Advice, opinions

[Snoop]

Ok, this my first attempt at cover crops. I planted the 2 acr last September with WR & some clovers I had laying around.
it came up maybe about 3” or so & it looked like it eaten pretty hard over the winter.
Around the first week in April came back to see it and it looked like a total failure.

My plan was to spray and start over with Green Cover’s Summer Release. Now this is what it looks like 5 weeks later.
How would some of you let this play out.

Let it go & terminate late summer & do a fall blend?
Spray it and go ahead with the Summer Release?

 

[SD51555]

Depending how far north you are, if you can get that to stand until you're ready to do fall plots, I'd just let that work. A mature stand of rye accumulates a boat load of nutrients, and the first rain is gonna wash a hundred pounds worth of potassium per acre off your straw and into your next crop, and spoon feed it nutrients the rest of the way. Few things to consider:

*Can you handle that biomass with the equipment you have if it goes the distance?
*Are you ok with the rye re-seeding?
*What did you want to have growing there going into fall?

A full stand of rye is a blessing or a curse depending on what you wanna do next and what equipment you've got.

 

[chbarnha]

I don’t know the answer to your question but I just today cut my winter rye in two of my plots it was about 4ft tall. My plan was much the same as yours seed with summer release from green cover. I opted to go the summer and browse release route and I guess we will see how it goes.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Skeeter]

Ok, this my first attempt at cover crops. I planted the 2 acr last September with WR & some clovers I had laying around.
it came up maybe about 3” or so & it looked like it eaten pretty hard over the winter.
Around the first week in April came back to see it and it looked like a total failure.

My View attachment 42983View attachment 42984View attachment 42985plan was to spray and start over with Green Cover’s Summer Release. Now this is what it looks like 5 weeks later.
How would some of you let this play out.

Let it go & terminate late summer & do a fall blend?
Spray it and go ahead with the Summer Release?

I don't think that you can go too wrong as long as you try to keep a living root in the ground for as much of the year as possible. I like to do a summer planting for a couple of reasons. First, I run a bit of sorghum and other tall, stalky plants in my mix to leave standing for screening when I plant my fall mix. Just have to make sure not to get too carried away and tie up all my nitrogen. Second, I read or heard on a webinar, unfortunately can't remember which, that when plants go to seed they pull quite a bit of nutrients from the soil and put it in the seed. That's great if your goal is to harvest the seed or have the plot reseed itself. Neither of those is my goal. I'd rather have those nutrients in the soil for the next crop to make better forage.

 

[SwampCat]

I dont know where you are located or what type of clover you have - but that plot would be my goal for summer - except with wheat instead of rye - and perennial clover. I would let it be - mow late summer - and plant directly into the clover early fall.

 

[yoderjac]

Ok, this my first attempt at cover crops. I planted the 2 acr last September with WR & some clovers I had laying around.
it came up maybe about 3” or so & it looked like it eaten pretty hard over the winter.
Around the first week in April came back to see it and it looked like a total failure.

My View attachment 42983View attachment 42984View attachment 42985plan was to spray and start over with Green Cover’s Summer Release. Now this is what it looks like 5 weeks later.
How would some of you let this play out.

Let it go & terminate late summer & do a fall blend?
Spray it and go ahead with the Summer Release?

It all depends on your location and objectives. If you have small acreage and insufficient scale for QDM, I would not touch it. and replant for summer. If you are in the north, I would not replant as summer is generally not a big stress period. If you are in the south with sufficient acreage to do QDM at scale and the objective for this field is to cover the summer stress period, I'd replant with a mix for summer food.

If you are not going to replant, you've got two options given location. The WR is no longer providing forage but the crimson clover is. In my area Crimson acts as a reseeding annual. You can mow back to 6"-8" and you will have more summer forage with the clovers. The other option is to do nothing at all now and let the WR mature. There will be some food value in the grain and it will provide more cover for small game . Then, when you T&M your fall attractant, the mature WR seed will provide a volunteer WR component to your fall plant.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[Snoop]

I little more info
Zone 6a southern Ind
Brush hog
Cullipacker
Sprayer
I have a roller crimper on order. Supposed to be delivered in July. We’ll see

 

[SD51555]

I don’t know the answer to your question but I just today cut my winter rye in two of my plots it was about 4ft tall. My plan was much the same as yours seed with summer release from green cover. I opted to go the summer and browse release route and I guess we will see how it goes.

Did you just broadcast it into your rye and mow it down?

 

[chbarnha]

Did you just broadcast it into your rye and mow it down?

Yes.m, I don’t know if it will work or not, but we will see. I’m not real concerned if it doesn’t work out but it would be nice if it does


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Wild Thing]

Ok, this my first attempt at cover crops. I planted the 2 acr last September with WR & some clovers I had laying around.
it came up maybe about 3” or so & it looked like it eaten pretty hard over the winter.
Around the first week in April came back to see it and it looked like a total failure.

My View attachment 42983View attachment 42984View attachment 42985plan was to spray and start over with Green Cover’s Summer Release. Now this is what it looks like 5 weeks later.
How would some of you let this play out.

Let it go & terminate late summer & do a fall blend?
Spray it and go ahead with the Summer Release?

Looks like you did pretty well for your first attempt Snoop - Congrats!

As others have said, what you do next depends upon your goals and objectives. Of course, the rye is no longer palatable to your deer but they will continue to browse on your clover. Not bad. If you just want to provide fall forage and a mediocre cover crop you could wait until that rye seed matures and becomes viable and then mow it with your Brush Hog to scatter the seed (probably mid-August for you) and you would then get another free crop of rye...and if you were lucky, the crimson might even reseed itself. This would be Option 1.

Option 2 - Since you specifically planted this crop as a "cover crop", I am guessing that your primary goal (in addition to providing deer forage) is more in-line with Soil Health and building your soil. If that is the case, I would go ahead and terminate what you have and plant the GreenCoverSeed - Summer Release (now Browse Release) since it will be a far better cover crop and will contribute much more in creating healthy soil.

I am pretty sure you are aware of the 5 soil health principles:

1) Keep the soil covered
2) Eliminate/minimize tillage
3) Keep living roots in the soil for as many days/year as possible
4) Plant a diversity of plants
5) Livestock (or in our case - deer) grazing. This one is the hardest to accomplish for most of us.

Anyway - The Green Cover Seed cover crop is going to contain all 4 of the major plant groups needed to build healthy soil (Grasses, Legumes, Brassicas, and non-legume Broadleafs). This blend of seed will maximize you soil biology and synergistic effects of nutrient cycling. The crop you have right now has only 2 of those groups so while your crop has done OK....the diverse blend of seeds in a soil building cover crop will go a lot further in getting you closer to your objective. I have been planting a cover crop which contains 12 different varieties of plants for the past few years.

You are on the right track. Keep thinking Diversity and you will be well on your way.

PS - Your wildlife can also browse on this stuff so you are providing good forage....and building good soil - Win - Win.

 

[SD51555]

Yes.m, I don’t know if it will work or not, but we will see. I’m not real concerned if it doesn’t work out but it would be nice if it does
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I like your style.

 

[chbarnha]

I like your style.

You think it will work?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[SD51555]

You think it will work?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Should be outstanding. Please keep us updated.

You've just done the plot I've always wanted to and never had the conditions or equipment. I was either under water, or didn't have a way to mow it.

You may just end up demonstrating you don't need a drill, sprayer, or roller to transition from rye to a summer crop.

 

[chbarnha]

Should be outstanding. Please keep us updated.

You've just done the plot I've always wanted to and never had the conditions or equipment. I was either under water, or didn't have a way to mow it.

You may just end up demonstrating you don't need a drill, sprayer, or roller to transition from rye to a summer crop.

I hope you are right, I will definitely let you know what happens as the summer progresses. If all goes well I plan to broadcast their fall release in half of it and their southern clover release in the other half around Labor Day as that is 6-8 weeks before our expected first frost


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[bigboreblr]

Only major issue to letting it be for the summer is volunteer seed. The rye and crimson clover will go to seed. Im no rye expert, but once its close to seed, I believe youll kill it by mowing it. You'd have to keep it somewhat reguarly mowed I believe to keep it alive throughout the summer.

If youre not worried about self reseeding, consider what else your area would need for time and money before doing the green cover.

My plan the next few years is to keep the clover grain blend going. When plots need to be redone, do daikon raddish in the fall. Then frost seed, spray in the late spring, put oats down, then do rye in the fall until you need to start all over again.

 

[SD51555]

I hope you are right, I will definitely let you know what happens as the summer progresses. If all goes well I plan to broadcast their fall release in half of it and their southern clover release in the other half around Labor Day as that is 6-8 weeks before our expected first frost


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

One time, I got to do a throw and mow into green barley about 8 years ago. The barley was spring planted and it made full seed heads by June 30th. I didn't want it to mature because I was converting that to rye for the fall. I pitched in my rye and then mowed it all down. It worked great, even going from cereal right back to cereal.

 

[yoderjac]

Only major issue to letting it be for the summer is volunteer seed. The rye and crimson clover will go to seed. Im no rye expert, but once its close to seed, I believe youll kill it by mowing it. You'd have to keep it somewhat reguarly mowed I believe to keep it alive throughout the summer.

If youre not worried about self reseeding, consider what else your area would need for time and money before doing the green cover.

My plan the next few years is to keep the clover grain blend going. When plots need to be redone, do daikon raddish in the fall. Then frost seed, spray in the late spring, put oats down, then do rye in the fall until you need to start all over again.

WR is an annual that dies on its own whether you mow or not in the summer.

 

[bigboreblr]

WR is an annual that dies on its own whether you mow or not in the summer.

Well, try to mak it die and not make seed is what I was refering to.

 

[yoderjac]

Well, try to mak it die and not make seed is what I was refering to.

You're not making it die, just mowing it before the seed matures when it doesn't have time to go back to see. A single mowing at the right time will do this. However, there is a lot of benefit in a volunteer component being added to the fall mix.

 

[Buckly]

Ok, this my first attempt at cover crops. I planted the 2 acr last September with WR & some clovers I had laying around.
it came up maybe about 3” or so & it looked like it eaten pretty hard over the winter.
Around the first week in April came back to see it and it looked like a total failure.

My View attachment 42983View attachment 42984View attachment 42985plan was to spray and start over with Green Cover’s Summer Release. Now this is what it looks like 5 weeks later.
How would some of you let this play out.

Let it go & terminate late summer & do a fall blend?
Spray it and go ahead with the Summer Release?

these are what my plots look like in the spring. I’ve found growing season is just to short to mess with terminating them and putting in a summer plot. I leave stand as is. the rye and clover will just terminate on their own and brown down and somewhat disintegrate. In late summer I will cut it down and chop up with a brush hog and start a fall plot of my choosing. A lot of times the same stuff. I like to add a little radish to that plot . It just really puts the icing on the cake. You can do these plots in perpetuity or convert them over to a perennial white clover plot for a few years.