Category Archives: Soil Quality

Annual Ryegrass Helps Soil Microbiology Helps Soil Health

“Many times during a drought, plants are not as much water stressed as they are nutrient stressed,” said USDA soil microbiologist Kris Nichols.

Cover crops feed a whole web of soil organisms…much more than mere crop residue. Those organisms seek carbon and they get it from live plants like corn.

Nichols said that the microbes, in exchange for carbon, give up nutrients and water which they get from the soil.

Mycorrhizal fungi are an example Nichols uses to explain the value added that microbiology brings to crops. The little critters are threadlike, much smaller in width than plant roots, and have more access to more soil than plants.

Cover crops like annual ryegrass are conducive to production of healthy mycorrhizae population and create a symbiotic relationship helping the fungi, the soil and the plants. “Plants growing in soils rich with mycorrhizae take advantage of the fungi to help them obtain nutrients from the soil,” she added.

“They accomplish this using much less water, as well,” Nelson continued. The soil structure, rich with microorganisms, is more conducive to water retention, as she explains, “Organisms help form soil aggregates, which allows for better water absorption because there is more pore space in the soil for water as well as an exchange of gas.”

 

 

 

 

 

Dupont Pioneer Looks at Cover Crops – Annual Ryegrass

Managing Winter Cover Crops in Corn and Soybean Cropping Systems

DuPont Pioneer Agronomy Research Summary – 2014 (Click here for full report)

 

Table 1. Potential benefits of cover crops.

Potential
Benefit

Description

Retain Soil
Nutrients

 Cover crops scavenge soil nutrients as they grow and
ultimately release them for following crops to use. This
reduces the potential for nutrient losses, especially N.

Prevent Soil
Erosion

 Cover crops help hold soil in place, reduce crusting
and protect against erosion due to wind and rain.

Build Soil
Organic Matter

 Cover crop biomass contributes to soil organic matter,
which helps to improve soil structure, water infiltration,
and water-holding and nutrient-supply capacity.

Break Soil
Compaction

 Cover crop roots can act as “living plows,” breaking up
compacted soil layers. Cover crop shoots can also
help protect the soil from the impact of heavy rains.

Add
Nitrogen
(N)

 Leguminous cover crops fix N as they grow. This N
mineralizes after the cover crop is terminated and
becomes available for use by future crops.

Conserve
Soil
Moisture

 Cover crop residues increase water infiltration and
limit soil evaporation. This helps to reduce moisture
stress during drought conditions.

Suppress
Weeds

 Cover crops shade the soil, which can reduce weed
germination and growth. Some cover crops also have
an allelopathic effect on weeds.

Provide
Additional
Forage

 In some areas, it may be possible to graze, hay or
chop cover crops before terminating in the spring.

In recent years, interest in adding cover crops to corn and soybean cropping systems has increased as their potential benefits have become more widely recognized. Most of these benefits are realized over time as their ongoing use improves soil quality and function (Table 1). Thus, cover crops are best viewed as a long-term investment in soil productivity.

Cover Crop Selection – Grasses, Legumes, Brassicas

Grasses, including winter cereals such as rye, wheat, barley and triticale, are the most widely used cover crops in corn and soybean cropping systems. Winter cereals are typically planted in late summer through late fall and produce a small to moderate amount of root and above-ground biomass before going dormant in the winter. Vigorous growth resumes in early spring, and large amounts of biomass are produced by mid to late spring. Some growers prefer non-winterhardy cereals like oats, which establish rapidly in the fall but winterkill and leave behind little residue to manage in the spring. Annual ryegrass is another option if spring residue levels are a concern.

 

Annual Ryegrass Seeded into Springtime Corn!


Yes, you read correctly…farmers in Quebec, Canada began experimenting, 5 years ago, with spring seeding annual ryegrass into new corn…when the plants showed between 4 and 6 leaves.

Apparently, the annual ryegrass goes dormant when the corn canopy closes over in June, leaving the grass in shade until harvest. After harvest, sunlight sets the annual ryegrass growing again like gangbusters. According to a new article in Corn Guide, the grass soaks up residual N, P, and K going into winter. The author reports, also, that even in early years, farmers see a bump in corn production from the addition of annual ryegrass. See the full article here.

ARG in Quebec - November photo

 

Interseeding Annual Ryegrass in New Corn?

Quebec, Canada. Who’d have thought about planting cover crops there?

Daniel Briere, an agronomist with Plant Production Quebec, works with local farmers on a novel way to plant annual ryegrass – late in the spring, about six weeks after corn has emerged and reached knee height. Using modified high clearance equipment, the annual ryegrass sprouts in spring weather and then goes dormant in summertime, when the grass is shaded by corn.

ARG in Quebec - Spring Planted Cover Crop

After corn is harvested, the annual ryegrass is already very well established, able to grow until freezing weather, when cold and snow send the crop into dormancy again. Saddlebutte Ag, an Oregon seed grower, has provided the hearty annual ryegrass seed for the past four or five years, as the project has grown. Dan Towery, Midwest adviser on cover crops and President of the Soil & Water Conservation Society, has followed the project the past few years and said: “It could be a game changer for cover crop planting. I’m impressed. But I have to say, if you’re new to planting cover crops, wait on trying this…or try it on a small plot. It’s unclear how spring seeding of annual ryegrass will play out in the Midwest.

ARG in Quebec - November photo

Annual Ryegrass in Winter: What’s Goin’ On Down There?

With the frigid weather in the Midwest this winter, it may be that the top growth of your annual ryegrass is looking poorly. Without any snow cover, freezing temperatures can suck the moisture and life out of any plant.

But don’t despair just yet. In past winters, what looked like a total winterkill in January turned out to be a false alarm. Whether the crop survives depends on whether the crown of the plant was still viable. If the crop was planted in a timely fashion, and the annual ryegrass got enough time to establish well, the chances are better for its survival.

Assuming that the annual ryegrass is dormant on the surface, it’s amazing to realize that throughout the winter, the roots continue to grow. In some years and in some soils, the roots can grow to more than FIVE FEET DEEP. In doing so, the roots break through compacted soils, creating channels that the corn and soybean roots will later follow.Corn roots in ARG 6-06 Starkey

New Year, New Cover Crop for You?

Some may have formed this New Year’s resolution back in the summer: to give annual ryegrass a try as a cover crop.

As stated by many experts, don’t start too big with something you have little experience with. Cover crops are like driving on the highway, using a rifle for hunting game or playing full-tilt in a new sport – you run a better chance of success if you put your sights low the first year. Here are some tips:

  • Talk to others about their experience with annual ryegrass cover crops. Preferably, talk to a neighbor, who has similar soil condidtions
  • Research your local options for cover crop seed. Ask questions to find out whether your seed dealer is more interested in sales or in conservation tillage
  • Buy a variety of seed that has a track record for success. Specifically, you’ll want a variety that has been used in your area, and one that has shown hardiness for withstanding winter weather.
  • Plant a small parcel the first year, perhaps 10 acres or a bit more
  • Commit to keeping a very close eye on all details of the process: soil type and condition planting date, weather data during the time the cover crop is growing and inputs like nitrogen.

For more info on all these factors, visit our website

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.

 

 

Slake Test Demonstrates Cover Crop’s “Sponge” Qualities…and Bio-health

Ray Makenzie of Marcellus, Michigan, found himself with a thousand acres of highly erodible land when he switched from raising outdoor hogs to a confinement system in 1996. He went to no-till and foresees cover crops next year because of a farm demonstration he just attended.

“I am really excited about cover crops and have to get on this for next year,” he said. “I worry about where the land is leading to with our current practices. At the rate we are going, we are not going to leave the next generation with much healthy dirt.”

(Read the whole article by clicking here…No-Till Farmer magazine)

Hans Kok, a partner in the Indiana-based Conservation Cropping System Initiative, spoke on the benefits of cover crops and demonstrated one aspect with the “Slake Test.” ,Side by side soil samples were submerged in water. One sample was tilled soil while the other had not been tilled for several years. The tilled soil crumbled away and disintegrated in the soaking, leaving a murky sediment at the bottom of the beaker.

A second demonstration simulated a 2-inch rainfall over a one-hour period using spray bottles to soak no-till versus tilled soil samples. The tilled sample had runoff containing a high percentage of soil in the collection vessel while the no-tilled soil held together, absorbing the rain like a sponge and leaving only trace amounts of soil runoff in collection containers. Ironically, the soil samples for both demonstrations were taken from fields that were only forty feet apart, so soil type differences were negligent.

A new cooperative effort through the conservation districts in Van Buren, Berrien and Cass counties offered growers the opportunity to aerial seed annual rye grass into standing corn or soybeans at a cost of $32.50 per acre in 2013. Additional farmers who were not members of the cooperative joined the effort, resulting in a total of 1,600 acres seeded on Aug. 28 in the three counties, according to Colleen Forestieri, conservation technician for the Van Buren Conservation District. “Our goal next year is to triple that number to 3,000 acres,” she said.

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.