By: Stephanie Karhoff
Steve Groff, Cover Crop Consultant
This blog post is a summary of Steve Groff’s National Cover Crop Summit session of the same title. Steve Groff will also be a speaker at the “Cows Under the Covers” Grazing & Cover Crop Workshop on August 21st at Person Farms, and the 2019 Hillsdale County Nutrient Management Field Day on August 22nd at Stoney Ridge Farms. See the events page here for more details.
This fall poses the challenge: how to plant cover crops in a timely manner amidst a delayed grain harvest scenario? One option may be to use a precision planter for cover crop planting this fall. Steve Groff outline five reasons to support this claim:
- Expanded use of equipment – get more bang for your buck when it comes to machinery and utilize your corn/soybean planter for cover crops as well.
- Wider equipment – precision planters can cover more area per pass than a drill planter, decreasing planting time.
- Better seed to soil contact – precision planters’ features like down pressure, closing wheels, depth control, and row cleaners increase the seed to soil contact, and may ultimately allow you to decrease your seeding rate.
- Lower seed costs – more accurate seed metering means you can singulate seeds (i.e. peas with a soybean plate and radish with a sugarbeet plate) and decrease your rate
- Cover crop seed discs
A limitation of using a precision planter for cover crop seeding may be row spacing. For example, if your goal is erosion control, 30 in. row spacing may be less than ideal for your cover crops.
The second question you may be asking is, how late is too late to plant cover crops? Steven testifies that he has planted cover crops in Southeastern Pennsylvania every month of the year (yes, even January!). Keep in mind, however, that your typical snowfall, wind chill factors, and number of freeze-thaw cycles influence your ability to do the same. It is important when selecting a cover crop species, to know the winter hardiness rating, and work with a local cover crop seed dealer that has an understanding of what selections work well in your area. For winter hardiness, cereal rye and some selections of triticale are your best option. Farmers in Eastern Ohio have the option of using Cornell University’s Climate Smart Farming (CSF) Winter Cover Crop Planting Scheduler.