Category Archives: General Information

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.”