Summer Cover Crops After Wheat Harvest! The Good, The Bad, The Ugly

[donready]

I farm in Ontario. We have a few droughts and common mini droughts. Excess moisture is more of a problem. Heartbreaking to see the stressed plants after all your hard work. Thanks for this great video. After 40 years of notill, I see this is the way of the future. Tried my first plant green: soys into cereal rye. It was wet and did not go well. Next year!

[karlrovey]

Right now, I'm learning the conventional methods on my in-laws' farm. They've attempted cover crops unsuccessfully in the past and we were going to give it another attempt this year until the weather and declining health (and eventual death) of a family member got in the way. So now we're planning on another cover crop attempt next year.

[brogden]

Hey Jay
I have my compost on an automatic watering system. I use a small pump with drip irrigation line and 1/2 gallon per minute mister irrigation heads. You'll want to calibrate that because the rate varies according to water pressure. I Shoot for 1 gallon per day.
Second, I know you're a big fan of Johnson su, as am I. The problem is the time it takes to make it. The other trick I have learned is I will buy municipal compost ( it's usually really cheap if you buy it per ton) which will most likely be bacterial dominant but its already screened. Once the temp gets below 80 degrees I'll add worms, and King Stropharia mushroom then let it cook. I got really good compost in about 6 weeks. Oh I'll inoculate with some local leaf matter as well to get the local biology growing in it too. Hope this helps and wasn't too long.

[jvin]

With the dry conditions after wheat harvest, what cover crops can tolerate it best? Out of what I have tried, buckwheat, flax, and lentils might work. Black Beluga lentils have the highest nitrogen fixing rate. Early planted Winter Rye? One of the Wisconsin university trials showed most biomass production from rye planted Aug 15th and still good through Sep 15th but rapid fall in spring growth coverage after that. Right after wheat or a few weeks delay? (some worry about rye being contaminated with volunteer wheat seed at the elevator so see what your plans are, cows won't care if there is a little blending). Planting corn directly into standing rye worked the best for me this year (the rye seems to pump moisture up for germination, I even broadcast beans into standing rye and they were thick, I'd planned for poor germination and was surprised how well they did). So if you have more biomass in the spring the better. I remember we used to sow clover with wheat so the clover got a good start for after the grain was removed; putting some mix out like that may work too because they already have roots below the dry zone.

[timgulotta]

My neighbor made a case for less c.c. biomass this spring when he evaluated soil conditions. The insulating effect didn’t allow soils to freeze in northern Illinois. Poor seedbed. Organic with tillage. No grazing.

[dougayers]

Nice video.
I was just thinking the air must be pretty clean out there in that field.
For those bare patches in the field, how about doing a johnson-su soil drench in just those spots. Then by spring time, the biology will have had time to establish itself in the soil.

[dwightjackson]

I'm sold on CC, but it's not something to get hell bent on! I use it for wind erosion only, if other benefits come along, then that's great! I don't have livestock or highly erodible land

[dwilson]

25Sep23 fm NC Okla: Thank you Mr Young. Regarding your test 80a JS treated versus 80a MESZ: is your 80a MESZ site’s wheat seed also JS treated ? If so, would MESZ cancel JS treatment benefit in rhizosphere ?

[wstral]

Need more drought tolerant native plants. They exist. Roughly ~100 of them. The problem, as you probably already know, is: Seed Source. Yes, planting your normal spring loving plants in high summer.... Not a good option.

[huntemall]

Where are you located? I'm south of Wilson.

[alexbrown]

So what’s your stocking rate for the irrigated cover crop field? I’ve got 9 acres I’d like to try cover crop after wheat this summer on. How long would 10 cows be able to graze it? I’m in northeast KS. I don’t have irrigation but hopefully we get enough rain to be ok. Thanks

[chrisjohnson]

Hey Jay, do you know what is the earliest that you would use Johnson su extract as a seed treatment before planting? I have my fall cover crop seed in. It will take me more than 3 weeks to drill. Can I apply the compost extract to all my seed, put it back in totes and let is sit that long, or should I only treat what I can use in say a week? I plan to be sure the seed is dry before putting back into the totes.

[ashleyskinner]

Great video! Question: I have read in a few places that sunflower is allelopathic, meaning it releases chemicals that inhibit growth in surrounding plants. Do you find the sunflower holding the other cover crops in the mix back?

[Organic_Corn_Farmer]

I don't know why you wouldn't graze the cover crop anyway. The manure, urine and trampelled residue is going to feed the soil life.