cover cropping

I have a three acre field, I had oats and Spring Cal (triticale and field peas ) in this spring. I mowed that off in June to keep the oats from going to seed. My intentions were/ are to re plant with hairy vetch and rye to be plowed down in the spring as green manure. i am trying to get this field built up for vegetable production.

Right now, there is some clover and alfalfa but, mostly ragweed and queen anns lace. I mowed that all down today. Should I no till the rye and vetch into the stubble or plow down and disk first? This field may go into another cover crop next year yet to help add organic matter. What would you do? Thanks in advance.

My area doesn't have a lot of topsoil so I usually like to use an offset disk in the fall to get ready to plant cover crops.You might want to try Crimson Clover and Hairy Vetch Crimson Clover is a legume and also produces a good amount of green manure thats easier to compost back into the soil than rye.In the Spring I chisel plow and then disk or rototil.

If the goal is to build organic matter, I'd stop tilling first. You may have some "weeds" in your rye, but they add diversity, right? Seriously, as for the rag weed, if there is a significant seed bank out there, tillage may only re-seed a lot of them, and not offer the control you were hoping for.

Without pictures of how much stuff you have out there right now, it is difficult to give a recommendation, but I'd try to no-till it. If you think you have too much competition right now, consider some roundup.

If you are south enough for notill to work, that builds soil quicker.

I keep hearing a mix of a grass and something else - legume or turnip/radish - makes a nice soil building combo, each dos something that works well together.

Oats is cheap.

Rye has a bit more root mass, grows in colder conditions, and will suppress a few weeds. More organic matter in a year than other grasses.

Alfalfas and clovers will add some N to the soil if you let them grow a full season or more, alfalfa gets so e deep tap roots if you let grow multiple years to pull up deeper P and K - if any is down there.

Turnip/ radish will get a deep tap root that pulls nutrients up to the surface and stores the nutrients in the bulb at the surface, then available to other plants next year.

So depends a bit what you want to do.

add organic matter - don't till. Use the bigger root mass crops.

Add N - use a legume.

Move deeper nutrients to the surface (if your subsoil has built up nutrients)- use a deep root like long term alfalfa or a summer of turnips or a fall of tillage radish.


Most any of this is helped out a whole lot by adding manure to the ground! Your cover crops will break down and recycle the manure into a much quicker soil recovery and build.

Paul

Years ago, yellow sweet clover was considered to be a soil builder.

People really don't care for it any more.

I still have some in my blend I plant with the oats, but it use it for fall grazing. (Oats, sweet clover, red clover, alfalfa, turnips)

Dad used to plant it with oats, then late spring plow it, field was yellow and so tall you couldn't see the tractor. Was a good cover; but in our short growing season here in MN, that got to be mid June before you could plant a real crop into fresh plowed dirt, which might not lead to the best cash crop conditions. Too late for corn so you were planting beans, which kinda wasted the N effect of the sweet clover.

If you have a longer growing season for those farther south, you have so many more options.

Paul

I'm trying this now so I can't really give you an honest report...just food for thought.
Ryegrass Cover Crop

Thank you folks for your advice. Will take all under advisement.

Just a pic of what the field looks like now.

I think you are better off on organic matter building with no till than seeding and plowing.