment in the fall, and a final payment in the spring which is higher if we burn it down) and other cereal cropslike rye can be baled and used for straw.

Next year, I want to try some radishes on silage ground and see what happens.

But erosion around here is almost non-existant with the cover programs. And the cover does make a nice seed bed for the no-till to follow by providing some shade for the seedling corn and helping to hold moisture thru the summer. We can generally go several weeks longer without rain and still have a respectable harvest. I haven't put the molboard plows on for about twenty years, and we averaged 180 bu. corn year before last and over 100bu last year after a severe drought. I think it does pay--