cover crops

tomNE · Dec 18, 2013

I was at a seminar today on cover crops. anyone on this board plant them? I use my tractor and drill to plant them, so that makes it tractor related!

JD Seller · Dec 18, 2013

I usually plant rye/wheat/spelts on the ground we chop the corn silage off of. As for the or type of cover crops my ground is usually too cold for them to work most years.

I think they would work well in more southern areas.

Some guys around here would plant rye in the fall and then let it grow in the spring. Then chop it for hay ledge and plant later corn. It works some years but not others depending on the rainfall.

IaGary · Dec 18, 2013

Waste of time and money for seed in my mind.

There is a guy just south of me that has given speeches on cover covers.

He was asked one time if the yeild increase paid for the seed, equipment and time.

He could not answer the question. He has been planting cover crops for years.

I think the only one that makes money is the guy growing the seed for cover crops. Plus the guy selling the seed.

Just another fad

Just my opinion others may vary.

Gary

super99 · Dec 18, 2013

This year I planted cereal rye after soybeans. SCS had a deal going where they would pay 60% of seed and planting cost up to a certain $ amount. Used my 88 and my old JD grain drill and planted into the bean stubble. It was terrible dry here, ground was hard as a rock, didn't get all the seed covered very well. We had a couple of light showers, and it's coming up slowly in places, but I'm sure it will come on in the spring. I'll kill it with Roundup mid April. I also disked up about 4 acres of cornstalks and planted cereal rye for seed for next year. I should have taken my 10' IH disk and ran it across the bean stubble to get some loose dirt to plant into, I'm sure the emergence would have been better. Questions? Chris

OliverGuy · Dec 18, 2013

I tried them for 3 years on 200 acres on a plan from the USDA/FSA. I'm on year two. Takes some planning compared to normal plan from years past. I thought the extra material helped with giving me some more tilth in some cruddy clay a prior landowner abused with a disc. We'll see. Not sure if I would have done it without a kick in from the good ole gov.

donjr · Dec 18, 2013

Here in Maryland, they pay us $100 to plant covers by a certain time and method. There are about a half a dozen crops, wheat included, that can be planted. Wheat can garner $100 if it's killed off in the spring, or about $45 bucks to plant it without fertilizer and then harvest it next summer.

I got $100 for tillage radishes planted b4 Sept. 15, and $90 for rye b4 Nov. 1st. B4 Oct 15, it would have been $100. This year, there are no acreage limits.

Anonymous-0 · Dec 18, 2013

A cover crop is always planted on tobacco ground and corn silage ground in this area of central Ky. The wind and rain would take what little topsoil we have down the river in just a few years if we didn't protect it.

John Fulton · Dec 18, 2013

We have been planting cover crops, mostly wheat or rye, here in Virginia for about 25 years or so, mainly on tobacco or corn land, sometimes on bean land if you can get them thrashed early enough. Mainly for soil erosion purposes, also as a green manure. BTW, these benefits are well proven.
Both NRCS and state Soil & Water Districts offer subsides if you plant before certain dates..

David G · Dec 18, 2013

I tried oil radishes this fall, but think I got them in to late. I would air sow them in on top of corn next time.

andy r · Dec 18, 2013

I think I know who you are talking about Iowa Gary. They don't live too far away from me. I haven't made my mind up one way or the other yet.

jm. · Dec 18, 2013

Here in Tennessee it is just accepted that is what you do, only choice is what are you going to plant and what you do with it next spring. We use a lot rye,oats, wheat , peas & whatever.

Animal · Dec 18, 2013

who was the speaker at the seminar?

Iowa Jim · Dec 18, 2013

We plant covercrops on our farm. We like Cereal Rye after corn for planting soybeans. After wheat we try to plant Tillage Radishes along with austrian winter peas for corn the next spring.

IaGary · Dec 18, 2013

Where do you live andy?

I didn't realise you were close to me.

Gary

Rollie NE PA · Dec 18, 2013

The winter rye is a scavenger of nitrogen. However to get the benefits you need to burn down the rye before it get to high or you will lose the nitrogen.

tomNE · Dec 18, 2013

gale fuller and ray ward were the speakers

tomNE · Dec 18, 2013

i'm going on my 3rd year of experimenting. I added wheat to my corn/soybean rotation and it seems to be working well. the first year it jumped my corn yields considerably, over the ground that didn't have cover crops!

Anonymous-0 · Dec 18, 2013

i have no experience with it, but i can't imagine that penciling out if you mean from a plane. or do you mean broadcasting or maybe something like an air-max?

Traditional Farmer · Dec 19, 2013

I plant a variety of cover crops,Hairy Vetch,
Crimson Clover,Rye,Turnips,Cowpeas and some others.How good they do and whether its worth it depends on what time of year you plant them and I'd say the farther South you live the more good they do.For me they keep the ground covered in the Winter plus they draw up nutrients in the soil that might otherwise leach away.

dustycoal · Dec 19, 2013

In our fields in north Florida we grow cover crops both in the summer and winter to help keeps the weeds down and add organic material to hold moisture and fertilizer up into our sandy soils. We grow vegetables and it is a lot different from our BTO growing field crops in the area. They use a lot of no till and we grow mostly on plastic covered rows with drip tape under it and cultivate between the rows. We also have some type of vegetables planted all year. We grow millet's and sunn hemp in the summer and winter rye winters. Timing is important to keep weeds down and moisture up. Winter rye helps for wind breaks in the spring crops. Sunn hemp has unreal amounts of plow down for building soil in the summer.

Leroy · Dec 19, 2013

Where I am at no cover crops so unless it is a crop to be harvested nothing on ground in winter and ground will be fall tilled either chisel, disk or moldboard. And the fall worked ground will be ready to plant earlier in the spring and work up easier. Exception is no-till and the ground is left as harvested.

El Toro · Dec 19, 2013

I've switched from rye to barley for a cover crop on my garden. I bought 100 pounds last year for $12.00. If the ground is ready to plow in March I'll plow it early. If the barley is getting too tall I'll mow it off then plow. Hal

showcrop · Dec 19, 2013

My friend that has a big vegetable operation is a super tightwad, and he always plants a cover crop on all of his corn ground. I don't know what he plants and he doesn't own a drill so I believe that he broadcasts it. Since most of his corn is sweet it is planted over about a 10 week period so a lot of the cover crop gets a lot of time to grow. He turns it under just prior to planting so he gets a lot of nutrient out of it and a big help with weed control.

4xMF · Dec 19, 2013

In my country cover crops are to some extend ordered by law in order to reduce loss of nitrogen to the aquatic environment.

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