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MANAGING COVER CROPS PROFITABLY SECOND EDITION Acknowledgments. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Foreword . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 How to Use . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7 Benefits of Cover Crops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Selecting the Best Cover Crops for Your Farm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Building Soil Fertility and Tilth with Cover Crops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 • Cover Crops Can Stabilize Your Soil . . . 19 • How Much N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Managing Pests with Cover Crops . . . . . . . . . 25 • Georgia Cotton, Peanut Farmers Use Cover Crops to Control Pests . . . . . . 26 • Select Covers that Balance Pests, Problems of Farm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 Crop Rotations with Cover Crops . . . . . . . . . 34 • Full-Year Covers Tackle Tough Weeds . . . 38 Overview of Charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43 Chart 1:Top Regional Cover Crop Species . . . 47 Chart 2: Performance and Roles . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Chart 3A: Cultural Traits. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Chart 3B: Planting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Chart 4A: Potential Advantages . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Chart 4B: Potential Disadvantages. . . . . . . . . . 53 Cover Crop Species Overview of Nonlegume Cover Crops . . . 54 Annual Ryegrass. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55 Barley . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Oats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Cereal Rye . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 65 • Rye Smothers Weeds Before Soybeans . . 67 Winter wheat. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 72 • Wheat Boosts Income and Soil Protection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 74 • Wheat Offers High-Volume Weed Control Too . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 75 Buckwheat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77 Sorghum Sudangrass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 80 • Summer Covers Relieve Compaction . . 84 Overview of Legume Cover Crops . . . . . . 85 Grass/Legume Mixtures Expand Possibilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 86 Berseem Clover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87 • Crimson-Berseem Clover Combo Works as Corn Underseeding . . . . . . . . . 89 • Nodulation: Match Inoculant to Maximize N . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 92 Cowpeas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 95 • Cowpeas Provide Elegant Solution to Awkward Niche . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98 Crimson Clover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100 Field Peas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 105 • Peas Do Double Duty for Kansas Farmer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110 Hairy Vetch. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112 • Vetch Beats Plastic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 118 Medics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119 • Jess Counts on GEORGE for N and Organic Matter. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 121 • Southern Spotted Bur Medic Offers Reseeding Persistence. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 122 Red Clover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 127 Subterranean Clover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 132 Sweetclover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 139 • Sweetclover: Good Grazing, Great Green Manure. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 142 White Clover . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 Woollypod Vetch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151 Appendices A.Testing Cover Crops on Your Farm . . . . . . 156 B. Up-and-Coming Cover Crops. . . . . . . . . . . 158 C. Recommended Resources. . . . . . . . . . . . . 162 D. Seed Suppliers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 166 E. Farming Organizations with Cover Crop Expertise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170 F. Regional Experts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173 G. Citations Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 180 H. Resources from the Sustainable Agriculture Network . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 198 I. Reader Response Form. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 200 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .201 6 MANAGING COVER CROPS PROFITABLY
HOW TO USE THIS BOOK Think of this book as a tool chest, not a cookbook.You won’t find the one simple recipe to meet your farming goals.You will find the tools to select and manage the best cover crops for the unique needs of your farm. In this tool chest you will find helpful maps and charts, detailed narratives about individual cover crop species, chapters about specific aspects of cover cropping and extensive appendices that will lead you to even more information. The entire text of Managing Cover Crops Profitably, 2nd Edition is available on CD-ROM. The electronic version is a great resource for agricultural educators and computer-savvy producers because it allows users to search for crops with one click of the mouse—and download sections into new files for presentations and fact sheets. To order, see p. 199. 1. Start with Top Regional Cover Crop Species (p. 47). This chart will help you narrow your search by listing the benefits you can expect from the top cover crops adapted to your region.You’ll discover which are the best nitrogen (N) sources, soil builders, erosion fighters, subsoil looseners, weed fighters and pest fighters. heart of the book, the chapters on each cover crop. The chapters offer even more practical descriptions of how to plant, manage, kill and make the best use of each species. Don’t overlook Up-and-Coming Cover Crops (p. 158) that briefly describes promising but lesser known cover crops. One of them may be right for your farm. 3. With some particular cover crops in mind, step back and look at the big picture of how you can fit cover crops into your farming operations. Sit down with a highlighter and explore these chapters: • Benefits of Cover Crops (p. 9) explains important cover crop roles such as reducing costs, improving soil and managing pests. • Selecting the Best Cover Crops (p. 12) helps you evaluate your operation’s needs and niches (seasonal, cash-crop related, and profit potential). Several examples show how to fit crops to detailed situations. • Building Soil Fertility and Tilth (p. 16) shows how cover crops add organic matter and greater productivity to the biological, chemical and physical components of soil. 2. Next, find out more about the performance and management of the cover crops that look like good candidates for your farm. You’ll find two streams of information: • Charts quickly provide you with details to help you compare cover crops. Performance and Roles (p.48) lists ranges for N and dry matter production and ranks each cover crop’s potential for providing 11 benefits. Cultural Traits (p. 50) and Planting (p. 51) explains the growth, environmental tolerances, seeding preferences and establishment costs for each crop. • Narratives. The Table of Contents (p. 6) and the page numbers accompanying each species in Charts 2, 3 and 4 direct you to the SORGHUM-SUDANGRASS is a tall, warm-season grass that stifles weeds and decomposes to build soil organic matter. HOW TO USE THIS BOOK 7
Page 1 and 2: $19.00 Managing Cover Crops Profita
Page 3 and 4: SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE NETWORK THE
Page 5 and 6: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book represent
Page 7: FOREWORD Cover crops slow erosion,
Page 11 and 12: BENEFITS OF COVER CROPS Cover crops
Page 13 and 14: decompose quickly, especially in wa
Page 15 and 16: Expect excessive field traffic arou
Page 17 and 18: 5. Settle for the Best Available Co
Page 19 and 20: ORGANIC MATTER ADDITIONS The benefi
Page 21 and 22: Cover Crops Can Stabilize Your Soil
Page 23 and 24: generally a good idea to kill a leg
Page 25 and 26: • For perennial legumes that have
Page 27 and 28: MANAGING PESTS WITH COVER CROPS By
Page 29 and 30: The farmers get weed control by fla
Page 31 and 32: insects. This approach has been use
Page 33 and 34: • Subterranean Clover (Trifolium
Page 35 and 36: does no direct tillage, but aggress
Page 37 and 38: eplace the cover crop before beans,
Page 39 and 40: as buckwheat, cowpeas, sorghum-suda
Page 41 and 42: the couple harrows every two to thr
Page 43 and 44: Start Where You Are In many instanc
Page 45 and 46: INTRODUCTION TO CHARTS The four com
Page 47 and 48: pH Preferred. The pH range in which
Page 49 and 50: Chart 1 TOP REGIONAL COVER CROP SPE
Page 51 and 52: Chart 2 PERFORMANCE AND ROLES conti
Page 53 and 54: Chart 3B PLANTING Cost Cost/A Inoc.
Page 55 and 56: Chart 4B POTENTIAL DISADVANTAGES Sp
Page 57 and 58: ANNUAL RYEGRASS Lolium multiflorum
Page 59 and 60:
prolonged heat, cold or drought.Tha
Page 61 and 62:
crop for establishing a forage or l
Page 63 and 64:
arley plants from fungus, armyworm
Page 65 and 66:
can increase the fertilizer replace
Page 67 and 68:
cultural and local considerations t
Page 69 and 70:
(339), and by 99 percent in a Calif
Page 71 and 72:
Killing & Controlling Nutrient avai
Page 73 and 74:
ye/vetch/crimson clover,for example
Page 75 and 76:
• In the Corn Belt and northern U
Page 77 and 78:
Wheat Offers High-Value Weed Contro
Page 79 and 80:
BUCKWHEAT Fagopyrum esculentum Type
Page 81 and 82:
Rotations Buckwheat is used most co
Page 83 and 84:
plants fractured subsoil compaction
Page 85 and 86:
press some species of nematodes. Sp
Page 87 and 88:
Incorporated sorghum-sudangrass res
Page 89 and 90:
lodge soil particles. Sunlight is u
Page 91 and 92:
Crimson-Berseem Clover Combo Works
Page 93 and 94:
in water-use efficiency in the tria
Page 95 and 96:
Microorganisms mineralize, or conve
Page 97 and 98:
COWPEAS Vigna unguiculata Also call
Page 99 and 100:
control if you go with rows, using
Page 101 and 102:
drought-tolerant sorghum-sudangrass
Page 103 and 104:
several winter annual legumes that
Page 105 and 106:
In Ohio, crimson clover mixed with
Page 107 and 108:
FIELD PEAS Pisum sativum subsp. arv
Page 109 and 110:
Chill tolerant. Austrian winter pea
Page 111 and 112:
In a “Flexible Green Manure” cr
Page 113 and 114:
values from 13 to 34,but were gener
Page 115 and 116:
year Maryland study that also inclu
Page 117 and 118:
possible, but remember that hairy v
Page 119 and 120:
especially in winter grains. With w
Page 121 and 122:
less biomass than overwintering sta
Page 123 and 124:
Jess Counts on GEORGE for N and Org
Page 125 and 126:
after mid-April planting in souther
Page 127 and 128:
second cutting. Regrowth comes from
Page 129 and 130:
RED CLOVER Trifolium pratense Also
Page 131 and 132:
MANAGEMENT Establishment & Fieldwor
Page 133 and 134:
it function more like a biennial th
Page 135 and 136:
Subclover cultivars often are descr
Page 137 and 138:
trample in the seed. Subclover ofte
Page 139 and 140:
Crop Systems Interseeded with wheat
Page 141 and 142:
SWEETCLOVERS Yellow sweetclover (Me
Page 143 and 144:
difficult to establish annual cover
Page 145 and 146:
Spring seeding provides yellow swee
Page 147 and 148:
enhances soil fertility, texture an
Page 149 and 150:
WHITE CLOVER Trifolium repens Also
Page 151 and 152:
for several freeze-thaw cycles. Mak
Page 153 and 154:
COMPARATIVE NOTES • White clover
Page 155 and 156:
Fall planting. Most growers seed at
Page 157 and 158:
combining with a belt-type rubber p
Page 159 and 160:
Then seed the remainder while walki
Page 161 and 162:
screening, a number of farmers have
Page 163 and 164:
the seed is relatively expensive. B
Page 165 and 166:
Dyer, David A. 1998. Conservation L
Page 167 and 168:
OTHER RESOURCES Cover Crops On The
Page 169 and 170:
Cal/West Seeds Box 1428 Woodland, C
Page 171 and 172:
Pick Seed Canada P.O. Box 304 1 Gre
Page 173 and 174:
SARE Northeast Region Office Univer
Page 175 and 176:
APPENDIX F REGIONAL EXPERTS These i
Page 177 and 178:
David W. Wolfe Cornell University 1
Page 179 and 180:
Bob Burdette Southern Seed Certific
Page 181 and 182:
Shiou Kuo Washington State Universi
Page 183 and 184:
20 Bird, George. 1997. Personal com
Page 185 and 186:
59 Clark,A.J. 1993. Managing hairy
Page 187 and 188:
102 Fernholz, Carmen. 1997. Persona
Page 189 and 190:
141 Helm, J.L. and Dwain Meyer. 199
Page 191 and 192:
186 Koume, C.N. et al. 1988. Screen
Page 193 and 194:
226 Mohler, Charles L. 1994.A livin
Page 195 and 196:
267 Plumer, Mike. 1997. Personal co
Page 197 and 198:
309 Shrestha,A. et al. 1996.“Annu
Page 199 and 200:
352 Varco, J.J., J.O. Sanford and J
Page 201 and 202:
Bulk Discounts: Except as indicated
Page 203 and 204:
INDEX A Alfalfa, 10, 42, 84, 88, 94
Page 205 and 206:
performance and roles, 48-49 planti
Page 207 and 208:
sorghum-sudangrass hybrids, 85 subt
Page 209 and 210:
subterranean clovers, 133, 137 swee
Page 211 and 212:
comparative notes, 71 crop systems,
Page 213 and 214:
crimson clover for, 102, 103 crop r
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