Persian Clover and groundhog radish?

[wisconsinteacher]

I'm looking for a cover crop to plant this spring on my plot. Last fall, I planted Whitetail Ins Oats Plus. I'm thinking about terminating it in late May and planting Persian clover and groundhog radish until it is time for the fall planting in late Aug. Thoughts on this idea? The fall planting will be a mix of cereals and brassicas.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

The oats will be dead this spring, but is there some other seed in Whitetail Institute Oats Plus?

What kind of equipment do you have to prep the soil, plant, spray, etc.?

 

[wisconsinteacher]

I have an atv with a disc, harrow drag and 600# cultipacker. I also have a sprayer for the atv. I forgot to mention, I did put winter rye down as well so that will pop up right away. I was just thinking the clover/radish would be a good summer crop to help build the soil a bit.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

If you have rye out there, I'd probably just leave that in place to build the soil next year until your fall crop. The rye will go to seed, so you won't need to buy any rye seed for your fall blend.

Clover and radishes may also be a good option, but I'd probably stick with the easiest option and that is to do nothing!

 

[bigboreblr]

Ever planted persian clover? The green cover milpa mix has it in there. Not sure what the clover looked like. Didn't see any unusual clover or trefoil like plant when I used that mix.

I almost always plant oats with my winter rye. Sometimes wheat. I get wheat for free, so why not.

Forst seeding some clover and letting it go until fall again isn't a bad idea. I'd save the radish until fall. I'd probably only switch spring food plots if I needed to do some weed control that would kill cereal grains.

Sometimes cereal grains reseed themselves. Sometimes the critters eat most of the seed. I would alteast supplement seed like 50lb/acre min or rye. I find 100-125lbs/acre of rye is about eight for no-till. Assumng 1/2 can be from seeds the birds missed and the other half you add.

 

[wisconsinteacher]

I did some more research and looking. I think I'm going to frost seed some red clover over the plot in March/April and then when the winter rye is 12-16" tall, mow it and let the clover grow as my summer crop. I can terminate it and plant the fall crop in Aug/Sept. That will only mean tiling one time and I will have plants growing most of the season on the soil.