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Green manure crops

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Mark A

05-02-2003 08:57:35




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What crops are good for "green manuring". I am hoping to plant my field this fall with a crop to be turned under before the next spring, as "green manure". Here in south central Texas, the winters are mostly mild. I have about 6-7 acres and was wondering about what to plant, when to plant, and at what rates. I realize there are many variables here, but need ideas. I have thought about pearl millet, cowpeas, crimson clovers, and other clovers. Any ideas? Thanks in advance.

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Hugh MacKay

05-10-2003 18:23:26




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 Re: Green manure crops in reply to Mark A, 05-02-2003 08:57:35  
Mark:
I cant understand all the concern if your planning on using for a green manure crop, you will be plowing it down before it goes to seed. My secand ambition with green manure crops and I mean second to fertility is weed control. I don't know a lot about some of your southern crops. Here in Canada we use buckwheat or winter rye as they are both so agressive they will croud out all other plant material. So not only do you get excellent green manure, you get excellent weed control along with it. In Texas you may well achive the same from crops we can't grow. I can tell you this much, I have planted buckwheat twice in a season, plowed both crops down, then planted rye in fall and plowed that under the next spring. Use lots of nitrogen and your soil will be just like compost. You need the extra nitrogen to break down the green material in doing three crops in a row. Without the extra nitrogen by the second and third crop you could be plowing up as much green manure as your plowing down.

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Dwain

05-11-2003 19:42:24




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 Re: Re: Green manure crops in reply to Hugh MacKay, 05-10-2003 18:23:26  
I agree with you, besides fertility, weeds are a big issue. The main thing is if mark wants to plant sudan hay the 2 main weeds he needs to worry about are johnson grass and sunflowers.You start planting in mid April and can plant till the end of May. If Mark will run a disc or a field cultivator over his ground to knock down the johnson grass and sunflowers, the sudan can get a jumpstart on the weeds and choke them out. In some bottoms it can get over the tractor cab and that is no lie. The main reason people don't plant any buckwheat is because I think it is to hot and instead of rye, we plant a lot of wheat in about the first of September and graze it till about Febuary and then we can bale it in April or cut it in May and June.

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Dwain

05-06-2003 18:19:25




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 Re: Green manure crops in reply to Mark A, 05-02-2003 08:57:35  
Mark, I am from central Texas to and depending on how much work you want to do, have you ever thought about truck farming. If you don't want to do that, you should plant something like sudan and sell square bales, if you have a place to keep them. Thats what I am doing now for a little extra money. I have found that most buyers are people who raise goats. Seriously, if you have a lot of mexicans that live around you, there are bound to be some with goats. You can plant sudan at 70 lbs. per acre and I don't know about manure but we put 250 lbs. dry fertilizer to the acre and yield about 3 five by six round bales to the acre on the first cutting. In square bales, that would be about fourty-five 62lb. bales per acre. To check out info. on manure rates, I would go to Texas A&M's web site at www.tamu.edu and search for manure rates. There will probably be some on cow manure, but I know there is info. on poultry litter. Hope this helps. Thanks and gig'em.

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BigMac

05-05-2003 09:23:41




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 Re: Green manure crops in reply to Mark A, 05-02-2003 08:57:35  
Here in Central Indiana, I sow in buckwheat in May. I will plow it under when it flowers and follow it with hairy vetch for over winter. Repeat for 3 seasons and you will have soil that may grow something.

I don't grow clover as it reseeds itself and can become a problem later.

BigMac



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Roy in UK

05-03-2003 12:51:04




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 Re: Green manure crops in reply to Mark A, 05-02-2003 08:57:35  
Perhaps of no use to you whatsoever coming from a "Limey"....Just out of interest, Here in England one of the most popular green manure crops is mustard. sown at 10lb or so to the acre, allowed to grow until it flowers then plowed in.



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Baggsy-Wy

05-03-2003 07:27:15




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 Re: Green manure crops in reply to Mark A, 05-02-2003 08:57:35  
Not sure about your area, but any of the cereal grains are good, rye being the cheapest. Buckwheat, annual rye, sorghum, sudan grass, sweet clover, just about anything that will put on good growth under the conditions you experience. Check around and see what other farmers are doing, if they grow wheat DON"T plant winter rye...



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Robert in W. Mi

05-05-2003 15:44:18




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 Re: Re: Green manure crops in reply to Baggsy-Wy, 05-03-2003 07:27:15  
Please explain what you ment by yout statement:

"Check around and see what other farmers are doing, if they grow wheat DON"T plant winter rye..."

Robert



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Baggsy-Wy

05-09-2003 08:09:52




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 Re: Re: Re: Green manure crops in reply to Robert in W. Mi, 05-05-2003 15:44:18  
When you sell wheat there is a MAJOR cut in your price per bushel if any rye shows up in it. Wheat growers around here loathe the stuff. I'm far enough away from 'em that I grow it for green manure. Funny, it's a weed for them and I gotta nurse it along to get it to grow when it's dry. I even have trouble with cactus...



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Robert in W. Mi

05-09-2003 13:30:12




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 Re: Re: Re: Re: Green manure crops in reply to Baggsy-Wy, 05-09-2003 08:09:52  
The last i sold, i got $2.00 per bu., and wheat was paying $1.80 per bu. the same day!!! Rye is a lot easier to gerow too, plus i don't have to spray it!! Robert



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Baggsy-Wy

05-09-2003 07:16:25




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 Re: Re: Re: Green manure crops in reply to Robert in W. Mi, 05-05-2003 15:44:18  
When you sell wheat there is a MAJOR cut in your price per bushel if any rye shows up in it. Wheat growers around here loathe the stuff. I'm far enough away from 'em that I grow it for green manure. Funny, it's a weed for them and I gotta nurse it along to get it to grow when it's dry. I even have trouble with cactus...



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Ghostrider

05-06-2003 05:56:26




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 Re: Re: Re: Green manure crops in reply to Robert in W. Mi, 05-05-2003 15:44:18  
The winter rye is very similar to winter wheat. Once it's started in wheat, it is very tough to get rid of it. Chemicals won't work. At least spray application. Using a wicking-type application to the top of the plant(since it's taller than the wheat) will work. You can set your combine up to blow the lighter rye seed out of the back, but this is just reseeding the stuff. I'm just familiar with continous wheat. Perhaps crop rotation would get it out of the field.

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Robert in W. Mi

05-06-2003 09:07:02




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 Re: Re: Re: Re: Green manure crops in reply to Ghostrider, 05-06-2003 05:56:26  
I grow a bit of rye here as the fruit growers here use a lot of it. Rye will only last one season and does best when planted in the fall, so you right about crop rotation getting rid of it. Thanks, Robert



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