clayball farms - 7/3/2015 06:00

I would like some comments on an experiment we tried that produced more questions that answers.... The experiment(25a.) was winter peas as a nitrogen generator for winter rye. The peas were planted in 30 in rows(25#/a), together with 1# of rape & 1#turnips/acre. The pea/rape/turnip mix was planted Sept 1,2014. It emerged good. On Oct 1,2014 (4 weeks later) winter rye was cross drilled. The 2 step seeding was done to give the peas a jump start on the rye, I didn't want the peas getting out competed by the rye. The rye came up great and grew rapidly. By Nov this experiment was looking like a home run...the peas looked healthy,good nodulation, the rape and turnips sharing the same row space appeared to be loading up on the "free" nitrogen from peas. The reason for the turnips was to bank the N till next spring when rye broke dormancy. As fall progressed the field looked beautiful, everything growing out there looked a picture of health.
When Feb came and rye started to grow the whole project started going backwards. I was hoping to see a "zebra stripe" across the field from the pea/turnip/rape mix. Well.....the zebra striped happened,but the wrong way. As spring progressed , the rye in old pea rows looked sick. the rye in old row middles looked ok. We did a N check during the winter, part of the field got 50# of N. The zebra stripe was obvious across most of the field. The N strip didn't seem to have a bearing on the problem. What went wrong here???? During the fall and early winter the ALL the rye looked terrific, including in the pea rows. I was hoping to see dark green rye streaks on 30" this spring........ what I got was sick,week rye streaks on 30" centers.
The rye was harvested a few days ago, made in abt 34-35 bu/a. I did get a few peas in the bin with the rye as a small bonus!