any ideas for a crop

So I been thinking I know really I should just try and see for myself what might work! But in my area we have thousands of acres of stripped mined ground! Here in western pennsylvania! Some hobby farmers try to farm it but if you get lucky and plow up were the top soil was piled up you can grow a decent corn crop or bean for our area! But most of it is a few inches of dirt and rock! Most of it is just growing up in scrub brush and weeds but you can get it to grow hay! But i need a crop to bust up the weeds before hay! My dad always said it was good for nothin but thats cause he only wanted to grow corn beans and hay! I think! Maybe the old man is right! And we had enough ground around that was never stripped for his farming needs! But I like to think outside the box and try new things if they may have a chance to work! And since I'm just trying to get started farming! Is thier any other crops that would grow in my climate and on poor rock soil that might make a dollar! With todays no till planters I think a guy may find something that may work! what type of ground do sun flowers like? Just thiking of ideas! I know they would make excellent pasture for beef cows but I don't have the money to start a beef herd yet! Someday I hope! Any ideas?

Build a couple of greenhouses and plant flowers. Everyone likes flowers.

apartments, houses or shopping centers. That's what's growing best around here.

I agree with spudm, Being retired I just play with a small garden growing flowers for local farm stands and make at least 10 times the money than when I grew veggies. Plus I would reach out to the horse people and lawn care companies to get manure and clippings. Wood chips would help to. compost that for a while to add to the soil.

Are you near a mushroom plant to get the used material?

I think your best bet is to buy a dozer and back down over the spoil bank and push the top soil back up on it. I grew up in WV and nothing would grow on the strip mined sites from the 1940's until the State came in with a dozer and pushed the top soil back over it.

Gotta find out what you have. It will be thin soil that doesn't hold water very well I would guess? Any P and K in it, or is it devoid of that? Some subsoils have those, some do not.

Then you need organic matter.

Manure. Compost. Something. Organic matter holds moisture, holds p, k, n. You need it. It's not easy to build. But you need it. Gotta find some to haul in somehow. Mix in the top 6 inches. It might want to use up all your N if it is high in carbon, so it will maybe not really make things better the first year or two if its not composted, but - you need it.

Then maybe some rye? Plant in fall, it grows deep roots and is good at scavenging and doesn't need too much water. Folks are really using it for a cover crop, so you can sell it.

There are other soil building crops, most involve hay.... But you didn't want hay so I'll stay away from them for now.

Also feeding cattle on the ground, placing the round bales out here and there will build spots over a couple years, get so e organic matter out there. - but, you aren't ready for cattle I understand.

Buckwheat is another short season possibility.

Paul

Triticale. It is a cross between rye and wheat and it is tough like rye but will make nicer hay than rye. As others have mentioned you need some fertilizer likely P in that kind of ground. Triticale will like the N as well.

The first important thing is to do a soil test to check for the presence of heavy metals. You should make sure there is not some parent material present that prevents growth of vegetation.

Soil that came from 100 ft below is going to need many many years to be excessively productive. It is going to need some help from you. It will need lime. Even if the pH is high (which is unlikely for mine soil) calcium is still a vital nutrient. It will need phosphorus and potassium at the plant root level, not on top. Micro nutrients will be needed as well.

If you are looking from something to help you gain weed control I would suggest a roundup ready soybean. Get your nutrients out and plant your beans on narrow rows at high populations to shade out the middles for water conservation and weed control. If you apply good pre-emergent herbicides in addition to the option to make multiple applications of roundup on the beans you should be able to gain fairly good weed control. It wont happen in one year. It takes more like 3-5 years to gain good weed control and it takes diligence to accomplish it in that amount of time. If you slip up and let the weeds produce seeds you'll be back to square one.

Remember that when you apply nutrients that not all of it will be available to the crop. Much of the applied nutrients will be tied up in the soil. This is especially relevant to soils with low organic matter which is why it is so very important to apply nutrients to the root zone in bands. It will take excess nutrients. Apply what the crop needs plus a little each year.

I recommend the Purdue field guide as a reference to help you understand the nutrient needs of your crop. Sometimes we fail to realize exactly how much we remove with each bushel of crop.

Also be aware that legumes will need the appropriate bacterial treatment (inoculant) to be able to gather it's own nitrogen from the environment. It's cheap and shouldn't be ignored especially on "dead" soil. You might even opt for a fungal treatment for your soil to introduce the microbial activity that should be present in healthy soil.

Good luck! If the weather cooperates you'll be fine so long as the nutrients are available. It costs money to build soil and produce crops.

If you want to think outside the box on the ground you describe, start with a lot of money and end up with hopefully a little left.
We rented ground years ago next to a reclaimed gravel pit that was about 40 acres. The guy that worked it was a great farmer. It took him 20 years to grow a good crop.
Your best bet was post from the guy from West Virginia. But, running a Bulldozer is the same thing start with a lot of money and spending it to keep the Bulldozer in good shape.
There is ground everywhere where the best thing to do is stay away. I speak with 50 years of experience. Hate to be so pessimistic, but good luck to anything you might try.
Reclaimed ground is generally is covered up as cheap as possible to keep Government like the EPA of their backs.

sweet clover?

If you don't own it, run away. From my exerience it's better to own 1 acre and do a really good job then to try to improve land belonging to someone else. On that acre, enough food can be raised to feed a family for a year. Maybe even grow some wood for heat. It has also been my experience, someone else will weasel it away once it starts producing. And all the nutrients will be mined that was put in till it's right back where it started.

covercrops with a rye base. then cut it for hay!

Rye and wheat do a good job of cleansing. Take some soil samples where the roots are (3-6" deep) and send to your state Ag. school for a soil analysis. Here in TX. the A&M school has a www with the form and instructions. Costs $10 per sample and you get the result via email. You tell them what you plan to grow so that they know what and how much is needed and they do the rest.

On fertilizer, I like to broadcast it and then disc it into the soil. I know that P stays where you put it so I want it down, and N, if Eurea will evaporate if not rained on or incorporated into the soil. Around here Nitrate is what you get at the bulk store and Eurea and or Eurea and Sulphate comes in the bag. I'm in acid soil and the Sulphate, containing sulphur helps in production. Also, unlike Nitrate, you don't have a potential fire/explosion that is possible, usually unlikely, with Nitrate.

Mark