Northern Ohio | Matt NMO - 6/30/2020 08:56
I did a 25 acre notill covercrop plot for 3 years. All 3 years it lagged the rest of the field by quite a bit. Corn had a bigger yield hit than beans.
I Switched back to conventional tillage and I could see a yield drag on that section of the field for the next 2 years while I fought to get rid of all the residue, compaction and bug pressure.
I know people that have had similar results, but their soil is dead, almost no life at all. Residue in this situation takes years to break down. I think they have done too much tillage (usually when soil is too wet), used too much high salt fertilizer, way too much insecticide, little to no crop rotation, often beans on beans on beans. They view the soil as a medium to hold up the plants rather than a living organism that needs to be fed and kept healthy. |
Cover crops for a beginner
