trouble with fallow

[Tim Harrigan]

What crops are you planning for next year?

[Carl Russell]

Tim Harrigan;20372 wrote:

What crops are you planning for next year?

Who? Me?

Andy I won’t steal the thread…..

If you meant me, we are planting a perennial food garden. Horseradish, Rhubarb, Asparagus, Jerusalem Artichokes, etc.

Carl

[Andy Carson]

Are you worried about the rye inhibiting the growth of future crops? I read it can do that and that it is sometimes too vigerous in the spring… Crops are: Dent corn, Soybeans, Sunflower (for seed), Pumpkin (for seed) and Field Peas, about one acre each. I am not sure of the varieties yet, but probably some heirloom varieties that are interesting looking with a good yield without being difficult to grow.

Oh, and when I say “for seed” I mean for eating, not for selling seed…

[Carl Russell]

Countymouse;20375 wrote:

….. I read it can do that and that it is sometimes too vigerous in the spring… …..

I have heard that too, but it hasn’t seemed to affect our crops. What I heard was that planting while the Rye was still green could be a problem. I usually, just by coincidence, incorporate the Rye one day, and then plant a few days later.

Carl

[Tim Harrigan]

Andy:
You have a series of crops with progressive planting dates so the best cover crop strategies will vary. This is a good opportunity to learn a few things. One way, if your field is rectangular, would be to plant a few different cover crop/combinations in strips lengthwise, and then plant the various crops across the strips. That will be a slight tillage problem because you will not want to till every cover crop at the same time, but will give some direct comparisons with a given crop across cover crops. The other way would be to plant a specific cover crop/combination in each 1 acre block and see how it goes.

My thought with the tillage/rye combination was that if you could exhaust the quack grass rhizomes with tillage you will still have to deal with new plants from seeds, but they are not nearly as difficult and aggressive as the rhizomes. Rye will grow agressively when planted in early october, more so than quack grass. And, I thought you planned to broadcast the seed and till it in rather than drill it in. Rye will likely give you a better stand than most other covers because it will be pretty forgiving of seeding depth. You want a good, uniform and thick stand for weed control so use at least 2 bu/acre with rye. That is probably what I would do on the corn and soybean ground (why soybeans?).

Some no-tillers report that rye and wheat will suppress corn, and as Carl mentioned it is not good to plant into green rye because of possible slugs and army worms. Rye is also a fast grower in the early spring and can dry out coarse textured soils. And, you will have to get after it early to kill it with tillage, so that is another risk issue if your soil is poorly drained and stays wet or you have an extended rainy period together with warm weather. I have not heard any complaints of suppression with rye that was killed with tillage, probably with a time gap between killing and planting.

You have more options for your later planted crops. If you seed soon red clover or sweet clover will establish well this fall and grow into the spring adding nitrogen and OM. I have done a fair amount of work with oil seed radish, tillage radish, forage turnips and forage rape. A week or so ago I drilled an oat/turnip combination in 40 acres wheat stubble and went over the top with a low disturbance application of swine manure. The cover jumped within a few days and is growing fast. The radish and turnips grow well into the fall and have big leaves that winter kill and lay flat on the ground in the spring and can provide good weed suppression. They disappear quick with shallow tillage.

You have a lot of options, it could be really interesting for all of us.

[Andy Carson]

Oh Tim, you know I can’t resist an experiment… I think you are right that what I find could be useful to others as well. It seems I can get a pretty good idea of what might work as cover crops from conventional agriculture, so the more specific question is just how well these different cover crops fit in a small scale animal based system without herbicides. Hey, it might even make a good article? I’ll take notes and pictures. I am much more attracted to using different covers for different crops. These are my best guesses at which covers have the best chance with the different crops.

Oats to Peas:
Oats provide good cover in the fall and winter, and winter kill so as to not compete with the peas in the early spring. Peas produce thier own nitrogen, so it doesn’t matter that oats don’t do this.

Turnip to Sunflower:
Sunflowers seem to have modest nutrient requirements, are tall, and can be cultivated in rows to help with weed pressure. This gives me a chance to try a cover crop that is from a totally different family than either my other covers or my crops.

Clover to Corn:
I think that corn will benefit from the nitrogen and as it can be cultivated I bet that if the clover is not as competative with weeds it will matter less. I worry a little about the planting date so I am really going to have to get on this.

Wheat to Soybean:
It seems that wheat will crowd out weeds almost as well as rye, and will probably survive the winter to provide cover in the spring. It seems the spring growth is not as vigorous as rye and might not be as likely to escape. I bet rye would work just as well here, but trying wheat give me another “sample” for my “experiment”…

Rye to Pumpkin:
I like that rye provides great cover and survives the winter, so can crowd out weeds until it’s time to plant the pumpkins.

[Tim Harrigan]

Andy, can you elaborate a little on what your longer term cropping program might be? Corn is a heavy feeder on nitrogen. Clovers have plenty of time to get started if you get them seeded in August, but they are not likely to put on much biomass or fix much N by the time you have to take them out in the spring for planting corn. You might want to consider an annual cover crop that includes a legume for corn in 2012. A possibility would be fall seeded winter wheat if you can harvest the grain, with a frost seeding of red clover at the end of March. That should give you a good stand of clover by the next fall and a good accumulation of N for the corn crop. If you can not harvest the grain, spring seeded winter wheat seeded with red clover could serve the same purpose. Spring seeded winter wheat will not head out but will provide weed suppression and a companion crop for the clover.

Why soybeans?

It looks like nitrogen management will be a big challenge so think legumes/compost/manure.

[Andy Carson]

The long term rotation for the main crops (those that will be harvested) is Peas>Sunflower>Corn>Soybean>Pumpkin. I plan to use appropriate cover crops between these different crops to return N and prevent weed growth. The purpose is to produce crops I can process into snack foods. Corn nuts, Sunflower seeds, Pumpkin seeds, Soy nuts, and breaded fried peas. The fried peas are definately for the more adventurous consumer, but I really wanted another legume in the main rotation and I can feed what I can’t sell. I plan to have a flock of geese that will be consuming much of what I don’t sell. I might also have a few pigs if I have enough “leftovers.” It all seems like nutritious feed if nothing more.

The corn not following a legume might stick out, but the idea is that the shorter growing season of the sunflower gives a longer time for subsequent legume cover crop to become established prior to corn planting time the following year.

[Tim Harrigan]

I do not have any experience with sunflower, but it seems like the canopy is not very heavy so you may be able to seed a cover crop in at the last cultivation and have enough time for a good legume stand to develop. Crimson clover would probably work well in that situation. The more time you have for the legumes to develop an extensive root system the better. How about a soil test? pH is important for legume growth in many cases.

Also, oats will winter kill with first good freeze, but will grow quickly until then. I used a mixture of oats and forage turnip because turnip will continue to grow into December here, at your place as well. The growing crop will continue to trap N and keep a living root system for probably 2 more months in the fall. So consider cover crop mixtures when they make sense.

[Andy Carson]

That’s a good thought, I think I will mix the oats and turnips together. Do you remember the ratio of turnip to oat seed? I am also curious if purple top turnips (or similar) work as well as a cover crop. Maybe they spend too much energy making roots? I certainly won’t use an acre of these, but I can imagine picking some to eat and some to give to the horses… Nice to have a second use if there is no downside…

Ha! Nevermind, it seems forage turnips have a big bulb too, somehow I thought they were selected for just tops…

[Tim Harrigan]

2 bu/ac oats, 2 lb/ac turnips. You may want to kick up the rate for broadcast seeding.

[Andy Carson]

Sounds like a plan. Thanks everyone for the advice and encouragement, it is really very helpful. I’ll let you all know how it goes.

[Andy Carson]

How important is it that I roll after broadcast seeding these cover crops? Would it be almost as good to broadcast and lightly harrow to bury the seed? I just don’t have a roller and am thinking about if I need one…

[dominiquer60]

For cover crops we broadcast, lightly harrow or disc, and then roll. If you can seed a crop right before it rains it will take off fairly quickly. Rolling helps to establish the soil/seed contact that helps the seed have enough moisture to germinate. If you can’t roll hope for a good rain to settle the soil around your seeds, if it is dry, hope you can beg borrow or steal a roller.

Erika

[Andy Carson]

Arg… I kinda thought that was the answer, but I was hoping that I didn’t have to. Some people don’t mention rolling, which made me wonder if they simply didn’t roll or if they forgot to mention it… Rolling makes good sense to me so I’ll find a way. Thanks for the thoughts Erika.

[Author]

Posts