Tag Archives: aerial seeding

Annual Ryegrass Videos – Basics and Advanced Information

Perhaps you’ve already seen these dozen videos about annual ryegrass, both about how to plant and manage it, but also the benefits of having a cover crop on your soil. Click here if you want to review them...the link here is to the first one, and once on the YouTube channel, you can find the others easily by typing Annual Ryegrass in the search engine.

Here are a couple other videos about annual ryegrass, produced by Dale Strickler.

Annual ryegrass for forage and as a cover crop.

Annual ryegrass versus Cereal Rye.

1st Year Cover Cropper Doubles Down on Annual Ryegrass

The advice about using cover crops for the first time is almost written in stone: “Start with a small parcel.”

John Werries, a third generation farmer from Chapin, Illinois, had a few things going for him that allowed him to skip the advice entirely. He talked to some long time cover croppers, he had done a lot of studying and had attended educational forums on cover crop management, and he wasn’t getting any younger. “I was 65 when I started cover crops. I may not have had a decade to experiment on a small scale,” he said.

Together, John, his son Dean and their neighbor, Andy Shireman, formed a cover crop business, Chapin Cover Crops. They went in on the purchase of a 40’ air seeder and air cart, and proceeded in 2012 to plant the entire Werries 3800 acres, over 2000 of Shireman’s acres and 1700 acres of custom seeding.

“You couldn’t have asked for a more perfect year,” he said. “We got an early start, drilling the annual ryegrass (Aug. 22) right behind the combine, and we were done with seeding the acreage by the end of September. After the first seeding, we got about four inches of gentle rain in the span of two days. I’m a private pilot and so it was a joy when, some weeks later, I flew over the property and saw all that solid, dense green!”

John’s land is almost all in corn. He strip tills and so the cover crop was primarily an aide in reducing erosion, especially on the half of his acres that are in rolling hills. “I just hate the idea of erosion,” he said.

The spring of 2013 was a very wet one, with nearly 15 inches in April and May. “I was so impressed with the annual ryegrass,” he said. There was some runoff but absolutely no erosion.”

The other benefit he saw immediately was in corn production. “In 2012, it was a drought year and we had a ‘whole-farm’ average yield of 133 bu/ac,” he recalled. “That was the worst corn harvest since 1988. But a year later, the average in 2013 was 234 bu/ac…a whole 100 bushels per acre better!” Besides the weather, he attributes some of that increase to the nutrients sequestered by the annual rye grass.
IMG_0145 (2)

The cover crop seeding of fall, 2013, was close to a disaster. “We flew on 1000 acres and drilled the rest, and virtually nothing came up,” he said. “We had a very dry fall followed by a brutal winter, very cold and no snow cover.” But the harvest this fall has been even better average than last year. He attributes some of that to the improvement in soil health from years of strip till corn, no till beans, and at least one successful year of annual rye grass.

This fall, another wet one, has presented difficulties both for harvesting corn and seeding annual ryegrass. Since early August, his farm has gotten more than 17 inches of rain. About two weeks after flying on the first 1000 acres, the area got a hard five inches of rain and John’s farm has seen no erosion. Since then, he’s flown on most of his acres with annual ryegrass and feels cautiously optimistic about the survival of the cover crop this winter.

“I’m now less worried about year to year differences,” he said, “and more focused on the long term. I go out there now and, my gosh, you wouldn’t believe the number of earthworm holes. That’s evidence of better organic matter and less compaction. I tell you,” he added, “there’s no turning me around on cover cropping at this point. It’s a winning solution.”


Annual Ryegrass – When to Plant and How Much is Enough?

If you use a no-till drill to plant annual ryegrass, you get better seed to soil contact, but the timing becomes crucial because of crop harvest variability. In the past few years, corn and bean harvests have been later and, in some cases, too late to plant annual ryegrass.

Planting with aerial seeding – plane or high-clearance equipment – can be done while corn and beans are still in the field. The seed lies dormant until sufficient rain germinates the cover crop. But because you’re seeding into standing corn or beans, you must use more seed.

The range of effective seeding rates is from about 12 lb/ac to about double that, if you’re broadcasting the seed. Some worry that applying too much seed will make it more difficult planting corn or beans into the cover crop residue the next spring. Thus, those people favor a lighter seeding rate. Even if the annual ryegrass looks thin in its top growth, the deep mat of roots are still doing their job in the soil, they say.

Others say that a heavier seeding rate is good insurance against harsher winters. Those with interest in using annual rygrass for forage will certainly want to plant at the upper rate of application.

In either case, annual ryegrass is among the least costly and most effective of cover crops. The cost for seed and application can easily be made up in the gains in soil health and increased crop production.

For more information about timing and rates of seed application, click here for a comprehensive brochure.

Get Your Annual Ryegrass Seed Soon

Last year, with the growth in use of cover crops, seed suppliers seemed to find themselves low on seed when July and August came around. While supplies seem stable now, it would be a good idea to lock in your order soon.

Some apply it themselves, whether the old fashioned way, with a drill. In fact, that’s the surest way to get good soil to seed contact. But more often, growers are opting for aerial applications, whether by plane or with high clearance equipment retrofitted with a seeding boom. Both of these applications predate harvest, so as to get annual ryegrass on the ground with lots of time for optimum growth in the fall. Click here for a page of info on planting.

Here’s a link to a page with most of Oregon’s annual ryegrass seed growers. Many of them also grow other cover crop seed too, whether crimson clover or radish or another. Most, if not all, have staff available for free consulting. Many also have sales and crop consultants living in the Midwest.

One thing to ask the grower, or seed dealer: has this seed been grown successfully in the Midwest as a cover crop? This is a question that will get at two variables…the first – is it winter hardy? And the second – have you had any trouble killing the crop in the spring?

Aerial Seeding

 

 

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.

 

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 Veterans Increase Acreage of Annual Ryegrass in Midwest Corn and Beans

Nick Bowers looked at sales of cover crop seed from his Oregon farm this year and declared “we’re up from last year but the growth has leveled off a bit, compared to previous years.”

“The good news of cover crops has encouraged newcomers to try planting them,” he said. “But with adverse weather in the Midwest, corn and beans came off the field 2 – 3 weeks late this year. That means getting a cover crop on before cold weather was more of a risk, and I think that’s what held newcomers off somewhat,” he theorized.

Bowers has witnessed the phenomenal growth in sales of annual ryegrass and other cover crops as an Oregon grower. Before he and his partner began direct sales to the Midwest, he was involved in years of on-farm research as a member of the Oregon Ryegrass Seed Growers Commission. It was the Commission’s early and consistent cover crop education and promotion that helped to launch the current boom in cover crop use, he said. During those years, he and other Oregon grass seed growers donated tons of seed and thousands of hours of their time, working with cooperating farmers in Illinois and Indiana, to find out how cover crops could positively impact corn and bean production there.

“Those more accustomed to planting cover crops weren’t phased by the late harvest this year,” he continued. “They applied the seed – most often by plane – into standing corn and beans, then hoped that rain would take care of the rest.”

Based on contact with his Midwest customers, Bowers said that it appears that annual ryegrass and other cover crops are doing well, even with the weather not being ideal.

He said that while Indiana and Illinois have been leaders in cover crop adoption, other Midwest states are coming along quickly. In January, his partner will be at the Iowa Cover Crop Clinic, in Des Moines, Jan. 27 – 30, in conjunction with the annual Power Show, scheduled for the 28th – 31st.

 

 

ARG Cover Crop Seeded into 6-leaf Standing Corn!

In the cover crop revolution, there have been so many surprises…most have been pleasant…and yet, the surprises keep on coming.

When we started, it was a slam dunk that a cover crop on winter fields would reduce erosion. That was, however, only the tip of the iceberg.

  • Twenty years ago, people were surprised that annual ryegrass would survive a Midwest winter without constant snow cover.
  • Fifteen years ago, the surprise was how deep the roots of annual ryegrass sink into soil (sometimes more than 5 feet), through layers of compaction.
  • Farmers experimenting with annual ryegrass were more recently amazed about annual ryegrass’ ability to sequester N, thereby saving on fertilizer costs.
  • Initially, the “best” method of planting the cover crop was with a drill. Now we find a majority of farmers broadcasting seed from a plane or high clearance spreader.

So, perhaps it should come as no surprise that farmers in Quebec, Canada, have been seeing increased corn and soybean yields when planting annual ryegrass IN THE SPRING, when the corn is up but with only 3 – 6 leaves showing.

Doubters are now becoming believers, and expert cover croppers in the Midwest are being advised to try this out on limited acreage.

Check out this power point presentation from earlier this year, where results of three years of replicated trials in corn and soybean show some convincing evidence that a companion cover crop can actually boost production that same year.

 

http://tinyurl.com/ovod44x

 

 

Annual Ryegrass Sales Brisk on Production Gains in 2012

Sales of annual ryegrass seed this year have been “pretty good” said Illinois-based agronomist Ron Althoff. Even with extremely dry summer months, farmers were banking on enough rain to germinate annual ryegrass seed, while also hoping against a subsequent dry spell that could wither the new cover crop.

It’s a risk many are willing to take, after having seen the value of cover crops in the 2012 season, when corn and soybean production yields were 10 to 12 percent higher on acres where cover crops were used, according to a Midwest farm survey by the Sustainable Ag Research and Education program (SARE). Just that news has precipitated a continued rush to find cover crop seed. The research also indicated that the number of acres planted continues to climb steadily, increasing nearly one-third this year over last year.

Althoff, a seed dealer for Oregon-based Saddlebutte Ag, said that planting annual ryegrass has become more popular by airplane, or with high-clearance equipment, into a standing corn or soybean crop. Drilling cover crop seed after harvest gets trickier with a late harvest because annual ryegrass needs about 40 days of above freezing weather to establish well.

Althoff said that while he prefers annual ryegrass, farmers can plant other cover crops later because they need less time to establish.

“Corn grown on annual ryegrass cover crop got in some cases 50 bu. better yield than average,” he said. With that kind of return, it’s clear why people are finding the investment for cover crops worthwhile.