Page 30 - Logan County Farm Outlook - Spring 2013

Cereal ryes, which are also
excellent cover crops, can be planted
later: between late August and early
November.
Annual ryegrass should
be planted between Aug. 1
and mid-September.
Towery said that many
farmers have a mental block
with planting a crop in a growing
crop. But in addition, the method
of seeding causes some issues as
well. For the most part, there aren’t
many farm tools available that can
do this job with corn that is 3 feet or
more tall. Then, aerial application is the
easiest and best answer.
Towery also told the group that the
most effective usage of radish would
be as part of a mix with another cover
crop. He said that he would encourage
a mix of radish with either oats or cereal
rye and recommended 4 to 5 pounds of
radish to 30 pounds of oats or rye per
acre. The cost would range from $15 to
$30 per acre.
In contrast, Towery showed the group
situations where no-till is incorporated
with organic farming, and the use
of these same cover crops greatly
increased yields over a period of time.
He gave as an example what
happened when three different cover
crop combinations were used on a no-
till farm averaging 107 bushels
per acre on corn tests:
• Using cereal rye, the
corn harvest increased to
126 bushels.
• With a combination of oats, rye
and turnip, the yield jumped to 164
bushels.
• The final combination of winter
peas and radishes brought the yields
up to 169 bushels per acre on the corn
crop.
With current corn prices at $7.20 to
$7.30 a bushel, this would increase
revenues of $130 per acre to over $400.
In a year like 2012, residue on the
ground would have helped retain
moisture and provided a benefit at the
onset of a drought season. On the other
hand, as the summer progressed with
no water, having that cover crop steal
what little water there was would have
hurt the production crop.
Withmany farmers finding themselves
“mudding” their crops in or out after a
couple of wet years, planting a soil-
busting cover such as radishes or turnips
would have helped with compaction
issues through added aeration to the
Cover crops continued
Continued --->
2013 LOGAN COUNTY FARM OUTLOOK MAGAZINE. LINCOLN DAILY NEWS.com March 21, 2013
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