Category Archives: Dan’s Digs

Planting Annual Ryegrass into Knee High Corn

Interseeding Cover Crops in the Northern US

In recent years, growers and agronomists in Canadian Province of Quebec have been creating a “game changer” in agriculture, with the addition of cover crops, according to Dan Towery. In northern latitudes, with shorter growing seasons, cover crops haven’t been practical because of the small window of growing time after harvest in which cover crops could establish before winter.

By planting annual ryegrass into knee-high corn in the late spring, however, cover crops can now get established before the corn’s growth shades the cover crop. The ryegrass lies near dormant all summer, thus not competing for moisture. After harvest, the cover crop then resumes growth until cold weather and snow send it back into dormancy. Then, in the spring, the annual ryegrass is killed before the field is again planted in corn or beans.

The results are touted in an article published in Corn Guide earlier this year.

http://ryegrasscovercrop.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/2014-Canada-Corn-Guide-ARG-seeding-in-springtime.pdf

This spring, Towery is working with a number of growers in a variety of locations in the upper Midwest to see if the same technique will work. Planting a couple of acres at each location will yield some important data – about whether the annual ryegrass can survive throughout the summer in the upper Midwest, where temperatures are hotter and often with less rainfall than in southern Canada. Crop yield differences will also be noted, to see if ryegrass pulls too much moisture from the soil and thus reduces corn yield.

 

Annual Ryegrass – Manage it Properly

Managing annual ryegrass is not rocket science…but it is all about science. Therefore, being precise about the process of killing the cover crop is important.

In prior posts, you’ve learned about the timing, the weather, the proper mix of glyphosate, adding AMS and balancing the water hardness with citric acid if needed. Some add a surfactant and even 2,4-D for better control and to get rid of other broadleaf weeds at the same time.

By now, you may have seen already whether one full-rate application of glyphosate was enough. Inspecting the field a week after the first application is smart. Look closely. Any sign of green warrants another application.

After your corn or soybean crop emerges, you can control any annual ryegrass escapes with a labeled rate of Accent Q, Steadfast Q, or Option, but best control is obtained with these products when temperatures are above 70 degrees.

For more information, check out the website or download a comprehensive four-page brochure.

Killing Annual Ryegrass – Be Precise for Success

At every trade show and field day, we hear the story (thankfully, fewer times each year) about how “hard it is to kill annual ryegrass.” Invariably, when you ask a couple of specific questions, the problem becomes very clear. “In some things about agriculture, you can cut corners and not cause too many problems,” said Dan Towery. “With annual ryegrass, you’re asking for trouble if you deviate from a strict management protocol.”

So, the first question Dan asks people who have trouble with annual ryegrass management:

  • Did you add AMS (ammonium sulfate) to the tank water and agitate it BEFORE adding the glyphosate?

Ammonium sulfate is a surfactant, whose purpose is to improve retention on the leaf surface and increase movement of the herbicide from the leaf surface into the leaf. AMS also softens “hard” water, helping to nullify the impact of naturally-occurring magnesium and calcium.

WIthout AMS, the minerals in water will compromise the effectiveness of glyphosate.Adding AMS helps the translocation of glyphosate to the annual ryegrass.

  • What time of day was the glyphosate sprayed on the annual ryegrass cover crop?

Proper translocation of glyphosate into the plant tissue depends on the air temperature, the weather and what time of day you apply it. For more specific information on this particular aspect, click here to take you to the annual ryegrass website.

SARE Ties with DuPont-Pioneer on Cover Crops

In February, a select group of 300 cover crop experts gathered in Omaha to discuss the prospect of massively enlarging the number of cover crop acres in the Midwest.

At present, there’s an estimated 2,000,000 to 3,000,000 acres of corn and soybean cropland now being improved with cover crops each year. The meeting’s purpose – to explore how to expand that number to 20 million acres in the next six years.

Click here to see presentations of innovative growers who are showing the way how we’ll get there.

 

 

Annual Ryegrass at Commodity Classic – Feb 28

Annual ryegrass is among the most popular cover crops. As such, it will be among the key elements in a Cover Crop learning session at the Commodity Classic this year, in San Antonio, TX. The session will cover both the trend in cover crop use nationally, but also specifics on how to make cover crops work for your acreage.

The Conservation Technology Information Center and DuPont Pioneer are sponsoring the session. Here’s a link to a full story and details about attending

The learning center session, “Cover Your Assets: Improve Productivity, Efficiency and Soil with Cover Crops,” will take place Feb. 28 at 1:45 p.m. in the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center, Room 217BC.

The presenters include Mike Plumer and Jamie Scott, both of whom have been long time annual ryegrass advocates. Mike worked for decades for the U. of IL as an Extension Educator. Jamie is an Indiana farmer, whose business now includes providing annual ryegrass seed flown onto about 60,000 acres each year.

Additional experts are Rob Myers, regional director of extension programs for the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s North Central Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education (SARE) program and  Karen Scanlon, CTIC executive director, who will moderate the session.

“Cover crops are an exciting topic that continues to gain the spotlight,” Scanlon said.

Cover Crop Learning Opportunities this Winter

In February, in Omaha, a cover crop symposium is attracting cover crop innovators, big seed dealers, seed growers and equipment company reps to discuss how to quickly grow the cover crop usage.

Cover crops are now planted on approximately 2 million acres in the Midwest. One of the symposium’s central topic is how to turn that number into 20 million acres in the next couple of decades, or sooner.

The daylong symposium will be telecast live to 200 sites around the US, in hopes that a much larger audience can access the information.

On Feb. 6, Dan Towery will present on soil health and cover crops to the Ontario Soil and Crop Improvement Association in Brodhagen, west of Toronto.

In March, Dan and Hans Kok will present a 2 hour webinar sponsored by the Environmental Protection Agency. Their presentation is on how cover crops can impact water quality…largely by keeping soil and nutrients in the fields, less susceptible to erosion. Soil biology can influence yields, Towery said, and cover crops are a key contributor.

Slake Test Demonstrates Cover Crop’s “Sponge” Qualities…and Bio-health

Ray Makenzie of Marcellus, Michigan, found himself with a thousand acres of highly erodible land when he switched from raising outdoor hogs to a confinement system in 1996. He went to no-till and foresees cover crops next year because of a farm demonstration he just attended.

“I am really excited about cover crops and have to get on this for next year,” he said. “I worry about where the land is leading to with our current practices. At the rate we are going, we are not going to leave the next generation with much healthy dirt.”

(Read the whole article by clicking here…No-Till Farmer magazine)

Hans Kok, a partner in the Indiana-based Conservation Cropping System Initiative, spoke on the benefits of cover crops and demonstrated one aspect with the “Slake Test.” ,Side by side soil samples were submerged in water. One sample was tilled soil while the other had not been tilled for several years. The tilled soil crumbled away and disintegrated in the soaking, leaving a murky sediment at the bottom of the beaker.

A second demonstration simulated a 2-inch rainfall over a one-hour period using spray bottles to soak no-till versus tilled soil samples. The tilled sample had runoff containing a high percentage of soil in the collection vessel while the no-tilled soil held together, absorbing the rain like a sponge and leaving only trace amounts of soil runoff in collection containers. Ironically, the soil samples for both demonstrations were taken from fields that were only forty feet apart, so soil type differences were negligent.

A new cooperative effort through the conservation districts in Van Buren, Berrien and Cass counties offered growers the opportunity to aerial seed annual rye grass into standing corn or soybeans at a cost of $32.50 per acre in 2013. Additional farmers who were not members of the cooperative joined the effort, resulting in a total of 1,600 acres seeded on Aug. 28 in the three counties, according to Colleen Forestieri, conservation technician for the Van Buren Conservation District. “Our goal next year is to triple that number to 3,000 acres,” she said.

Cover Crop Acreage Tops 2 Million Acres in Midwest?

In 2005 there were not many cover crops being planted in the Midwest.   Although annual ryegrass had very positive results, management was seen as somewhat complex and there was limited adoption.

Here it is, almost 9 years later, and the cover crop phenomenon continues to impress us all. It’s hard to calculate exactly, but crop consultant and cover crop advocate Dan Towery estimated that upwards of 2 million acres of cover crops were planted last year in the Midwest.

But here’s the astonishing thing. Key players in cover crop development will meet in Omaha in February, 2014. It’s by invite only. And among the agenda items, according to Towery, is to strategize how to increase the acreage in Midwest cover crops by TEN FOLD in the next decade – to 20,000.000 acres! That sounds like a lot until you understand that there over 170 million acres of corn and soybean acreage in the Midwest, according to the Dept. of Agricultural and Consumer Economics at the Univ. of Illinois  Urbana – Champaign.

One of Towery’s concerns: even to get to the 20 million acre mark, it may be a challenge to find the seed to plant those acres. Seed farmers in Oregon have increased their acres to match demand of annual ryegrass and other cover crops. But are there enough acres to produce seed for a 10 fold increase? Stay tuned.

Cover Crops – Nothing Sells Like Success

Mike Plumer put in cover crop demonstration plots at the Farm Progress Show this year. Imagine, growing a test plot on the no-till Fairgrounds (Decatur, IL) in wheat mulch. Imagine planting a cover crop in the Spring and hoping to get enough moisture to show to people a good stand in August!

As an agricultural practice, it stinks. But as a educational tool, it was a great success.

“We had 18 field plots (20 x 40′) with all sorts of cover crops. Among them were annual ryegrass, crimson clover, cereal rye, vetch, oats and radish,” Plumer said. “We only got one-tenth of an inch of rain in the weeks running up to the Fair, but thankfully there was good sub-soil moisture.

Plumer said the reception by the public was extremely good. He said that the majority of attendees were not new to cover crops and that many came with very specific, sophisticated questions about cover crop varieties, seed mixtures, planting options and management techniques.

“Acceptance of cover crops has grown tremendously in the past few years,” he added. The Conservation Technology Information Center estimates an increase of 350% in just the past four years.

With corn and soybeans coming off the fields late this fall, more producers have resorted to aerial or broadcast seeding of cover crops into standing corn and soybeans. Click here for more information about that practice.

Where To Buy Annual Ryegrass Seed

Many people ask us where to buy annual ryegrass seed for use as a cover crop in the Midwest. We’ve finally put together a list. Click here to access information.

In a recent post, you were invited to download a publication that explains about the varieties of annual ryegrass, and how important that you ask questions of your seed dealer before buying seed.

  • Where is the seed from?
  • Is it a winter hardy variety?
  • Has it been tested for use as a cover crop in the Midwest?

Click here for a copy of that flyer

.Finally, if you’re wanting a comprehensive brochure about annual ryegrass as a cover crop, click here.