Agronomy
What are guys doing for cover crops on PP acres?
I’ve considered soybeans, oats, rye ect. Just curious what some others are doing.
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I tried Red Clover. I forgot that it starts REAL SLOW. I had dreams of planting into it next spring no till. However, I may have to destroy it due to weed take over.
I absolutely want to avoid soybeans and even more so avoid sunflowers. Sunflowers, I am told, are prolific hosts for white mold. Regarding soybeans, I want to break the disease cycle of the beans. I am ending up back to oats...
I planted sunflowers mixed with unused treated bean seed. 3 to 1 ratio sunflowers to beans. Doing great and the song birds will be very happy this winter.
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Oats and soybeans used up extra bean 1 bu.oats 1/3 bu. Beans
Cereal rye has worked well for me before beans. I have extra if someone needs some. 785-221-5566
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Oats and soybeans
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Yes, Oats. I like the comments about using up left over soybeans as a cover corp. I have some treated ones that I have heard do not germinate well if you hold them over until next season.
Good place to put them and maybe get some "N" from it for 2020 corn crop.
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Daikon radishes and Austrian winter peas in alternating 15 inch rows. Corn will be planted over the radishes in the spring.
Nitro mix from Agacy seeds. If going to corn in 20
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We just planted soybeans. Had the equipment, familiar with necessary weed control, frost will kill it, free seed due to treated seed that was returned. Also a lot of oats going in in our area.
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15# oats, 15# soybeans, 2.5# radishes
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You will have to consider what herbicides you may have applied this spring. May prevent germination of some cover crops.
Also need to consider your objectives of your cover crop. Managing Cover Crops Profitably from SARE is a good publication that discusses cover crop selection.
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I’m planting sunflowers then in September I’m getting my wheat started we planted so late don’t think I will have beans out before we can plant
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I'm planting a seven species mix that we will graze after the cattle come off grass. Should be good for the soil and the cattle. Going to soybeans next year.
Consider what crop you will be planting next to avoid allelopathy.
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That was one of the biggest things I learned at a recent field day I attended. I have very little experience with cover crops but nobody had ever brought that concern up to me and I hadn't thought of it yet. For guys with limited experience, that's a big deal. Experienced guys will obviously know better.
I had a drone startup spread a small seeded mix of annual rye, radish, crimson clover, and dwarf essex rape in drown out patches a few weeks ago. I have been told a warm season mix would have been better over the summer but this mix is doing great in north central Iowa right now.
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Rantizo is the startup that did the seeding. I believe the hopper holds about 30# and we were seeding 10 to 20# per acre. It worked great on the drown out patches that I couldn't get replanted. We were pushing the limits when I had them do 120 acres about a week ago. They are continuously working to improve acres per hour and range, but I was very surprised how effective it is already.
What is this set up even called..the drone and seeder part of the deal... will it hold enough for even an acre?
Here are a couple pictures of the day it was seeded.