| steincowboy - 6/22/2024 20:33
Thanks for sharing. I’ve been playing around with rye a little bit the last couple years, and I also see a benefit from the soil savings when we get a heavy rain. Seems as though the weed control is better where the rye is/was as well.
I guess I was wondering in the case of the nutrient cycling from using covers, do you see a yield bump after using a cover/no till system after so many years?
As far as weed control, the main thing I see is almost elimination of marestail, except mainly around edges of field IF I get the c. rye drilled and established in October after harvest. If later than that, then the reduction of marestail isn't as great, but still decent. I would need to be more than 30#/acre to get many other weeds reduced significantly, but the early waterhemp pressure is reduced/delayed even at the lower c. rye rates.
One thing that amazes me is how fast the c. rye disappears as long as it hasn't liginized very much. Even having waist high c. rye like this spring, 3 weeks later it is mostly gone. Nightcrawlers are part of the reason, and I think some of those nutrients do get recycled quickly and made available for the growing crop, but all I've got is anecdotal vs. research, so don't want to pretend to know. I have lowered P and K amounts for the last 20 years while still having competitive yields. Last 5 yr. avg., beans are +70, corn avg. in the +220's even back in timber type fields with a good percentage of treelines and wildlife pressure. Back in the timber fields, if you yield check the rows away from the edges, 250 is typical.
I sometimes see slugs, but they never seem to significantly hurt. Having the corn planted on the NH3 strips help with that. I do have some vole damage that shows up in the bean years. I don't encourage for coyotes to get shot, as they help and they also help reduce the deer fawn crop, but I'm unlikely to persuade anybody from plugging them whenever they get the chance, especially off the backroads. I keep some snags (dead trees) in the treelines to help avain predators, but I should try putting up some bird perches out in the field over the winter. That said, the voles while annoying, never seem to get out of hand. I think stripping NH3 in the corn years helps reduce them some and keep them in check somewhat.
Often don't terminate the c. rye after drilling beans for a couple weeks, sometimes later, sometimes earlier depending on the season/weather. With corn, never go more than 3 days after planting corn to spray the c. rye. If a surprise rain happened in those 3 days, it wouldn't likely be that big a deal if the c. rye was only knee high at planting, which is a more typical height. Usually start planting corn mid April, and try to get the beans drilled late April.
Edited by WIJDW 6/23/2024 15:48
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Covercrop/ notill?
