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PENN. Extension Recommends Annual Rye as One Cover Crop Option

No-till is no longer enough to conserve soil and produce good yields. Experts at the Pennsylvania No-till Day held Jan. 31 in West Middlesex, Pa., say it takes the combination of no-till and cover crops.

Read the whole article in Farm and Dairy Magazine

Here are excerpts:

Charlie White, a member of the crop management extension team for Penn State University, also spoke at the meeting, about making the most of cover crops.

He said a farmer must first decide what the needs are in the fields.Does he need to alleviate soil compaction, improve the soil structure, improve nitrogen fixation or nitrogen retention?

He suggested farmers mix different species with complementary growth periods and different architecture. Some suggestions he gave were radishes and turnips with the Austrian winter pea. He also suggested annual rye grass with a crimson clover or a blend of sorghum, sudangrass, soybeans and red clover.

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 Grower Builds Soil, Stabilizes Organic Matter Losses with Cover Crops

Going to No-till in the late ’70 helped reduce loss of organic matter,” said Iowa grower Steve Berger, “but adding cover crops in the past decade has really made a difference. “The organic matter present in the fence rows is between 5% and 6% but less than 4% in the fields. With cover crops, we have stabilized the losses we continued to see in our soybean rotation.”

Boosting organic matter is important, but Berger says these other things are more easily accomplished and witnessed:

Better, “mellower”, soil structure
increased microbial action
more root channels for corn roots to follow
the soil’s “bulk density” is down
infiltration rate of precipitation is up
soil erosion on his rolling, terraced fields is reduced

Berger has used cereal rye as a cover crop pretty consistently but tried annual ryegrass about five years ago because of its deeper rooting and its ability to soak up and store nitrogen for use during the next crop season. “That’s important, especially in wet years,” he said, “because annual ryegrass will cycle nutrients and keep them from being flushed out of the field through the tiles.”

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.

VanTilberg Innovations with Seeding Annual Ryegrass and other Cover Crops

At the recent 2-day cover crop conference in Decatur, IL, Matt VanTilburg described his strip-till recipe for successful cover cropping in Ohio.

“I’ve been using annual ryegrass as a cover crop for about six years and sometimes had trouble seeding it in a timely fashion,” said the Celina, Ohio farmer of about 4000 acres.” Annual ryegrass needs about 40 days growth in the fall before a killing frost and it wasn’t always possible to get a seed drill in there after harvest. He tried seeding into standing corn, too, both from a rudimentary liquid sprayer boom and also from a plane.

In the past two years, VanTilberg has strip-tilled his cover crop land, planting into standing corn and soybeans using a “high-boy” equipped with a bulk seed tank mounted on a Walker sprayer with a 90-foot boom. Once the ryegrass is about 3 – 4 inches high, he comes back in and strip tills with a Soil Warrior strip till vertical tillage tool. “Strip tilling gives me clean rows in which to plant next year,” VanTilburg said. With annual ryegrass on the bulk of the field, all the other benefits of cover crops are still present: erosion control, nutrient containment, deep rooting, compaction relief and soil health.

Part of the beauty of VanTilberg’s seeding apparatus is the delivery of seed. Rather than broadcasting it, VanTilberg’s system delivers seed directly to the seed bed, underneath the foliage. Seed is blown across the boom to PVC drop tubes every 30 inches. “The drops have deflectors at the bottom so we get even distribution.” Metering rollers register the rate of application and VanTilberg usually applies 18lb. of annual ryegrass per acre.

This fall, he planted a mix of annual ryegrass and radish, to see if the big tap roots of the radish are complimentary to the fibrous roots developed by the annual ryegrass. “Moving to strip-till has also helped in the spring, because there’s no more problems with cornstalk residue nor with planting into annual ryegrass roots. Sometimes, we’d see such a mass of annual ryegrass roots in the rows that it was more difficult to close the “vee” after planting corn.

VanTilberg commented on the success of his cover crop program this way: “My highest yielding corn is from cover crop acres, simply because the annual ryegrass has created better soil.” He also said that this fall, with more rainfall, it was still possible to drive over cover crop acres, whereas bare ground was too soggy. “Cover crops definitely give you more firmness,” he said.

When asked about control of annual ryegrass in the spring, VanTilberg said, “I use the recommended amount of RoundUp Max (44 oz.) along with 17 lb. of ammonium sulphate and apply it at 15 gallons/acre…and I haven’t had any problems whatsoever.”

Cover Crops Boost Midwest Corn Production

Cover crops boost Midwest corn production, even in marginal soils and dry years.

Years of no-tilling helped Indiana farmer Jeremy Mills save time, fuel and money, but it wasn’t until he used annual ryegrass as a cover crop that he grew 200 bushels-per-acre corn (bu/ac.).

Mills, who has a small livestock operation, farms 2400 acres in the Indianapolis suburbs with his father, Steve. He estimates that cover cropping contributes more than 20 bushels to his corn yield. His previous high yield, before cover crops, was 177 bu/ac.

“I started planting annual ryegrass about eight years ago, in an attempt to break up compaction,” Mills said. “I’d gone to the National No-Till Conference and read articles about how no-till benefits are boosted with annual ryegrass. Between compaction and poor drainage, Mills said, “I used to lose up to one-third of some fields because of water ponding. That doesn’t happen anymore. Cover crops have reduced compaction, improved water infiltration and increased yields,” he said.

At the no-till conference, he might have talked to Ralph “Junior” Upton, a Springerton, Illinois, farmer and Midwest pioneer with cover crops. In the mid 1980s, Upton began to realize he needed extra help to break up his hardpan soil. It wasn’t long before he understood, too, that the biggest differential that cover crops offer in corn yields comes in years when it turns dry mid-summer. This is where the impact of deep-rooting annual ryegrass allows corn roots to get below compaction to deeper moisture.

“I have some hillside land where corn would fall apart real quick in dry weather,” Upton explained. “Because of the plowpan, corn roots would grow horizontally and after 10 days of no rain, the corn would be burning up. With annual ryegrass, that same land can now go four weeks without water and still not give up much yield,” he added.

“Last year, there was no rain between July 7 and September 15. With normal rainfall, I’d get 200 bu/ac. Yet, I still got 160 bu./ac. because of the cover crop,” Upton said.

Upton has worked with crop consultant Mike Plumer for years. In 2008, Plumer released results of a study conducted on long term cover crops versus plain no-till and conventionally-tilled land. The results confirmed the value of annual ryegrass, especially in dry years. Plumer, who was a University of Illinois Extension educator at the time, reported that:

· No-till with annual ryegrass yielded 53 bu./ac. more in 2006 than did nearby “tilled” acreage with no cover crop(155 bu./ac. vs 102)

· The following year (2007) was very dry (3” from May to Oct.) and the resulting harvest was lower, but the difference in yield was greater…nearly 70 bu./ac.:

o Conventional till – 52.5 bu./ac.

o Conventional till w/1 year no-till – 61.5

o No-till – 79.0

o No-till w/Annual ryegrass – 121.0

Upton, who started experimenting with annual ryegrass on that hillside land in 1985, said the land had “zero topsoil,” and in dry years, the slopes would yield no grain. “I figured, if we can do something on this land, it should work everywhere.”

With the current drought conditions, many who were considering a cover crop this year are wondering whether that’s a good idea. Neither Mills nor Upton hesitated when asked about their choice. “Cover crops are a long term investment,” Upton said. “After 10 years of it (even with a setback year now and again) you’re going to be way ahead on soil health and productivity.”

Mills recalled that even with a late planting date, after harvesting beans in September, his annual ryegrass survived the winter, sending roots through rain-soaked compacted layers. “It didn’t look like it had sprouted until March, but by the time we killed it (before planting corn) the top growth was no higher than five inches. But digging down, the roots had grown as deep as three feet.”

He also tried aerial seeding around Labor Day last year, into standing corn. With a warm, wet fall and early spring this year, the cover crop didn’t get killed off until the weather dried out. The annual ryegrass had, in the meantime, eliminated the potential for other winter annuals to sprout.

Comparing the seeding methods, Mills said, “I think I’ll go back to using a drill to plant annual ryegrass. In some years, using the drill, I was able to get a good stand with between 12 and 15 pounds/acre. Flying it on, I took my seed dealer’s advice and applied it at 25lb./ac. and that proved to be too heavy…at least last year.” He estimates his cost for aerial seeding annual ryegrass (including seed cost) at about $25/ac. while drilling it is about the same.

“I’ve seen a marked improvement in the water infiltration since I began using cover crops,” Mills added. He largely relies on annual ryegrass but has lately experimented with cover crop mixes, including winter peas and radish, both of which died off over the winter.

“I’m getting deeper rooting, no compaction and better drainage without adding extra nitrogen to that field,” Mills continued. Annual ryegrass is like having insurance in extreme weather…like we’ve seen the last seven years,” he said. “It pulls up available nitrogen from the soil during the winter and [through the cover crop residue] gives it back to the corn in July, when the crop’s looking for N.”

In today’s cost-conscious environment, Mills figures that even with the cost of cover crop seed and management, he’s still ahead because of higher yields and the value of greatly improved soil health.