Food Plots Cover Crops

[tellico4x4]

Cover crop tips from farmers, researchers

Management strategies, termination times and seed mixtures are all important aspects of a successful plan.

www.farmprogress.com

Interesting aspect was the big difference between soil moisture & temperature between fallow ground & cover crop, hmm...

 

[DoubleRidge]

Good read...Thanks for sharing.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

Thanks for sharing…

Taking soil samples from both cover-cropped and bare areas back to the lab, researchers found that the bare area had significantly less moisture in the soil than the cover-cropped area.

"Every year since then, it's been the same results," Emmons says. Testing the soil temperature in the top 4 inches of the profile on a day when it was 113 degrees F, they found that the temperature in the cover cropped ground was 81 degrees F. The temperature in the bare soil was 130 degrees F.

Emmons says that soil microbes are just like humans. When it is 75-80 degrees F, they can get some work done, but when the temperature rises up to 100 degrees, they slow down and shut down.

"These results were a game-changer for me," he says, "because it was not what I was taught."

 

[BSK]

Thanks for sharing…

Taking soil samples from both cover-cropped and bare areas back to the lab, researchers found that the bare area had significantly less moisture in the soil than the cover-cropped area.

And that's why, over the last two drought years, everything I had growing in open tilled ground died, but plants growing with a mulch covering did just fine.

 

[JCDEERMAN]

And that's why, over the last two drought years, everything I had growing in open tilled ground died, but plants growing with a mulch covering did just fine.

The last two years have really sucked! We've had pretty good fall growth both years, but the summer crops have for sure been huge fails. And that's using a drill and a crimper. It's just been two wickedly dry years.

 

[deerhunter10]

So glad we made the decision a couple years ago to go purely no til. We will chisel plow every 4 is years for compaction. Other then that. Our plots as of now look overall pretty good. Especially for how dry we got.

 

[BSK]

So glad we made the decision a couple years ago to go purely no til. We will chisel plow every 4 is years for compaction. Other then that. Our plots as of now look overall pretty good. Especially for how dry we got.

I love the growth I get out of seed planted in tilled ground, but we just have too many dry spells throughout the year. My ridge-top plots dry out VERY quickly if the soil has been tilled. Basically, three weeks without rain and they are done for, and we regularly get 3-week periods without rain in the summer and fall.

Throw-and-mow great reduces germination and growth rates (roots can't penetrate far into our concrete-hard ground), but it seems to be the only way I can consistently grow a decent plot in my soils and TN's climate.

 

[BigAl]

I wish our farmer would read this. After he harvests, he comes in and sprays, then afterward disks. Leaves us with zero plant material in the AG fields, which covers about 1/3 of our lease. Also prevents us from doing any plots in those fields.

 

[deerhunter10]

I wish our farmer would read this. After he harvests, he comes in and sprays, then afterward disks. Leaves us with zero plant material in the AG fields, which covers about 1/3 of our lease. Also prevents us from doing any plots in those fields.

Not alot of farmers still doing much tillage now days.

 

[Popcorn]

I wish our farmer would read this. After he harvests, he comes in and sprays, then afterward disks. Leaves us with zero plant material in the AG fields, which covers about 1/3 of our lease. Also prevents us from doing any plots in those fields.

You may need to try to sell him on the benefits of no-till and cover crops.
Take him production reports showing the difference in crop success. Various state ag agencies and universities have that data posted on their websites.
Take him out to lunch, take the county agent with you, offer to "cover crop a couple plots" for him to let him see the difference it can make. Explain in the end it's less hours on his tractor and equipment, less fuel, less erosion, less chemical costs and more crop success.
In the end less is truly more

 

[BigAl]

You may need to try to sell him on the benefits of no-till and cover crops.
Take him production reports showing the difference in crop success. Various state ag agencies and universities have that data posted on their websites.
Take him out to lunch, take the county agent with you, offer to "cover crop a couple plots" for him to let him see the difference it can make. Explain in the end it's less hours on his tractor and equipment, less fuel, less erosion, less chemical costs and more crop success.
In the end less is truly more

Pretty sure he wouldn't listen to us. We have a lease manager that acts as a liason between us and the farmer. He refuses to tell the farmer "how to do his job" or even ask that he put off the spraying and disking until after the first of the year. Not an ideal situation, but we have to work with the hand we are dealt. We have other challenges on our lease as well. If I found a better lease locally, I'd move in a heartbeat.

 

[Popcorn]

I would question a lease manager that was an obstacle between the hunters and the farmer. Hope you find better circumstances!