Category Archives: Dan’s Digs

Crop Yield Gains with Cover Crops

SARE (Sustainable Ag Research & Education) released a study of cover crop useage over the past 5 years. Read below, proof positive of the value in both crop yield and soil health. Best yet, the results are those reported by farmers themselves, based on what’s been happening on their farms.

A summary is below…you can find the whole report here: http://www.northcentralsare.org/CoverCropsSurvey

Key findings included the following:

  • During the fall of 2012, corn planted after cover crops had a 9.6% increase in yield compared to side-by-side fields with no cover crops.  Likewise, soybean yields were improved 11.6% following cover crops.
  • In the hardest hit drought areas of the Corn Belt, yield differences were even larger, with an 11.0% yield increase for corn and a 14.3% increase for soybeans.
  • Surveyed farmers are rapidly increasing acreage of cover crops used, with an average of 303 acres of cover crops per farm planted in 2012 and farmers intending to plant an average of 421 acres of cover crops in 2013.  Total acreage of cover crops among farmers surveyed increased 350% from 2008 to 2012.
  • Farmers identified improved soil health as a key overall benefit from cover crops.  Reduction in soil compaction, improved nutrient management, and reduced soil erosion were other key benefits cited for cover crops.  As one of the surveyed farmers commented, “Cover crops are just part of a systems approach that builds a healthy soil, higher yields, and cleaner water.”
  • Farmers are willing to pay an average (median) amount of $25 per acre for cover crop seed and an additional $15 per acre for establishment costs (either for their own cost of planting or to hire a contractor to do the seeding of the cover crop).

Seeding Rate for Annual Ryegrass Cover Crop Varies

In past years, we’ve published pretty standardized rates for seeding annual ryegrass into corn and soybeans. The rates vary from about 12 llb/ac (drilling) to 25 lb/ac if broadcast or aerial seeding. Click here to go to our four-page management guide or here for our handy Quick guide.

Now, even among experts, there’s some thought to lowering the recommended seeding rate, in order to save money but also to make it easier to manage the ryegrass in the field.

Mike Plumer has seen instances where annual ryegrass was too heavy, creating difficulty drilling into it after burndown. The root mat of annual ryegrass, if too dense, can complicate the closing of the seed trench. Further, he says that annual ryegrass roots seem to go deeper if the stand is thinner, because the plants don’t have as much competition with each other. He’s seen effective stands at as low as 8 lb/ac and thinks the 25 lb/ac is too heavy.

Dan Towery is more cautious about cutting back on the recommended seeding rate. While he agreed with Mike that certain growing conditions would warrant less seed/ac, he doesn’t want to end up with stands that are too thin. He said that the 2012/2013 cover crop season was unusual in that annual ryegrass did super well. The reasons: lots of residual N in the field from last year’s drought, September rain that got the ryegrass established well and a long spring that prolonged the cover crop season.

The consensus decision, after more discussion, will manifest in a modification of language in our brochures. Stay tuned…but it looks like growers will be advised to use best practices for your area and the climate conditions. That means asking the experts, whether at your seed supplier, your Extention agronomist….or your neighbor who’s been growing successful cover crops and can guide you on the local recommendations.

And then again, you can always contact us…we’ll put you in touch with Mike or Dan – or any number of other successful cover crop growers in your area – and you can hear it directly from them..

New Annual Ryegrass Publications

The Oregon Ryegrass Commission has published three helpful new flyers to aid in your selection and management of annual ryegrass as a cover crop.

1. Selection of Annual Ryegrass

2. 2014 Annual Ryegrass Management Guide – “Quick” 2-pager

3. 2013 Annual Ryegrass Management Guide – Comprehensive 4-pager

Please let us know if these could use further information or clarification.

All of these and more are available on the Annual Ryegrass Cover Crop website.

Annual Ryegrass Features in Summer Cover Crop Activities

The Indiana-based Conservation Cropping Systems Initiative was awarded $750,000 (Conservation Innovation Grant) to further quantify the value of cover crops – including annual ryegrass – in the Midwest over the next 3 years. The money has already been used to hire a project director (Lisa Holscher) and line out  highly-visible projects to help explain and educate regional farmers.

The project will include 12 farms in Indiana, each of whom is contributing to the project’s budget. Each farmer chosen already has shown experience with on-farm re search, conservation measures, hosting field days and making public presentations. Each will receive mentoring and technical advice as part of their investment. Several those chosen are long-term cover crop innovators (Dan DeSutter, Jamie Scott, Cameron Mills) and they’ll become part of the advisory team for teaching.

According to a news release on the project: The majority of the sites compare no-till/strip-till only to no-till/strip-till with cover crops. Other comparisons include: strip-till with cover crops vs. no-till with cover crops; reduced tillage with cover crops vs strip-till with cover crops; and no-till with single-species cover crop vs. no-till with a cover crop mix. More specifically, soil fertility, soil moisture, soil nitrate, soil temperature, cover crop biomass, and some of the new soil health tests will be done. Test results will be compiled and analyzed by Purdue University.

Partnering with CCIS in the project: Indiana Corn Growers Association, Indiana Soybean Alliance, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service, Indiana State Department of Agriculture, and the Purdue Cooperative Extension.

Annual Ryegrass Control – Tips for Qualtity Results with Herbicide

Now’s the Time to Begin to Take Out Your Annual Ryegrass Cover Crop
1. Timing is important. Late March – Mid April, depending on Midwest location
a. Burndown when the plant is 6 – 12”, before 1st node develops
b. Allow 5 – 7 days after annual ryegrass has begun to actively grow before spraying

2. Temperature is crucial. Should be above 60° F
a. Spray on a sunny day if possible
b. Wait a few days if nighttime temps dip below 38°F
c. Soil temperature should be above 45°F
d. Stop spraying about 4 hours before sunset to allow for max. translocation within the plant.

3. Coverage. Be thorough, use medium spray droplet and moderate pressure
a. Use flat fan nozzles, at 30 – 40 psi
b. Don’t use air induction nozzles that produce a course droplet size.

4. Primary application. One application of glyphosate may be enough for burndown
a. However, plan for two applications, using herbicide with a different mode of action
b. Scout the fields afterwards to ensure annual ryegrass is dead (it may look brown but can grow back)
c. Glyphosate use. Apply at 1.25 – 1.5 lb. a.e./a
d. Add ammonium sulfate and a surfactant
e. Adjust pH and follow mixing directions on the label carefully
f. When using additives, mix them first for 3 – 5 minutes in a full tank of water, before adding the glyphosate; water should be free of clay particles.

5. Precautions, and other herbicides to use when planting corn
a. Never mix atrazine or Callisto with glyphosate (ryegrass control will diminish)
b. Adding 1lb a.e./a Princep (simazine) improves weed control (not in sandy soil)
c. Use of Balance Pro, Prowl H2O, Resolve Q or Basis Blend, 2,4-D, Axiom at full label rate for residual weed control.

6. Use of other herbicides when planting soybeans
a. After beans emerge, annual ryegrass escapes can be controlled with full rates of SelectMax, Poast Plus or Fusilade DX.
b. Use fertilizer, surfactant, crop oil as label-directed. Less effective in cold temps.

Annual Ryegrass Seed Can Be Viable in the Field for Three Years

I’ve heard from some producers that, even after killing their annual ryegrass cover crop successfully in the spring, some new plants will come up in the field later that same year or the following year. Here’s what I’ve learned about that:

1. Annual ryegrass seed has the potential to remain viable (latent) in the ground from 3 – 5 years; 3 years in a no-till field and up to 5 in conventional tillage.

2. Some small percentage of seed may not germinate in the same year it is planted. That latent seed may germinate the following year.

3.. Options for this situation: if you don’t want the annual ryegrass, spray it out with glyphosate. But if the “volunteer” seed is prolific enough, you might get a “free” crop of annual ryegrass for the next cover crop season. Or, you can drill or broadcast more seed on top of it.

 

Careful Management of Annual Ryegrass Burndown

The use of seed blends for annual ryegrass cover cropping may not be the best idea. Here’s why:

Each variety of annual ryegrass has certain characteristics for growth, including how quickly it comes out of dormancy in the spring. And there’s a potential problem with that: if you spray the annual ryegrass with glyphosate when the grass is still dormant, none of the herbicide will be absorbed by the dormant plants. Thus, while the application may kill the actively-growing annual ryegrass varieties, those varieties still lying dormant won’t be affected.

There are a couple ways to deal with this issue. The first is to plant only one variety, one that has been tested for the Midwest and has the capability to stand up to harsher winter weather. When applying glyphosate to a single variety, there won’t be any difference in the time the entire cover crop field comes out of dormancy.

If you’re facing this spring with a field of annual ryegrass blend, you must be more vigilant about the burndown. The best bet, if weather cooperates, is to give the entire cover crop an extra 5 – 7 days to come out of dormancy. It’s a bit tricky to tell what’s an actively growing plant, so ask your crop consultant if you have doubts. But, with an extra week before burndown, you will likely be spraying plants that have all come out of dormancy.

Sometimes, after spraying annual ryegrass, it appears that the job has been done…the grass looks brown and dead. But be watchful; sometimes the kill hasn’t been complete and new growth can occur. Scout your field in the week or so after the first glyphosate application and see if it’s completely killed. If not, a second application of herbicide will be needed.

For more information about the fine points of burndown, check out the handy one-page reference on the General Information page in this blog section, for today’s date. Otherwise, you can also check out the same information on the annual ryegrass cover crop website. (News releases 2013 – Annual Ryegrass Control)

Iowa Study Trumpets Ag Practices to Build Yield, Sustain Profit & Decrease Chemical Use

An Iowa University ag study determined that long rotations is as profitable and more productive for soil and the environment. Yet, the move away from conventional tillage is slow. Here’s part of the article, which you can see entirely by clicking here:

The study was done on land owned by Iowa State University called the Marsden Farm. On 22 acres of it, beginning in 2003, researchers set up three plots: one replicated the typical Midwestern cycle of planting corn one year and then soybeans the next, along with its routine mix of chemicals. On another, they planted a three-year cycle that included oats; the third plot added a four-year cycle and alfalfa. The longer rotations also integrated the raising of livestock, whose manure was used as fertilizer.

The results were stunning: The longer rotations produced better yields of both corn and soy, reduced the need for nitrogen fertilizer and herbicides by up to 88 percent, reduced the amounts of toxins in groundwater 200-fold and didn’t reduce profits by a single cent.

In short, there was only upside — and no downside at all — associated with the longer rotations.

With conventional tillage being the old way and organic representing another way, the author points to this study as “a third path”.

The Marsden Farm study points to a third path. And though critics of this path can be predictably counted on to say it’s moving backward, the increased yields, markedly decreased input of chemicals, reduced energy costs and stable profits tell another story, one of serious progress.

Perhaps most difficult to quantify is that this kind of farming — more thoughtful and less reflexive — requires more walking of the fields, more observations, more applications of fertilizer and chemicals if, when and where they’re needed, rather than on an all-inclusive schedule. “You substitute producer knowledge for blindly using inputs,” Davis says.

So: combine crop rotation, the re-integration of animals into crop production and intelligent farming, and you can use chemicals (to paraphrase the report’s abstract) to fine-tune rather than drive the system, with no loss in performance and in fact the gain of animal products.

Towery to Lead Cover Crop Discussion at National No-Till Conference

On the No-Till Farmer website today, an announcement about the upcoming National No-Tillage Conference (Jan 9 – 12, 2013, at the Indianapolis Hyatt Regency) If you’re attending the Jan. 9 to 12 event at the Hyatt Regency in downtown Indianapolis, please note the following new sessions on the program.

At Wednesday evening’s general session at 8:15 p.m., Dan Towery of Ag Conservation Solutions and a consultant to the Oregon Ryegrass Commission will present, “The Payback Potential Of Cover Crops In Enhancing Soil Health.”

Here’s how Dan described the presentation he’ll lead, with experts Steve Groff, David Brown and Dave Brandt adding their experience to the mix:

The process of increasing organic matter, improving nutrient cycling and cranking-up the soil biology is complex and not well understood.  Yet some producers have been able to consistently grow high yielding corn which tolerated the drought much better and needed significantly less commercial nitrogen.   

Organic matter, or humus, is the soil reservoir for soil nitrogen, sulfur, and much of the phosphorus. Increasing organic matter enables you to increase nutrient efficiency.  In addition, managing soils in such a way as to increase diversity and benefit soil organisms is an important component.  

Improving soil health or soil resilience can potentially provide 5-7” of additional moisture in a dry year, almost eliminate runoff, and require significantly less commercial nitrogen.  However, it takes time and a plan to see these benefits. 

Stay tuned…we’ll report back on the presentation at the No-Till Conference, where fundamentals will be covered and then you can decide if you want to join the parade heading to no-till and cover crops.