AgTalk Home
AgTalk Home
Search Forums | Classifieds (3) | Skins | Language
You are logged in as a guest. ( logon | register )

Big covers and floods
View previous thread :: View next thread
   Forums List -> Crop TalkMessage format
 
billw
Posted 5/15/2019 21:48 (#7499199 - in reply to #7497823)
Subject: RE: Big covers and floods


E. Kansas
I haven't grown any wheat here in years due to the price. However, it is a good cash crop to have had in fields subject to erosion from flooding. It will help hold the ground and allows some dirt to settle out. Depending on the age of the wheat, how long the flooding occurred, how deep the water, etc. the wheat may be killed or yield potential severely impacted, but at least you haven't lost so much topsoil after a flood.

As a cover crop, wheat would also have been so much better to have than bare ground in a flood. Rye would be great as well and it offers many other advantages too. Nothing tears up farmland around here worse than a flood, especially when so much ground was recently tilled and had nothing growing on it. The flood we had last week was one of the worst for massive erosion damage in ages.

I notill to help prevent erosion. It's not a total fix against flooding damage, but it's so much better than full tillage. It is even better to have a cover growing in a notill field subject to the flooding like we can get. It may seem like a wasted effort in some years to have a cover crop growing in case of a flood, but I'm betting most guys here who have had such extensive damage from the last flood wish they would have had a wheat or rye cover crop.
Top of the page Bottom of the page


Jump to forum :
Search this forum
Printer friendly version
E-mail a link to this thread

(Delete cookies)