Cover Crops

COVER CROPS

Benefits:

• Smother/control weeds
  
  
  
• Enhance soil health
  
  
  
• Prevent soil erosion
  
  
  
• Conserve soil moisture
  
  
  
• Provide additional crops/options (animal feed? Hay?)
  
  
  
• Provide nutrients to crops
  
  
  
• Insect/disease control
  
  
  
  

Cover Crops for Wisconsin

• Cereal Rye
  
  
  
• Oats/blends
  
  
  
• Legumes (clovers, alfalfas, vetches, cowpeas)
  
  
  
• Grasses
  
  
  
• Others – buckwheat, sorghum sudan, corn
  
  
  

Concerns:

• Cost
  
  
  
  
• Timing/labor/equipment
  
  
  
  
• Moisture? (take what’s there, germinate?)
  
  
  
  
• Going to seed? (a weed problem in itself)
  
  
  

Types of Cover Crop implementations

• Interseeded; with other crop, after other crop planted
  
  
  
  
• Alone/dedicated/between crops
  
  
  
  
• Soil building
  
  
  
  
• Overwintering
  
  
  

Planting:

• Rates: For what purpose?
  
  
  
• Drill/grass seeder
  
  
  
• Broadcast spreader
  
  
  
• Seeds tend to be smaller, shallowly planted. Need good firm seedbed
  
  
  
• Rye or oats: Think about them germinating and they do. Especially Rye

Ideas

“If nothing is growing, you’re not pulling anything in”

“Sometimes they don’t work. No reason not to keep working with them”

“Sometimes weeds are a cover crop”

“The soil is a stomach: Succulent or fiberous?”

“EQIP Program will pay you $18/year to plant covers”

“What seeds to you have left? Experimen!”


“Most of the popular articles you’ll read on cover crops are a) old, recycled b) performed by people that don’t get it c) using mismatched goals with execution”

“Confound your neighbors. Till up a perfectly good looking crop!!”