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NEMO | Try to make it short and sweet. Family has been no tilling since 1974 in ground that has less than a foot of topsoil with clay under that that is great for roads and pond dams. Always grew wheat and would frost seed clover in the wheat and would go to corn the following year. At first we would let clover go until spring, then kill it, this was wrong as the clover used to much water and was harder to kill in spring. Then started killing it in the fall and this was better for the clover kill and moisture conservation but was still wrong as we had tremendous weed pressure and corn would never yield up with a bean, rye grain cover then corn rotation. So we tried something that most people would say is a no no. We would do soybean, wheat,clover fall killed, soybean,rye grain cover, then corn. Corn was always cleaner and 20 to 30 bushel better than following the wheat red clover regiment. Why? We believed it to be to much nutrient tied up in wheat stubble and clover N being tied up in wheat stubble as well. Beans following the clover were always very good with no noticable problems or yield drag. In our type of soil, it took the extra season of a bean crop to get wheat residue broke down and release the clover N. Works for us. Might relate to your deal or might not. Keep trying your covers as you will not be disappointed in the long run and when it goes wrong, figure out why. Sometimes have to think out of the box. | |
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Cover crop yield data. OOPS, what happened? Part II.
