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Thumb of Michigan | We've struggled with the same things as you, Mike. Depending on a few things, we have to make a desision whether we're better off fall spraying a weed problem and not being able to use a cover crop or being able to use a cover crop but having a potential weed problem. For us, winter annuals weren't a huge problem. I had a lot of trouble with perenials and biennials, though. We have found that we NEVER had winter annuals after using Oilseed Radish as a cover crop. In that case, I have no qualms about using radish as a cover vs fall spraying if winter annuals are the only issue.
We've aerially seeded Oilseed Radish into 30" soys just before leaf drop and had OK results. Not great, but not bad. Every time we tried to aerially seed radish into a corn crop, it was a failure. I don't know what other row crops might work for aerially seeding radish into, but OSR doesn't seem to do well with competition for sunlight.
The OSR varieties we've grown will die after 6 hrs of 26 degree or less temps. They don't brown off for a while, but they are all done once those conditions happen.
From a moisture management standpoint (which sounds like you were wanting) its tough here to beat cereal rye for that purpose. If its a wet spring, let it grow. It will dry ground enough to carry equipment and do a good job planting vs conventional till or bare no -till ground (HERE,that is). In a dry spring, we simply kill rye early. I've never had a problem killing rye unless it was under about a foot tall, big rye doesn't scare me as much as it does others. OSR will put roots down deep, but its residue isn't conducive to warming ground in the spring. We gain drainage with OSR in fields that are tiled simply because it roots pretty deep and will go through compaction layers if it has enough time to grow in the fall. I doubt that the OSR would hurt anything drainage wise in un tiled ground, but I'd rather rely on tile for drainage than I would radish. In the spring, you will have holes from where the radish was, but you'll also generally have a mat of leaves that are gray or white. About the perfect color to reflect sunlight. You may gain drainage, you probably will be cooler for a bit with radish leaves.
Edited by pat-michigan 8/7/2009 12:57
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cover crop ?
