cover crops for organic field crops in mn
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Joel Gruver WIU- Agriculture
J-gruver@wiu.edu (309) 298 1215
Cover crops for organic field cropping systems in MN
http://www.slideshare.net/jbgruver/
Almost 500 miles!
Macomb
Macomb IL Apr 21 Oct 11 180
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Historically, 29% more GDD @ 40F
than Saint Cloud
Very few opportunities for CC before or after corn and soybeans
http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Minnesota/Publications/Annual_Statistical_Bulletin/2011/Whole%20Book.pdf
Many more opportunities for CC after wheat, barley, oats, rye, peas…
http://www.nass.usda.gov/Statistics_by_State/Minnesota/Publications/Annual_Statistical_Bulletin/2011/Whole%20Book.pdf
small grains + warm season grasses + a. ryegrass + buckwheat + flax
mustard + radish + rapeseed/canola + turnip
alfalfa + clovers + vetch + peas + soybeans
6 mixtures of c. rye, a. ryegrass, c. clover, oats, radish, peas + vetch
Crop planted on 5/15
and harvested
on 10/1
Crop planted on 4/15
and harvested
on 8/15
MCCC website also provides links to lots of good extension publications
Lots of potential cover crop species are described in this publication
Wisconsin data suggest that approximately 70% of whole-plant N will become available in the first year following clover, most released before corn begins its
period of rapid uptake.
Usually, the best conditions for frost seeding occur in mid to late March. Low overnight temperatures cause the surface to freeze
and crack. Warm daytime temperatures thaw the surface, sealing the cracks. If daytime thawing occurs, the daily “window” for
seeding lasts only a few hours, beginning at dawn. With subfreezing daytime temperatures, seeding can occur anytime
during the day. Seed can be broadcast until mid-April if cracks are present and the traditional frost-seeding window is missed.
Gary Sommers’ farm in Clinton, Wisconsin, is just down the road from his boyhood home. He grows corn, soybeans, and winter wheat on 1,475 of his 1,500 acres. The remaining 25 acres are enrolled in the Conservation Reserve Program. Gary mainly uses cover crops on his steeper fields. Usually he sows cover crops—including buckwheat, soybeans, oats, and Berseem clover—after harvesting winter wheat in mid-July. The following spring he plants these fields to corn. Cover crops which do not winter-kill are terminated in the fall to prevent corn planting delays.
Grazing brassicas, clovers, alfalfa, small grains, annual ryegrass, sorghum-sudan
Nutrient scavenging/cycling brassicas, small grains, annual ryegrass
Bio-drilling brassicas, annual ryegrass, sugarbeet, sunflower,
sorghum-sudan sweet clover, alfalfa
N-fixation clovers, vetches, lentil, winter pea, chickling vetch, sun hemp, cowpea, soybean
Bio-activation/fumigation brassicas, sorghum-sudan, sun hemp, sesame
Weed suppression brassicas, sorghum-sudan, cereal rye, buckwheat
GRAZING = #1 way to make cover crops pay!
Match CC objectives with species
Oats, turnips, annual ryegrass and wheat
Oats, turnips and cereal rye
Forage kale
Mystery brassica
On farms with livestock, many failures can be turned into success!
Cover crops (winter or summer) can provide high-
quality forage and increase economic return and farm diversity, but some farmers have been reluctant to take this advantage due to perceived “compaction” caused
by animal trampling.
Grazing of cover crops can compact soil, but not to the detrimental levels often perceived.
Franzluebbers AJ and JA Stuedemann. 2008. Soil physical responses to cattle grazing cover crops under conventional and no tillage in the
Southern Piedmont USA. Soil and Tillage Research 100, 141-153.
Crop Rotation on Organic Farms: A Planning Manual provides an
in-depth review of the applications of crop rotation-including
improving soil quality and health, and managing pests, diseases, and
weeds. Consulting with expert organic farmers, the authors share
rotation strategies that can be applied under various field
conditions and with a wide range of crops.
Crop Rotation on Organic Farms is most applicable to farms in the Northeastern United States and
Eastern Canada but is worth a look
Start planning today!
• Anticipate planting windows • Match objectives with species
• Confirm seed availability • Make sure seeding equipment is ready • Identify realistic termination methods
• Allocate labor • Develop contingency plans
When can you plant CCs?
• Dormant seeding early or late winter
• Frost seeding
• In the spring
• In the spring w/ cash crop
• Prevent plant scenarios
• At last cultivation
• After small grains
• After vegetables
• After seed corn or silage corn
• Aerial or high clearance seeding into standing
crops in late summer/early fall
• After long season crops
What is this CC?
Phacelia
WIU Organic research farm – May 2012
Very dense rooting at the
soil surface
Mustard variety trial at the Allison farm in early June 2011
Pacific Gold Ida Gold
Slower to mature Faster to mature
More biomass Less biomass
JD 730 Air-Disk drill on Jack Erisman’s farm in Pana, IL
Jack uses this rig to drill soybeans on 6" rows (~ 280,000/ac) while also dropping ~2 bushel of rye and
some micronutrients
Zumbrun Farm Northern Indiana
Drilling cover crops after small grain harvest
There are many options other than drilling
Magness Farm in Maryland
Slurry seeding
What is PRECISION COVER CROPPING??
1) Planting of cover crops with a precision planter
2) strategic placement of cover crop rows in relation to other cover cover rows and/or the following cash
crop rows (often using GPS guidance)
3) Strategic placement of cover crops in specific fields or parts of fields
4) Selection and management of cover crops to
achieve specific objectives
Precision planting
http://www.extension.org/pages/64400/radishes-a-new-cover-crop-for-organic-farming-systems
Insecticide boxes can be used for metering small seeds
Joe Rothermel’s new rig
Cover crops planted with insecticide boxes while stripping
September 2008
Radish planted on 30” rows using small milo plates in mid-August 2010
Attempt #3
Cover crop system Relative
corn yield
Volunteer oats 79%
Radishes planted on 30” 99%
Radishes drilled on 7.5” 91%
Corn following cover crop experiment (2011)
Corn planted directly over radish rows
May 2012
Radish planted on 30” rows with RTK guidance on August 29th right before Hurricane Isaac rolled in
4 days later
7 days after planting
10 days after planting
~ 1 month later
Why are the inter-rows so clean?
We had just cultivated the radishes!
~ 2 weeks later
December 2012
We are planning to “freshen” the radish rows with a Yetter strip till bar before planting corn
directly over the radish rows
Precision planted radishes w/ peas from 5 ft of row
Precision radishes w/o peas
What is the optimal seeding rate for precision
planted radishes?
4-6 seeds per foot is probably often the best ROI but ~16 seeds per foot produced
the most biomass for us this fall
higher is probably better the later you plant
Radishes in fall 2011
~ 20 more bushels/a where we cultivated in the fall
Ridges with dead radish residues
in spring 2011
Planting popcorn on radish ridges
in May 2011
Planted beautifully but we decided to
replant after a month of relentless
rain :-<
Fall 2011
Fall 2012
Crimson clover
Chick peas
Green lentils
Fava beans
Sunflower
Rapeseed
Oats
Phacelia
We are trying to identify the best combinations of winter hardy
and winter-kill CCs for row and inter-row positions
+20 lbs N/a
A little extra N can make a big difference
Radish biomass = 2X
Preceded by spring planted radish
5 buffer rows were not preceded by a CC
Same planter pass
Most years the extra transpiration would probably have been helpful
on this wet farm
Last summer, we undercut our small grain stubble using a no-till cultivator and a tractor with RTK guidance
Fallow strip Cover crop cocktail no-till drilled after
undercutting
Triple S mix Sunflowers, Soybeans & Sunnhemp
Effective multi-tasking or cover crop chaos???
http://greencoverseed.com/
Planting into poorly digested red clover residues
25-50% stand loss Near perfect stands in all other corn
plots on the farm this past spring
Annual ryegrass after chisel plowing
Chisel plowing made the next pass with a rotavator easier and more effective
Early June 2011
No-till drilling soybeans into standing rye
15’ wide roller built by a local farmer
Mid-June 2011
Rolled after drilling
Early July 2011
Our conventional-till beans are looking good, right?
August 2011
November 2011
The NT bean plots yielded ~10 bu more than the best
tillage system plots
April 2012
In our experience, a strong stand of rye is critical
Planting into 5-6’ tall rye on May 11
Double drilled with 4” offset
June 2012
All of July :-<
Our 2012 NT bean yields ranged from ~ 30 to ~ 60 bu/a
Better drained areas of the field yielded poorly
Wet hole yielded very well
Cover Crops
Adapted from Magdoff and Weil (2004)
CCs affect many agronomic factors simultaneously
Feed livestock
Control erosion
? ?
Increase management
Host pests
Become a weed
Prevent soil drying
Dry out soil excessively
Interfere w/ equipment
performance Suppress crop
growth
Tie up N
Add cost
Cover Crops
Adapted from Magdoff and Weil (2004)
Not all effects are positive
Greater precision in your cover cropping practices will increase the
likelihood of intended outcomes
More positive and fewer negative effects
I wish you all success in 2013!
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