Tag Archives: aerial seeding

Researchers Experimenting with Very Early Seeding of Cover Crops

Agronomy researchers in Pennsylvania and Quebec, Canada, are finding success with planting annual ryegrass and other cover crops early in the late spring, when corn is about knee high (“lay-by time”).

The more traditional time to plant annual ryegrass is either immediately after harvest or just before harvest. In both cases, cover crops are weather dependent…they need enough water to germinate and enough growing time before a killing frost to get established. More farmers are aerial seeding annual ryegrass just before harvest, which give it extra days or weeks to establish. Aerial seeding also frees up farmers during an already busy harvest time.

But few have tried seeding annual ryegrass in the late spring, thinking the shade of the corn would stifle growth and the heat of the summer would suffocate it. But over a three year trial in Quebec, the annual ryegrass established in the spring and, because it is shade tolerant, managed to stay alive throughout the summer. Then, once the corn was harvested, the fall weather gave the annual ryegrass all the daylight it needed to thrive.

In Pennsylvania, researchers are working with a new piece of equipment that will seed the cover crop, while also applying herbicide (for residual annual weeds) and fertilizer for the corn.

With a longer growing season, annual ryegrass will better survive harsh winters, sending down deeper roots.

More testing on this seeding method is necessary to prove its value elsewhere, but the results are promising.

 

Dan Towery and Jamie Scott Present at OSU Conservation Tillage Conference

Earlier this week, more than 900 attendees at the annual Conservation Tillage and Technology Conference (Ada, OH) heard from more than 60 presenters on an exhaustive array of topic dealing with improving soil, reducing nutrient leaching and improving harvest yields.

Dan Towery and Jamie Scott presented in separate workshops in a day-long intensive on cover crops. Towery, together with Nick Bowers (an Oregon seed grower), Clem Bowman and Matt VanTilburg (no-till farmers) talked about managing annual ryegrass. While some still imagine this cover crop to be difficult to kill, VanTilburg dispelled that notion. According to Towery, VanTilburg said: “I never spray annual ryegrass (for a burndown in the spring) when the nighttime temperature falls below 50 degrees.” That’s a simple solution, Towery added, but not everybody will have ideal temperatures leading up to corn planting. For more information on management tips for controlling annual ryegrass, visit the annual ryegrass site by clicking here.

Jamie Scott, a Pierceton, IN farmer and cover crop innovator, was on a cover crop panel earlier in the afternoon and then presented later on his strategy for planting 35,000 acres of cover crops each year. Most of that acreage is in annual ryegrass, and all of it is aerial seeded by plane. Towery said that, based on comments by farmers in the northern corn belt, aerial seeding by plane or with high-clearance equipment is preferable simply because of the timing. It’s important to get good fall growth with annual ryegrass to give it the vigor needed to withstand winter temperatures. Planting after harvest is risky because early frost could then lead to the cover crop doing poorly.

 

No-Till Farmer Video on New Annual Ryegrass Cover Crop User

Todd Mooberry, Lowpoint, IL, planted annual ryegrass and crimson clover this past fall for the first time. He had the seed flown onto 600 acres of standing corn, which he later strip-tilled. See the video here:http://www.no-tillfarmer.com/pages/Web-Exclusive-Cover-Crops-at-Todd-Mooberrys-Farm-in-Fall-2011-Lowpoint,-Ill-Video.php

 

 

Iowa NRCS Profiles Annual Ryegrass Cover Crop Innovator

Cover Crop Club Learning to Manage Practice Together

by Laura Greiner, State Public Affairs Specialist, USDA/NRCS – Iowa

Trying something new and innovative is always easier when you can learn from someone else’s experience. For a small group of innovative Pottawattamie County farmers experimenting with cover crops, that someone else is Pete Hobson.

Hobson, a 20-year no-till veteran, said he turned to cover crops as a tool to build more organic matter after test results showed his organic matter had plateaued. “Ideally I would like to increase organic matter one percent every 10 years. I went with rye grass because it will root much deeper than wheat or cereal rye and is a better organic matter builder,” he said.

He aerial seeded his rye at the end of this August at a rate of 25 pounds per acre. “I was surprised with how little rain we had in September that it even germed,” Hobson said.

Looking at a mat of green under his corn stalk residue he asked, “ If we can do this well in a dry year, how well can we do in a normal year?”

Click here for full article.

 

 

 

 

 

Cover Crops, Annual Ryegrass, Popular No-Till Conference Topics

At the recent National No-Till Conference (NNTC) in St. Louis, MO, cover crops seemed to be on nearly everyone’s minds. Record numbers of attendees (900+….350 of which were 1st timers) saw dozens of presentations and informal “round table” discussions where cover cropping was featured.

Ray McCormick, the No-Till Innovator award-winner from last year, talked about his novel cover crop seeding technique….attaching a Gandy Orbit Air seeder to his combine! The Vincennes, IN, farmer uses annual ryegrass.

“Most popular speaker award” winner from last year, Jamie Scott, was again at the NNTC and talked about seeding annual ryegrass on more than 30,000 acres near his farm in Pierceton, IN. He and his father act as brokers for the seeding service, contracting with air operators to apply the seed before harvest.

Terry Taylor, Geff, IL, won the No-Till Innovator award this year, and he talked about the value of cover crop mixes, including annual ryegrass, crimson clover and oilseed radish. Jamie Scott says he thinks the annual ryegrass and clover mix is mutually beneficial, as the clover has tons of nitrogen and annual ryegrass is a scavenger of N.

Ohio crop consultant Joe Nestor spoke about the value of cover crops in getting into the field early in the spring. Where acres were covered in cover crops, snow melt occurred two days ahead of nearby frozen ground. The cover crops contribute to more worm activity and soil biology…and that’s why snow melts off it sooner.