Cover Crops for Commissioners

Transcription

1 Cover Crops for Commissioners

2 Farmer Introduction Jeremy Gustafson Boone, IA Farm with father and uncle Corn/Beans Rotation with Hogs Strip-till

3 Spring Strip-till

4 What are cover crops? Plants that cover the soil in the fall, winter and spring

5 COVER CROPS: Excellent Bang for Conservation Buck QuickTime and a decompressor are needed to see this picture. Adapted from Joel Gruver, WIU

6 What plants are cover crops? OVER-WINTERING Winter Rye (Cereal Rye), Triticale, Wheat, Barley Hairy Vetch Red Clover Alfalfa Winter Pea Annual Ryegrass (?) NON-OVERWINTERING Oats Spring Wheat, Barley, Rye, Triticale Crimson Clover Tillage Radish Buckwheat Turnips Winter Lentil Annual Ryegrass (?)

7 Winter Rye: Cereal, Winter Rye VS Also Cereal Rye Looks like wheat #1 used cover crop in IA Annual Ryegrass Annual Ryegrass: Also called Italian Ryegrass or Perennial Ryegrass Looks like lawn grass Popular in IN & OH Grows up in the fall

8 Bounty Ryegrass vs Elbon Cereal Rye 04/02/2012

9 Who has tried cover crops? I ve been using cover crops for 6 years

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12 Oats/Radishes/Crimson Clover

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14 Radish

15 Cereal Rye Flown On

16 Cereal Rye/Bean Stubble

17 Greatest loss of nutrients is outside the cropping season (Kaspar et al., 2007)

18 Reality of Iowa Agriculture Soil in Iowa is uncovered for at least 6 months/year Cover 100,000 A planted in 2012

19 What can they do for our farms? 28% Nitrogen reduction* 50% Phosphorus reduction* Cuts Soil erosion in half Greater H 2 O infiltration *State of Iowa Nutrient Reduction Strategy Science Assessment

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21 Adapted from Joel Gruver, WIU

22 Making Cover Crops Work SCENARIOS Planting Killing

23 Crop Harvested Early (by ~Sept 10) Drill Cover Crop Immediately (good soil to seed contact) Winter rye, triticale, wheat or ~50lbs/A Hairy Vetch, Common Vetch, Winter Lentil, Winter Pea, Crimson Clover: varies Radish, Turnip, Kale or ~8lbs/A 50lbs/A Annual 15-20lbs/A Mix: crimson clover, radish, turnip, oat and more

24 EX: Planted after oat harvest NW IA Cover Crop Blend 37lbs/A 30% Pea- 21lbs/acre 40% Common Vetch- 6.4lbs/acre 10% Crimson Clover- 1.5lbs/acre 10% Fava Bean- 7lbs/acre 10% Radish-.8lbs/acre

25 Crop Harvest Late (~after Sept 30) Overseed: airplane, helicopter, Soybean 1st yellow leaves or Corn black layer Winter rye, triticale, wheat or ~50-75lbs/A Hairy Vetch, Common Vetch, Winter Lentil, *Winter Pea, *Crimson varies *Radish, *Turnip, *Kale or ~8lbs/A 50lbs/A *Annual 15-20lbs/A *Mix: crimson clover, radish, turnip, oat and more *Poor results with this seeding method

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27 2011 Field Day

28 Winter wheat flown into standing soybean Sept 2010 Picture taken soybean harvest 2010

29 Winter Pea over-seeded into Soybean 9/9/12 Photo taken 11/16/12 Carroll, IA

30 Winter Triticale overseeded into soybean 9/9/12 Photo taken 11/16/12 Carroll, IA

31 Hairy Vetchoverseeded into Corn 9/9/12 Photo taken 11/16/12 Carroll, IA

32 Crop Harvest Late (~after Sept 30) Plant/Drill: follow the combine Winter rye, triticale, wheat or ~50lbs/A *Hairy Vetch, *Common Vetch, *Winter Lentil, *Winter Pea, *Crimson varies *Radish, *Turnip, *Kale or ~8lbs/A 50lbs/A *Annual 15-20lbs/A *Mix: crimson clover, radish, turnip, oat and more *Poor results with this seeding method

33 Spring Termination Options A)Non-overwintering: oats, radish, turnip, crimson clover, etc: no spring management B)Overwintering: Herbicide Full rate + Growing Plant + Warm Day = Success Tillage also an option

34 Spring Termination Options Prior to Corn Make sure any grass cover crop (rye, wheat, ryegrass, etc) dead 6-10 days prior to planting Prior to Soybeans Kill the same day or after planting soybeans into a living grass cover crop

35 Herbicide First & Cover Crop Dead Nitrogen Second

36 Cover Crop Calculator Green Cover Seed Bladen, NE

37 Cover Crop Decision Making Tool

38 Rainfall Simulator

39 Crop Insurance 2013 (1) A crop (other than a cover crop) reaches the headed or budded stage prior to termination, regardless of the percentage of plants that reach the headed or budded stage; or (2) A crop, including a cover crop, is hayed, grazed, or otherwise harvested past May10; or (3) A crop, including a cover crop, is not terminated prior to planting

40 Kelly Tobin planted these cover and no cover strips for a 5-year yield trial project with Practical Farmers and the Iowa Learning Farms

41 To learn more Iowa on-farm research results with cover crops

42 Questions? Thank You