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Cover crop suggestions needed for test. Planting cover after wheat harvest.
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tmrand
Posted 7/30/2015 07:59 (#4707341)
Subject: Cover crop suggestions needed for test. Planting cover after wheat harvest.



Southeast Colorado
The majority of dryland rotations in this area are wheat-milo(or other row crop)-fallow. We are attempting to do a cover crop trial on 3 side by side 80 acre plots in this rotation. Each of the 80 acre fields will be split in half where 1/2 gets a cover planted while the other 1/2 is just chemically fallowed. All of it will be no-tilled. I've already planted a cover crop behind the wheat this year and am already seeing a problem I pretty much knew we would encounter. I don't remember the exact mix but it is something like mung bean, sunflower, buckwheat, and sudan grass cocktail. The problem is volunteer wheat. Where we planted the cover we have a solid crop of volunteer wheat emerged and where we did not plant the field is relatively clean. Both sides of this trial were sprayed following the planting of the cover crop. Some volunteer wheat was already emerged at that time so we were able to kill that but it is obvious that the drill was replanting a lot of volunteer wheat. We received a couple of 1/2" rains after drilling so that really helped the wheat emerge. It also doesn't help that this (what was probably about 10-15 bpa) crop was 100% hailed out a week before harvest. Even if it had not been I think that normal volunteer wheat would still be a problem. I guess what I'm really after here is a possible recommendation of varieties we could use that we could control that wheat with. For example we double crop sorghum sudangrass behind wheat on a regular basis (irrigated) and on that we are able to spray 1.5+ lbs. of atrizine to hold back the wheat. I know that would not work with any broadleaf plant in the cover. I know we could just use grasses in the cocktail mix and stick with atrizine but it seems like the cover crop folks always want us putting some broadleaves into the ground for supposed better results. Any thoughts on how we could make this trial perform at its best?? Just for a tad more information........After the row crop or milo harvest which usually occurs after the end of our growing season/November, the stalks will set fallow over the winter and then in the spring we will again plant half the field to a cocktail mix of some sort. That mix is easier to figure out though. We will then terminate that cover sometime mid to late summer and plant wheat early fall. I am working with our local conservation district and am looking forward to seeing the long term results in this very arid climate. I'm willing to share the proof of benefit or lack of either way. I fully expect it to take years to be able to conclude any meaningful results.
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