Establishing Cover Crops in Growing Corn and Small Grain Crops FarmSmart 2015

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1 Establishing Cover Crops in Growing Corn and Small Grain Crops FarmSmart 2015 A project funded under the Water Adaptation Management and Quality Initiative Project Team Sam Bradshaw Jake Kraayenbrink Anna Kraayenbrink Greg Stewart

2 Thank You to the Following Supporters Tracy Ryan with Grand Valley Conservation Authority helped purchase cover crop seed Michael Holzworth Speare Seeds Hanover, gave a great price on the cover crop seed Wendel Mathis supplied and installed the air seeder Anne Verhallen - Soil Management Specialist OMAF gave us the recommendations for the cover crops Ontario Pork

3 Project Overview This project was carried out to evaluate the use of an air seeder mounted on a liquid manure tanker to seed cover crops into standing corn and wheat. Cover crops were evaluated using different planting methods, timing and equipment for applying the seed with liquid manure. A Veenhuis disk applicator was used in wheat and a Nuhn injector was used in standing corn.

4 AP precision seeder An AP precision seeder was purchased from and installed by Wendel Mathis, who operates Wendel Mathis Garage, Rue Aubry, Sainte- Eulalie, QC G0Z 1E0 (819) The seeder is controlled electronically from the tractor cab In this case, a PTO driven fan was used to supply sufficient air for the long distribution tubes

5 Winter Wheat Trials Three seed varieties were planted in winter wheat using three different planting methods Red clover, alfalfa, and crimson clover were planted ahead of the Veenhuis disk applicator, behind the applicator and also in the trench made by the disks Liquid hog manure was applied to the wheat at the same time This Veenhuis disk applicator was used in wheat

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7 Planting into Winter Wheat The planting into the winter wheat was finished on May 26 th Planting into wheat on May 26th

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9 Crimson Clover Plot Anna Kraayenbrink standing in crimson clover planted behind the applicator middle of September

10 Crop Counting - Red Clover Planted Ahead of Applicator Produced the Greatest Biomass Weight

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12 Red Clover Planted Behind Applicator Had the Greatest Plant Count

13 Alfalfa Planted Behind Applicator Beat Out Alfalfa Planted Ahead When Plants Were Counted

14 Alfalfa Planted Ahead of Applicator

15 Crimson Clover Behind Applicator Beat Out Alfalfa When Biomass was Weighed

16 Crimson Clover Planted Ahead of Applicator

17 Crimson Clover Sown in Trench

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19 Average Number of Cover Crop Plants per Sq Foot Counted in Winter Wheat Plots Red clover sown using all planting methods grew the best in all trials in winter wheat All crops sown behind the unit grew best when plants were counted The population of crimson clover was lowest Ahead Behind In Trench

20 Biomass Yields (Oven Dried kg/ha) When biomass was weighed, however, red clover planted ahead of the unit grew the best Alfalfa and crimson clover planted behind the unit did better than alfalfa and cr. clover planted ahead when biomass was weighed Red Clover Alfalfa Crimson Clover Ahead Behind In Trench

21 Wheat Yields from Plots The control plots yielded 99.5 bushels per acre using just manure Highest yield was bushels per acre when under seeded to crimson clover planted ahead of applicator (crimson clover ahead was the lightest cover crop) Lowest yield was 86.9 bushels per acre when under seeded to alfalfa planted ahead of applicator (a decent crop of alfalfa) Surprisingly, wheat yields were slightly higher than the control when under-seeded with crimson clover even though crimson clover planted behind had more bio mass than alfalfa Ahead Behind In Trench

22 Cover Crops in Corn

23 Plot Layout in Corn 484 feet Corn Plots a b c a b c a b c c a b c a b c a b c a 3 3 b c a b c 1a Red Clover ahead of shank 1b Red clover behind shank broadcast 1c Red Clover behind shank in trench 2a Alfalfa ahead of shank 2b Alfalfa behind shank broadcast 2c Alfalfa behind shank in trench 3a Crimson clover ahead of shank 3b Crimson clover behind shank broadcast 3c Crimson clover behind shank in trench 4a Annual Rye ahead of shank 4b Annual Rye behind shank broadcast 4c - Annual Rye behind shank in trench f e e t Blank strips are check plots with no cover crop Each strip is 15 feet wide X 2757 feet long

24 The Nuhn Incorporation Unit Red clover, alfalfa, crimson clover and rye grass were planted ahead of the Nuhn applicator, behind the applicator and also in the trench made by the sweeps while applying liquid hog manure Seed dispensers were mounted in three different places on this Nuhn applicator to allow us to plant seeds ahead, behind and in the opener trench

25 Manure Application Between Corn In this plot, red clover was being planted ahead of the manure application unit Manure application was heavier before machine got up to speed Rows

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27 We next visited the crop November 11

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29 Plant Counts per sq ft in Corn Crop Plant counts indicated that rye planted ahead of the unit grew the best, followed by red clover planted ahead of the unit Crops planted in trench didn t do so well Ahead of Applicator Behind Applicator In Trench Red Clover Alfalfa Crimson Clover Rye

30 Biomass yields (Oven Dried (kg/ha) Ahead Behind In Trench Bio mass weights also indicated that annual rye planted ahead of the applicator grew the best, but crimson clover came in second using this method Red Clover Alfalfa Crim Clover Annual Rye

31 Corn Yields with Different Under Seed Planting Treatments Interestingly, corn yields were higher than the control with all application methods, even when under-seeded with a good crop of annual rye grass Red Clover Alfalfa Crinson Clover Rye Control Ahead of applicator Behind applicator In trench Control

32 Alfalfa Planted Behind Shank in Trench

33 Annual Rye Behind Shank in Trench

34 Annual Rye Planted Ahead of Applicator

35 Annual Rye Planted Behind Applicator

36 Crimson Clover Planted Ahead of Applicator

37 Crimson Clover Planted Behind the Applicator

38 Crimson Clover Planted Behind Shank in Trench

39 Alfalfa Planted Ahead of Shank

40 Red Clover Ahead of Applicator

41 Red Clover Behind Shank

42 Red Clover Behind Shank in Trench

43 Summary of Observations Wheat Crop Using both plant counts, and bio mass weights, red clover sown using all methods grew the best in all trials in winter wheat Plant counts of crops sown ahead and behind the unit Using the plant count method, the red clover sown behind the unit grew best and red clover sown ahead of the unit came in second best Using biomass weights, however, the red clover planted ahead did the best and red clover planted behind did second best Overall, most crops planted behind the unit did best The population of crimson clover was lowest

44 Wheat Yields In wheat, cover crops seemed to have an effect on yield The control plots yielded 99.5 bushels per acre using just manure Highest yield was bushels per acre when under seeded to crimson clover planted ahead of applicator (cr. clover was the lightest cover crop) Lowest yield was 86.9 bushels per acre when under seeded to alfalfa planted ahead of applicator Surprisingly, wheat yields were slightly higher than the control when under-seeded with crimson clover (but cr. clover was a very poor crop)

45 Cover Crop Success Using Plant Counts in Corn Plant counts indicated that rye planted ahead of the unit grew the best, followed by red clover planted ahead of the unit

46 Cover Crop Success Using Biomass Weights Bio mass weights also indicated that annual rye planted ahead of the applicator grew the best, but crimson clover out performed red clover when weighed For annual rye and red clover, planting ahead of the manure application unit seemed to work the best

47 Affect of Cover Crops on Corn Yields Somewhat surprisingly, corn yields were greatest in all plots when under seeded with rye even though the population of the rye was the highest

48 I bet you can t get cartoons on your phone!

49 Thank You