| | Cover Crop Trial - Corn following W. Wheat, Standard N Rate | | | | | |
| | Tom Novak - Pleasant Valley Acres, LLC - Sullivan, WI | | | | | | |
| | COORDINATOR(S): | Tom Novak - Total Crop Mgmt., LLC / Heidi Johnson - Jefferson Co. UWEX | | |
| | | | | | | WEIGH WAGON | | | | |
| | COOPERATOR: | Tom Novak | | PROVIDED BY: | Tom Hoffmann - Whitewater | | |
| | LOCATION: | Palmyra | | | FARM/FIELD: | Christensen 5 | | | |
| | COUNTY: | Jefferson | | | PREVIOUS CROP: | W. Wheat | | | |
| | PLANTING DATE: | 04/27/12 | | | TILLAGE SYSTEM: | Long-term No-till | | |
| | HARVEST DATE: | 10/24/12 | | | SOIL SERIES/TEXTURE: | Kidder sandy loam | | |
| | PLANTING POPULATION: | 32000 | seeds/acre | SOIL FERTILITY (ppm): | pH 7.0, OM 1.4%, P 122, K 66 | |
| | HARVEST POPULATION: | (not practical) | ears/acre | TREATMENTS: | | see notes section | | |
| | ROW SPACING: | 30 | " | | STARTER SOURCE: | 4-10-10 @ 200 lbs/a, 2*2 placement |
| | AVG. HARVESTED PLOT SIZE: | 0.418 | acre | | NITROGEN SOURCE: | Poultry manure August '11 + 32% | |
| | | | | | | | | | UAN side-dress | | |
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| | Notes: | This field has been in continuous no-till since I began renting it in 2005 and it is in tough shape due to conventional |
| | | tillage being used on it for decades. Major erosion has occurred leaving thin soils and subsoil being farmed in areas. |
| | | With no-tillage used for the past 7 years soil structure and aggregation has returned and earthworm/nightcrawler | |
| | | activity is abundant. It has also been limed as needed and had poultry manure applied yearly since renting it. | |
| | | Introducing cover crops is the next step in restoring the soil to increasingly better health and a higher yielding level. |
| | | Cover crops can increase the water holding capacity, alleviate compaction and possibly make nutrients more available. |
| | | However, compaction doesn't appear to be an issue with the amount of biological activity this field has now. | |
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| | | Early planting in 2012 was extremely detrimental to yield as you can see below. This field was completely done trying |
| | | to pollinate when it began raining on July 18th. 4-5" of rain fell over the next 10 days, but 3-4' tall corn cannot yield | |
| | | very well once pollination is messed up and poor or no ears are set. Covers were planted on 8/29/11 into fairly | |
| | | dry soil but they established well. An early frost in late Sept. killed the Sudax at 8-12" tall but the other crops grew till |
| | | I terminated them in early November with Glyphosate/2,4-D ester. Strips are 30' wide with center 6 rows harvested. |
| | Trtmts: | (1) No cover crop | | | | | | | | | | |
| | | (2) Tillage Radish @ 8 lbs/a, drilled on 7" spacing (seed cost $25/a) | | | | |
| | | (3) Tillage Radish @ 3 lbs/a, Oats @ 29 lbs/a, Sudax @ 5 lbs/a, drilled on 7" spacing (seed cost $23/a) | | |
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| Plot # | Trtmt # | Hybrid | Applied N* | Weight | Moisture | T.W. | Length | Width | Yield @ 15.5% | | | |
| | | | lbs/a | lbs | % | lb/bu | feet | inches | bu/a | | | |
| 1 | 2 | Golden H-7628 3111 | 88 | 1760 | 20.0 | 53.2 | 1215 | 180 | 71.1 | | | |
| 2 | 3 | Golden H-7628 3111 | 88 | 1795 | 20.5 | 53.8 | 1215 | 180 | 72.1 | | | |
| 3 | 1 | Golden H-7628 3111 | 88 | 2055 | 20.9 | 52.3 | 1215 | 180 | 82.1 | | | |
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| 4 | 3 | Golden H-7628 3111 | 88 | 1775 | 21.0 | 53.2 | 1215 | 180 | 70.8 | | | |
| 5 | 2 | Golden H-7628 3111 | 88 | 1730 | 21.3 | 53.4 | 1215 | 180 | 68.8 | | | |
| 6 | 1 | Golden H-7628 3111 | 88 | 2105 | 20.1 | 53.2 | 1215 | 180 | 85.0 | | | |
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| 7 | 2 | Golden H-7628 3111 | 88 | 1725 | 20.3 | 53.7 | 1215 | 180 | 69.4 | | | |
| 8 | 1 | Golden H-7628 3111 | 88 | 2085 | 19.3 | 53.0 | 1215 | 180 | 85.0 | | | |
| 9 | 3 | Golden H-7628 3111 | 88 | 1845 | 20.8 | 53.8 | 1215 | 180 | 73.8 | | | |
| Plot average: | | | | | 20.5 | | | | 75.3 | | | |
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| 3 Rep Average: | | | Mst. | T.W. | | Yield-bu/a | | | | |
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| (1) | No cover crop | | | 20.1 | 52.8 | | 84.0 | | | | |
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| (2) | Tillage Radish @ 8 lbs/a | | | 20.5 | 53.4 | | 69.8 | | | | |
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| (3) | T.R. @ 8 lbs/a, Oats @ 29 lbs/a, Sudax @ 5 lbs/a | 20.8 | 53.6 | | 72.2 | | | | |
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| Bottom Line: | Cover crop strips were 12-14 bpa less than the no cover strips. One year of data but very real | | | |
| | | results. The entire field was brown in Spring - no growing crops to take moisture, but in this | | | |
| | | year that's about the only thing I can think of that caused yield loss like this. A very warm March | | | |
| | | with little rain was followed by 2.8" in April and 5.1" in May before the rain shut off for 7 weeks | | | |
| | | that included several 100+ degree days and many days in the low-upper 90's. The 2011 wheat crop | | | |
| | | yielded 83 bpa and straw was spread back on the field so all treatments had good ground cover. | | | |
| | | years. | | | | | | | | | | |
| All weighing was done by Heidi Johnson - Jefferson Co. UWEX | | | | | | | |
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| * = Poultry manure provided approximately 100 units of N according to UW rec's + 88 lbs applied N as 32%. | | | |
| Tom Novak - Total Crop Management, LLC - (262) 903-0698 | | | | | | | | | | | | |