Farmers are giving cover crops a try
By Jean Caspers-Simmet
simmet@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 04/14/2011 10:25 AM
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WOOLSTOCK, Iowa —Some farmers in the Boone River Watershed are using cover crops to protect their soil and keep nutrients from leaching during the winter.
The Nature Conservancy, Practical Farmers of Iowa and the Natural Resources Conservation Service hosted a meeting last week at NEW Cooperative in Woolstock to talk about cover crops and let farmers know about cost-sharing available through the Mississippi River Basin Initiative to farmers in the Boone River Watershed.
Following the presentation at the elevator, participants visited cover crop plantings on Arliss Nielson's farm and at Rick Lee's farm. At both locations, the rye was green and growing, its roots holding the soil in place. The group also visited a new strip-till field.
Arliss Nielson has planted cover crops for two years. He seeded 350 acres last fall. He planted winter rye in one field, winter rye and hairy vetch in a second and winter rye and sweet clover in a third.
An airplane seeded the rye into standing corn in September. Nielson drilled the rye and legumes into soybean ground as soon as it was combined.
Nielson said the recommendation is to spray a burndown on the cover crops two weeks before planting in the spring.
"But that squeezes you pretty tight," he said. "Last year we had a week between spraying and corn planting, and it didn't seem to bother anything."
The rye was 6 to 8 inches high when he sprayed it.
He no-till plants corn and beans.
He will hire an aerial applicator to seed the legumes with winter rye into standing corn. Last fall, he drilled the legumes with rye into bean ground, and he hasn't found any vetch or clover that survived the winter. They still could emerge as the weather warms.
"There seems to be more protection in corn stalks," Nielson said.
Nielson seeds one bushel per acre of winter rye when its aerial seeded. He cuts the rate in half when he drills it.
"We added the legumes to see if they could take the place of some of the nitrogen," Nielson said. "I've been experimenting all my life. Eventually, I'm going to stumble on something that really works."
Flying the rye on worked well because the field received a "dandy rain," Nielson said. When drilling the rye, he planted deeper because of dry conditions last fall.
Rick Lee of Clarion seeded 320 acres of winter rye on Oct. 1 using an aerial applicator. He would have preferred to plant earlier, but seed was in short supply and that was the soonest he could get it.
Lee, who no-tills his corn and beans, said his landlord approached him about signing up for the Boone River Watershed Mississippi River Basin Initiative. Next year, he will seed another 320 acres that he farms for his father. He is also participating in the nutrient management and no-till parts of the project and he may try strip-till. If more funding becomes available, he hopes to put in a bioreactor.
"My dad always said, 'the less government is involved the better,' but as long as the government is trying, we need to do our part, too," Lee said of the watershed program.