Cover cropping

[ayelvington]

I'm taking some worn out field and working to convert it to something that will support a healthy food plot. We're plagued with clay covered with about 4" of top soil.

I have cover cropped it with buckwheat for two years and plowed the mulch under. This fall I planted winter wheat to plow under in the spring. I'm working on improving the tilth of the soil and weed suppression. (I got the goldenrod running!)

Here's my question: How many of you cover crop your food plots, and why?

 

[wolc123]

My go-to foodplot (for putting venison in the freezer during the daylight hours of gun-season) is corn, but I do use several other plots for "cover". When I am starting a new plot on old pasture land, I plow it in the late spring and disc it every other week or so throughout the summer. I also work in lime if needed (pay for a soil test) that first summer. Around Sept 1, I disc, then broadcast about 1 bu/acre of rye grain, then cultipack. Then I broadcast about 2 lb/acre of white clover and cultipack again, 90 degrees from the previous direction. In addition to building the soil as a cover, the deer use the rye heavily the first fall and following spring. Tonight I watched (6) of them feeding in my rye from the house while we were eating dinner. The rye does a great job keeping weeds at bay, and helps the white clover get a good jump in the spring. I usually mow the rye when it is about a foot high in the spring, and mow the clover a couple more times to keep the weeds under control. The second fall, you should have a real good stand of white clover which I also consider a cover crop, this time to control weeds and build nitrogen that will be utilized by corn in another 2-3 years. At that time, the clover gets plowed under shallow in the spring and corn gets planted, requiring very little fertilizer for modest yield thanks to all the nitrogen that has been stored up by the previous 2-5 years of white clover. Cover crops are a great way to save megabucks on fertilizer and herbicides, with the added bonus being the fact that, if you pick the right ones, the deer like to eat them. Anyone who tries to do foodplots without utilizing cover crops is really missing the boat in my opinion.

 

[trac]

I plant wheat here as a cover crop every year. It's like a deer magnet when other plants die off. The seed is cheap at 16.00/ acre (2 bu, common soft white wheat).I plow some down,if the weather lets me next spring. Some, I let the deer eat all the heads they want when it matures, and then cut and bale about half for the straw. The other half, they come in and eat the left over heads in late August- September till their gone. I also frost seed clover, so that is in the wheat stubble for this time of the year. We also have several acres of alfalfa, trefoil, vetch, fall oats, corn, and soybeans. Want something planted that area farmers don't have to draw them in any time of the year, and that covers it, believe me, it works. Makes a nice food source and mellows the ground.

 

[MMagis]

What are you calling a “cover crop”. A cover crop is a plant that is planted with another crop to provide some “cover” so that other crop can get established. Hope that made sense. Wheat is often planted as a cover crop over clover in the fall. Come spring/summer, the wheat is either mowed or harvested.
I get the impression that you mean something different when you say cover crop?

 

[DaveOmak]

Al, Afternoon... I had a worn out pasture and planted Piper Sudan grass one summer... I have irrigation also... The sudan takes a lot of nitrogen to grow but in return can put as much as 10 tons of grass back into the soil in one season/acre... I ended up mowing it every 2 weeks with the brush hog.. it was 18-20" tall in that time with 16-16-16 spread on it every 4 weeks.. Great organic matter to restore the soil.. in the fall I disked it in... In the spring planted alfalfa... Sudan Grass...

 

[trac]

The farmers here in NY started planting some type of radish, for a cover crop this fall. It has a deep tap root with not much top growth. Lossens the ground better than grasses. Top rots very quickly. In the spring, they disc it over a few times and ready to plant. Does anyone know the name, and how it works?

 

[ayelvington]

What are you calling a 田over crop? A cover crop is a plant that is planted with another crop to provide some 田over so that other crop can get established. Hope that made sense. Wheat is often planted as a cover crop over clover in the fall. Come spring/summer, the wheat is either mowed or harvested.
I get the impression that you mean something different when you say cover crop?

Actually, you and I are on the same page. My "food plot" needs its soil enriched, so I've planted buckwheat to break up the clay, and winter wheat as a weed suppressant and green manure in the spring.

I'm still enjoying the direction that the thread has taken though!

 

[SandburRanch]

The farmers here in NY started planting some type of radish, for a cover crop this fall. It has a deep tap root with not much top growth. Lossens the ground better than grasses. Top rots very quickly. In the spring, they disc it over a few times and ready to plant. Does anyone know the name, and how it works?

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Try this link.
Radish cover crop

 

[trac]

Thanks for the link. Looks like this could be the new cover crop of the future.

 

[LHS Inc]

The farmers here in NY started planting some type of radish, for a cover crop this fall. It has a deep tap root with not much top growth. Lossens the ground better than grasses. Top rots very quickly. In the spring, they disc it over a few times and ready to plant. Does anyone know the name, and how it works?

Forage Radish is the name. It aerates the soil with its long root and its a great scavenger of nutrients and holds it for the next crop to use. It winter kills thus making it easy to establish the next crop.

The University of Oklahoma did a study where they Fall planted about 5 lbs of Forage Radish with 2.5 bushels of Wheat to the acre behind corn and got a 20% increase in the yield of the Wheat when harvested.