West TN | Archery dog - 12/25/2015 19:26
Glad to here you took your dad out. On the cover crop side here in southern Kentucky it's a two step forward one step backwards. We have made great progress , yet some are quick to judge and if there is a hint of failure , people quit covers and go back to ripping before letting the deep rooted covers do there job.
We are in a unique area where most blends go in so late that all winter kills, except rye. We are total rye cover on almost all acres. We do need ideas with something other than radishes or turnips. We been at this for five years, and are committed. Only problem is convincing others it pays dividends in bushels. We are satisfied with zero erosion and our residue stays put during heavy rain events. Just think we need a magic bullet to plant with the rye. All covers here are planted in standing double crop beans in late sept. , early October .We usually catch a killing freeze within 6 weeks , killing everything but the rye. We will plant corn as early as possible , usually April 5-10 start date. We kill the same day we plant, possible could wait another week but it starts sucking the dry fertilizer so we kill the day the planter rolls. Any ideas would be appreciated.
Thanks for everyone's help here on this sight !!
I'm here in West TN and am on my 3rd year of large scale cover crops. I've had some failures and some successes. Here's what I use that won't winter kill. Cereal rye-30 lbs, crimson clover-8lbs, annual rye-2lbs, common vetch -2lbs, winter pea-8 lbs, canola -4lbs, Ethiopian cabbage-0.5 lb. I also use 4 lbs radish but they winter kill 50% of the time. Keep in mind that I'm drilling this early-late September behind corn and beans. I don't like aerial seeding as the chance for getting an adequate stand is more risky but that's my only option on my double crop acres. In that scenario I'll bump the rate up on everything but I'll leave out the winter pea and the radish. The winter peas won't germinate very well laying on top of the soil and it's getting too late for radishes. Also the amount of residue will influence your stand. I plant 3 different varieties of wheat and each variety has a different amount of cover crop that made it. I also found that using row cleaners aggressively when planting the beans in the wheat moved enough residue to allow much better seed to soil contact when the cover crop was flown on. The majority of the cover crop is coming up where the row cleaners ran |
Christmas cover crop windshield tour...%of corn fields planted to cover crops
