Agronomy
How many producers use covercrops and if you do what is your primary purpose?
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Cereal rye is what we are using.
Cereal rye.
I have noticed similar root proliferation when I pull up a large rock with the inline ripper in the spring on rye cover crops.
I thought I'd share an observation. This week we were tiling in a field that had rye seeded in mid August. The above ground growth was about 3 to 4 inches tall, but I was seeing live roots 48 inches deep. They are actually deeper than that but 48 inches was all the deeper that I needed to be for making my connection. But, that root system is the real story and benefit of those cover crops. Pu...
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Are you talking about cereal rye or Annual Ryegrass?
I have been trying covers for 4 years now in S Central MN. I like the erosion control benefits. We have seen some improvement in weed control and soil aggregation. I don't quite know how to measure the nutrient cycling impact just yet. I have looked at soil health tests, soil testing, and tissue sampling to understand the crop needs, but tying that all back to my fertility plan isn't exactly c...
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I use various mixes of spelt, rye, Austrian winter peas, black oats, and vetch for cover before subsurface drip irrigated cotton. Main goal is to reduce soil erosion and to retain moisture over the winter for spring. Pretty good results with everything so far (3 years)
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This fall I had the plane spread cereal rye at 50# / acre, totaled $21.65 / acre.
$11.50 for the plane
$10.15 for the rye
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We pay $15-16 per acre for 50 lbs of cereal rye. He can hold 80 acres worth at a time.
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Smaller planes haul 1200 to 1400 lbs I'm 10 miles from the airport, used 10# ARG 15 # Hairy vetch and 4 pounds radishes on 100 acres and the bill was $1400. I've found if I pay by the hour I get much better coverage.
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Airport is within a mile or two. Not sure how much he can get per load. Thanks for the response
It really comes down to about $200 per hour. So how far are you from the airport and how ********* can he get on a load?
What are you guys paying for aerial application for seeding covers. It gets quite expensive in my region if you’re trying to put out much volume
Following rye cover, soybeans are the easiest to manage. Corn can be tricky. Rye has such a large amount of biomass that breaks down thus tying up nitrogen for awhile. The other thing is early competition from the rye with seedling corn. We think by terminating the rye at planting and front loading the nitrogen program will solve these problems.
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What crops do you follow your cereal rye with?
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I have been using cover crop for at least 5 years now. Mainly cereal rye for erosion control and to build organic matter levels in the soil. Have done both aerial application and drilled after harvest.
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We put one farm in a cover crop of oats this year. After Jan. 1 the local manure police will not allow us to spread manure on bare ground . Ithaca to be spread into a cover crop
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We’ve been toying with cover crops since 2014. Done some fall cover crops, full season ones and some companion crop. ( clover seeded with durum/wheat with the drill) in my area of sw sask I’d say full season and companion crops work best bc we get so dry in the fall. Our goal is to increase our fall grazing program and improve soil health/biology
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Rape crimson clover, and Cereal rye flown on soybeans on September while the leaves turned.
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I can't agree more about the demand from non-farming public. We truly do what we do BECAUSE they allow us to!
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We have been using cover crops for about 8 years now. Using field view its pretty easy seeing where it is really paying off. Certain soil types show positive yield gains a
for a few years after the covers were grown. The easiest species that we use are cereal rye, oats, rape and turnips. The oats gives a lot of above ground cover quickly, but the rye spends a lot of it's energy growing below ...
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We have been planted cereal rye after corn silage for quite a few years and have seen many benefits. We are in north-central Wisconsin with fairly sandy soils. We usually have no till planted corn into the rye and as long as the rye doesn’t get too tall there’s no issues. Now we are no tilling corn, beans, and alfalfa into the rye and it all works. We have seen many benefits, increased OM%, decre...
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Started using cover crops about 10 years ago, mainly for grazing where we saw direct $ returns, have since expanded beyond our grazed acres to using on 100% of our 5,000 acres. We did this as we saw all the other benefits ranging from erosion control, improved water intake, and soil health. We grow about 50% popcorn, 30% soybeans, and 20% field corn. Plant soybeans by no-till and corn/popcorn by n...
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We've been using cover crops to some degree or another for over 10 years. Grazing, nutrient capture/ cycling, nitrogen fixing, soil building.
Often in that priority order. Most of the time in a mix of some kind.
The last 3 years we've really upped the acres getting cover crops.
Next spring we'll be roller crimping rye ahead of soybeans on an organic field.
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Been using covers for 8 years now. I have tried quite a few different mixes. Most consistent one I've used is cereal rye seeded into corn mid August to mid September and plant soybeans into it next spring. Main use has changed to weed control. Also use for erosion and the soil health. This is in southern MN.
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We have been doing cover crops for over 20 years now mostly just wheat but have done some rye. A lot of farmers around here fly on their cover crop the first of September with great results. I have heard that some have even cut back to 1 1/2 bushels per acre vs the normal 2 and still have great results. I have switched over to growing organic corn and I'm looking at doing cereal rye and hairy vetc...
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First picture is broadcast wheat @ 2 bushels then stalk chopped. Second is aerial done before harvest @ 1.5 bushels.
We’re on our 7th year of planting covers. Our main goal is to reduce erosion. It works very well for that.
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Played with covers for about 10yrs now. Still learning!!!!!! I have found arg,rapeseed and some cereal rye mix works excellent for beans on black river bottom gumbo. Did my first mix for corn this yr vetch, crimson and fixation clover, cereal rye and rapeseed. Rolled it (not crimped) right in front of planter. Worked great. Still need harvest the corn so verdict is still out! Also planted some cor...
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******, when we decided to try planting corn in the green, we had mixed reviews about nitrogen tie up. Figured the only way to know was to try it for ourselves. Next spring we will terminate earlier, but we are also looking at ways to get the cover crop out earlier in the fall so we can cash in on fall growth potential. Thanks for the insight!
Terminating cereal rye before it joints when planting corn is the only way to keep from having Nitrogen tie-up, disease transfer, and insect pressure in April planted corn. Most guys who plant green and crimp it are planting in late May and early June and are organic. As long as my cereal rye is brown before the corn emerges I haven't had any problems.
This was our first year for both no-till and planting green. Like you, we are learning. We had similar results with our corn, planting into c-rye, vetch, clover, and radish. We had a couple issues. First, we think the N got tied up in the rye, but we also had a heavy infestation of army worms that we think carried over from the rye to the corn. I think next year we will consider terminating 1...
****** any problems terminating that mix?
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Not with 2 lbs of Glysophate and a full pint of 2-4-D. The night before temperature has to be above 40 degrees as well as the night following application. Don't allow any triazine in the mix. You can add Metalachor or Acetachlor and dicamba if you like for some residual. The main thing is to remember ARG is like killing perennials.
This is 10# of ARG, 6 # of tillage radishes, and 12# of crimson clover flown on in 40 ft center on 8/24. This picture was taken about 1 month later
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Looks good. Thanks! We will have to look into this for next year.
I've been told the same thing from producers who won't even try notill beans. Thanks for your detailed comments.
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Been putting winter rye on my grain stubble for 2 years and planting soybeans into standing rye in the spring. Been working great, its been my best yielding beans.
This fall I had a 1/4 that was half corn and half soybeans. Going to plant the whole 1/4 to soybeans in '21. Spread 50# rye by air at the end of August. Emerged great in the soybeans, but its thin in the corn. Harvesting this y...
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Thanks ***, all of my farm land is in west central MN, near the SD, ND border. I have wondered about seeding so late that it isn't going to sprout, and have had guys ask when is too late. Are you drilling or applying by air when the ground is froze? And what rate?
Also, curious how you are planting corn into rye? Any health, insect problems? We plant our corn as soon as the ground is warm, dr...
***. Great comments and I echo your thoughts. We are in South Central Minnesota and I first tried it to prove to proponents from points further south but it wouldn’t work for us as far north. We seed cereal right after harvest right into frozen ground if necessary. No fall growth, but we usually end up with a good stand two seed corn or soybeans into the spring. Primarily targeting rolling ground ...
We are using fall rye Between crops for Erosion control mainly, especially after soybeans. We are comfortable to put beans on some slopes with the no-til and rye that we would never have done with no-til alone. Carbon sequestration and soil health are a couple others.
Do you use any cover crops and why?
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I’ve been flying cereal rye, wheat and/or triticale (whatever I can get cheapest)for 5 years. Worked great every year but one and that year we had almost no rain to get it up and going. It will all be up before I combine I’ve never noticed it the seed getting hung up in the plants.
By the time it goes thru the head it pretty much beats the seed out. Guys have been having great results and even cut back a 1/2 bushel and couldn't see a difference. Around here they start end of August having it flown on. I can get some pictures and post them on here later.
What kind of results do you get from aerial seeding on standing corn? We were thinking of doing this, but were afraid the majority of the seed would get caught in the whirls of the corn and not germ.
I've been using covers since 2008 for primary the same reasons. I've had good luck with ARG. Crimson clover, and radishes before soybeans and mixed results using cereal rye after soybeans and before corn. Last year I flew rape
cereal rye and crimson clover on standing corn in August and the same mix in mid September on beans as they where beginning to turn. Both those combinations worked fairly...
We use a various mixes for weed suppression, nutrient management, erosion control, and overall soil health. Haven’t been doing it very long, so we are still figuring things out.
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