farmlegend
5 year old buck +
Southern Michigan. In late May, I had my trusted contractor drill in my diverse cover crop mix on the nine acres of my cover crop ground. This project is in Year 4.
This was the first time I planted without a total burndown, as I want to gradually reduce herbicide use. I did spray one pint per acre clethodim plus some crop oil about a week before planting, as my primary competition concern was coolseason grasses(this turned out to be effective, as CSG’s are not a problem at this point). There was a good amount of 2" fledgling marestail out there, but I was hopeful the competition from my seed mix would crowd it out. There was also a fair amount of medium red clover around, carrying over from previous years.
The seed was drilled in at a depth of 1”. The mix included spring oats, cowpeas, Japanese Millet, chickpea, grain sorghum, buckwheat, balansa clover, African cabbage, fenugreek, PT turnip, endure chicory, and a few other seeds.
Growing conditions have been excellent.
The marestail is kicking butt, and is everywhere, as is the red clover, which is drawing the deer in reliably. But almost none of the cover crop I planted showed up at all, other than a very small smattering of sorghum, buckwheat, and chicory. Absolutely no appearance from the oats, which was the most abundant seed in the mix by weight, or the Jap millet, which usually kicks ass, and that is utterly mystifying to me. There is a substantial presence of Boston Plantain, which I had frostseeded in March, in the plot. At this point, I'm chalking it up as an expensive failure, and not my first one in 26 seasons of foodplotting.
I’ve seldom felt so stumped. Thinking there’s some sort of weird allelopathic activity going on, with either the marestail or red clover chemically suppressing everything else. Or perhaps the seed was drilled in at a depth far greater than an inch. Had I to do it over again, I would have toasted the plot with Liberty like I did last year.
At this point, with the future in mind, I want to stoke biomass for the future. I plan on broadcasting a boatload of cereal rye upon it next month, along with some hairy vetch, YBSC, and whatever other small seeds I’ve got in the barn.
Any thoughts?
Addendum: I broadcast a good deal of winter rye and wheat on most of this plot last fall. Apparently, the rye has some allelopathic qualities, and killing off the cereal grains was part of the reason I sprayed the plot with clethodim before planting. From the alseed site:
#8 Allelopathy
Associated cover crop species: Rye, wheat, brassicas, sorghum
Allelopathic compounds are water soluble compounds released into the soil by certain cover crop species (for example, winter rye and to a lesser extent other small grains, brassicas, sorghums and millets) that suppress the germination of small-seeded species. That can be a desirable characteristic of cover crops if your goal is weed control but allelopathic compounds can also suppress cash crops as well.
The degree of allelopathic activity varies from species to species, but it has also been found to vary among rye varieties. Here are general considerations regarding allelopathic compounds:
This was the first time I planted without a total burndown, as I want to gradually reduce herbicide use. I did spray one pint per acre clethodim plus some crop oil about a week before planting, as my primary competition concern was coolseason grasses(this turned out to be effective, as CSG’s are not a problem at this point). There was a good amount of 2" fledgling marestail out there, but I was hopeful the competition from my seed mix would crowd it out. There was also a fair amount of medium red clover around, carrying over from previous years.
The seed was drilled in at a depth of 1”. The mix included spring oats, cowpeas, Japanese Millet, chickpea, grain sorghum, buckwheat, balansa clover, African cabbage, fenugreek, PT turnip, endure chicory, and a few other seeds.
Growing conditions have been excellent.
The marestail is kicking butt, and is everywhere, as is the red clover, which is drawing the deer in reliably. But almost none of the cover crop I planted showed up at all, other than a very small smattering of sorghum, buckwheat, and chicory. Absolutely no appearance from the oats, which was the most abundant seed in the mix by weight, or the Jap millet, which usually kicks ass, and that is utterly mystifying to me. There is a substantial presence of Boston Plantain, which I had frostseeded in March, in the plot. At this point, I'm chalking it up as an expensive failure, and not my first one in 26 seasons of foodplotting.
I’ve seldom felt so stumped. Thinking there’s some sort of weird allelopathic activity going on, with either the marestail or red clover chemically suppressing everything else. Or perhaps the seed was drilled in at a depth far greater than an inch. Had I to do it over again, I would have toasted the plot with Liberty like I did last year.
At this point, with the future in mind, I want to stoke biomass for the future. I plan on broadcasting a boatload of cereal rye upon it next month, along with some hairy vetch, YBSC, and whatever other small seeds I’ve got in the barn.
Any thoughts?
Addendum: I broadcast a good deal of winter rye and wheat on most of this plot last fall. Apparently, the rye has some allelopathic qualities, and killing off the cereal grains was part of the reason I sprayed the plot with clethodim before planting. From the alseed site:
#8 Allelopathy
Associated cover crop species: Rye, wheat, brassicas, sorghum
Allelopathic compounds are water soluble compounds released into the soil by certain cover crop species (for example, winter rye and to a lesser extent other small grains, brassicas, sorghums and millets) that suppress the germination of small-seeded species. That can be a desirable characteristic of cover crops if your goal is weed control but allelopathic compounds can also suppress cash crops as well.
The degree of allelopathic activity varies from species to species, but it has also been found to vary among rye varieties. Here are general considerations regarding allelopathic compounds:
- Highest concentration in young, green winter rye early in the spring
- Leached from roots and to a lesser degree from top growth
- Water soluble and released rapidly into the soil when cover crops are tilled. Less so if cover crops are chemically terminated
- Greatest impact on small-seeded species. Large-seeded corn, soybeans, and sunflowers are less affected.
Solution
Avoid using cover crops with allelopathic properties in rotation before planting small seeded crops, such as alfalfa, clover and other forage species. Medium-sized seeded crops may also be affected, such as flax.
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