1 / 0

Managing Cover Crops in the 21 st Century Steve Groff

Healthy Soil. Managing Cover Crops in the 21 st Century Steve Groff . More Production, Lower Cost. THE BIG PICTURE. Our focus has been fertilizer, chemical and iron. Maybe it’s time to check our soil’s health. I Don’t have time No available planting window

anana
Download Presentation

Managing Cover Crops in the 21 st Century Steve Groff

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. Healthy Soil Managing Cover Crops in the 21st Century Steve Groff More Production, Lower Cost
  2. THE BIG PICTURE Our focus has been fertilizer, chemical and iron. Maybe it’s time to check our soil’s health
  3. I Don’t have time No available planting window Do they pay? Show me the money!
  4. Treat Cover Crops Like Cash Crops!
  5. Planning ahead is important!
  6. Planning ahead is important!What are you trying to accomplish?When is your planting window?
  7. Tillage Radish®“Rock Star” of cover crops
  8. Tillage Radish®Effects on yields for following cash crops CORN +12bushel per acre SOYBEANS +8bushel per acre Research by University of Maryland (USA) Over 5 years over 70 comparisons against control Scientific protocol strictly followed Never a yield decrease
  9. Tillage Radish® – Why it works
  10. The taproot penetrates compacted layers of soil where air and water may not infiltrateNutrients drawn from deeper in the soilAir and water infiltration stimulate soil biological activity Two different specimens shown
  11. “Weil’s Law” of root/shoot ratio effects 1. If conditions above ground are limiting, the roots will suffer most. e.g. late planting or crowding (above ground limit) decreases root/shoot ratio. 2. If conditions below ground are limiting, the shoots will suffer most. e.g. N deficiency or drought (soil limit) increases root/shoot ratio +N -N
  12. Soil resistance to mechanical penetration is used to measure compaction levels, and the energy required for plant roots to acquire nutrients. Highly Effective Soil Compaction Relief At 12.7 cm (5”) depth the field where Tillage Radish® was planted was more than three times easier to penetrate than the control. TR field ~ 35 lbs/in2 Control ~ 115 lbs/in2 Control Field Field Where Tillage Radish Planted
  13. Tillage Radish is like a nitrogen storage tank
  14. Young plants send aggressive taproots deep into the soil even when planted late in the season Tillage Radish® planted end of September. Photo taken November Dr. Joel Gruver, Macomb, Illinois (Midwest USA)
  15. Tillage Radish® Research
  16. Penn State University Cover Crop Interseeder Fertilize Plant spray
  17. Quebec
  18. Tillage Radish® With Wheat +18 bu +12 bu +11 bu +11 bu + 5 bu +2.5bu +1 bu 0 bu
  19. Small but mighty! Frederic Thomas France
  20. Cover Crop Herbicide Research Bill Curran Penn State University -3rd year
  21. Cover Crops that Pay Precision Planted cover crops Can cut seeding rates in half! Save Cover Crop $$$ Larger equipment=faster planting Better seed placement Custom cover crop planting service?
  22. Precision Planting Precision Planting 2lbs/A in 15” rows 15lbs/A With Peas Less than $20/A!
  23. Bio Strip-till
  24. Bio Strip-till
  25. A novel idea
  26. Aerial/broadcast seeding Earlier planting window Plant in standing crop Faster/less cost? With proper management has been effective on many acres
  27. High Clearance Seeders Matt Van Tillburg, Ohio
  28. High Clearance Seeders
  29. Finding A Golden Planting Window for Cover Crops We know that if we can add 2 to 3 weeks growing time to our cover crops they will provide so much more value and benefit. But is it economically feasible? “One day in September is worth about three days in October” More cover crop planting days
  30. Planted Tillage Radish®, Crimson Clover, Tillage RootMax® Annual Ryegrass INDY September 20th
  31. Harvesting long Season-111 day- Oct 18th
  32. Using Shorter Season Varieties Study 4 103-day hybrid 194 bu/ac (dry) 111-day hybrid 163 bu/ac (dry) 31 bu difference!
  33. Shorter Season Hybrids
  34. Faster Maturity Hybrids Do Not Necessarily Compromise Yields
  35. This Year An Early Corn Harvest Paid Off Handsomely
  36. A Virtuous Sequence in 2012 Early Harvest, Peak Corn Prices, Strong Yield, Early Cover Crop Planting • How many years might this happen? • What are the downsides for the farmer?
  37. Nitrogen – free to leave…
  38. Cover crops capture and store nitrogen for the cash crops that follow
  39. The Secret to Success! Treat Cover Crops Like Cash Crops!
  40. Summary Technology and Biology are the foundation of Agriculture progress for the 21st century. What is the status of your soils health? Does your soil need a “physical”? Is your soil management system improving your most valuable asset-the soil?
  41. Caution! Never make tools (No-Till, grazing, cover crops, etc.) a goal. If your goal is improving soil quality/health; understanding how the soil functions is critical!
  42. The Fundamentals Tools do not build houses, skilled workers do. Without a goal of building a house, tools and workers are wasted. You must become the skilled worker with a clear goal in mind; only then do the tools become of lasting value.
  43. Healthy Soil There is still A lot to Learn! Steve Groff More Production, Lower Cost
More Related