Managing Cover Crops Profitably - Valley Crops Home

lodge soil particles. Sunlight is used more efficiently
because light that passes through the tall
crop is captured by the low-growing crop.
Adding grasses to a fall-seeded legume
improves soil coverage over winter and increases
the root mass to stabilize topsoil. A viny crop like
vetch will climb a grass, so it can get more light
and fix more N, or so it can be harvested more
easily for seed. A faster-growing crop serves as a
nurse crop for a slow-growing crop, while covering
the ground quickly for erosion control. The
possibilities are endless!
Mixtures can complicate management, however.
For example:
• They may cost more to seed. Seeding rates for
each component of the mix are usually lower
than for sole-crop plantings, but the total seed
cost may still be more.
• The best time to kill one crop may not be the
best for another crop, so a compromise date
may be used.
• If you use herbicides, your choices may be limited
when you plant a mixture of legumes and
nonlegumes.
• Sometimes you can end up with more residue
than your equipment can handle.
The benefits of a mixture will usually outweigh
these disadvantages,but you need to be prepared to
manage the mixture carefully to prevent problems.
Each cover crop chapter gives examples of specific
mixtures that have been tested and work well.
Try some of the proven cover crop mixtures, and
create your own tailor-made mixtures. Remember
that adding another crop increases the diversity on
your farm, and is likely to increase the many proven
benefits of rotations over monocropping.
BERSEEM CLOVER
Trifolium alexandrinum
Also called: Egyptian clover
Type: summer annual or winter
annual legume
Roles: suppress weeds, prevent
erosion, green manure, chopped
forage, grazing
Mix with: oats, ryegrass, small
grains as nurse crops; as nurse crop
for alfalfa
See charts, p. 47 to 53, for ranking
and management summary.
summer annual
winter annual
Afast-growing summer annual, berseem
clover can produce up to 8 tons of forage
under irrigation. It’s a heavy N producer
and the least winter hardy of all true annual
clovers.This makes it an ideal winterkilled cover
before corn or other nitrogen-demanding crops in
Corn Belt rotations. Berseem clover draws down
soil N early in its cycle. Once soil reserves are
used up, it can fix 100 to 200 lb. N/A or more. It
establishes well with an oat nurse crop, making it
an excellent cover for small grain>corn>soybean
rotations in the Midwest.
BERSEEM CLOVER 87