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Thumb of Michigan | I know that the guys who use red clover like it. We did some side by sides a long time ago with clover, vetch, dry bean/soy mix, and radish. Without boring you with all the details, the vetch and clover both gave us good to great N credit BUT we got slugs. This was all after small grain. Soil, weather, and residue all came together to reduce our stands by 1/3. First time I had slugs, luckily weather turned better before we had to replant. If you can get the clover real dead and move enough residue away from the row, slug problems should be minimel. We've lost some stand in soys the last 2 years because of slugs, again after small grains. Very large soy and wheat farmer near me is having an awful time with them as well. I'm 100% convinced that the right cover crop can make planting into wheat stubble profitable for me. And I have zero clue as to what that cover crop might be.
We've flown radish into corn, which didn't work. Doesn't compete well apparantly. We flew radish into soys pre leaf drop and had very good results. Best case scenario is planting with a drill mid august after wheat harvest. We spray glyphosate right before seeding, then drill it at 15#/acre. It is VERY expensive in my mind, we started raising enough for ouselves a few years ago. Kind of a bugger to harvest, but we feel its worth it. Same with rye, like to raise our own.
I'm not sure what the organic guys are using as far as varieties. And I recommend that no one gets too hung up on varieties for any cover. I think there are some better than others in some cases, but I'd much rather see saw someone experiment with covers and have success than not plant any because they couldn't get the "right" variety. Concentrate on managing whats available. Covers can take extra management, but I feel that we've been very well rewarded for the extra time it takes most years. Some of it can be measured, some can't so I always hesitate to tell anyone that they'll get a big bang for the buck. And sometimes the best cover crops are what's available locally. I've used dry beans and liked them, but that doesn't work for a central corn belt guy. Freight would kill you. Had a line on treated group 4 to group 6 left over RUR soybean seed, all I had to do was pay the freight to get that. Very economical cover crop and easy to keep clean. Theres lots of stuff out there being used. And I think places like Argentina are about 100 years ahead of us on cover crop use. But thats a topic for another day. Good Luck | |
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Cover crops
