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| So far just cereal rye, but I like it much better than spreading, drill is good. Although I like the drill if I am going to harvest, I am trying to raise some 15" row rye for harvest this coming summer.
What I like best on 15" is that it seems more air and sun get down to ground to help dry out quicker. I think the rye breaks down or over quicker in 15" rows after planting ( I dont roll mine ), and I terminate after planting green. I think you kind of get the best of both worlds with 15", still have some dirt, still have some residue. Last spring was my 1st for letting it go to head stage before planting ( not my plan, mother nature's because of rain ).
Planter worked good, other than Martin spader wheels would wrap ( I'll either have a cast iron closing wheel or Dawn curve tine, leaning towards the Dawns ) . I tried it both ways, in the rye row and some at about 5-15* angle. Running at a little angle helped a little. Yield wise, hardly any difference, if any, same way with emergence.
The other thing I had to watch on my Kinze, was that the rye was tall enough to get in the row engagement drives. Just a couple of times I had a no plant issue on a row or two, monitor would show a fail, and when I checked the box, there would be a little wrapped up to kick off the chain, or be wound up in the spring, not a end of the world problem, but just something to watch for.
For me 40lbs is plenty planted, I had some as high as 70lbs, I still could get the planter thru ok, but it was THICK ! like holy cow thick. My mapping showed no difference in bean yield, but I will say bean emergence was slower, since I think that part of the field was drier, much drier, due to more rye sucking up ground moisture and I struggled to get that nice 1" soaking rain after planting. Otherwise, it worked good.
I am on the fence on weed control...mine could have been better, some escapes, especially since I run full rates or close to it, but I would not blame this all on the cover either.
I plant since I can plant much faster than I can drill ( 40ft vs 15ft ).
Since I gave up on wheat, my rotation is not going to allow me to plant early enough cover for corn, so I am looking at broadcasting my corn cover and hoping to do some experimenting with my sprayer this coming year.
I dont think it is for everyone, it can be a little finicky figuring out the rates, but I like my Integra to help.
It would be awesome if someone made a weigh cup to calculate seeds per lb. I..... ( kids :-) ) have counted out 1000 seeds and I weigh them and math it out and can hit target pretty darn close
The cleaner the rye is the more accurate as well, wether it be dust or stems chaff. I like to have mine gravity tabled, although what I buy from local vendors is ok, its not perfectly pure, there is corn, beans, whatever in the mix, and for a cover thats fine, and for a drill or spreading its no problem either, but I do think it throws off a Kinze brush meter a little bit, I had to change my planter sprockets about 4 or 5 settings heavier, to get the same rate I had with my cleaned cereal rye.
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15" cover crops, how do you like them?
