Indiana Prairie Farmer publishes a column written by Tom Bechman with the help of CCAs for CCAs and their clients. With permission from Prairie Farmer we are posting these Corn and Soybean Corner articles on the CCA website. Many thanks to the authors and the support of Indiana Prairie Farmer.
Soybean Corner Articles
Should I bulk up my cereal rye cover?
The Indiana Certified Crop Adviser panel includes Danny Greene, Greene Crop Consulting, Franklin; Brian Overstreet, soil conservation coordinator, Rensselaer; and Dan Ritter, Hoegemeyer Hybrids, Rensselaer.
We flew cereal rye into our standing corn with our new drone to suppress weeds before planting soybeans next year. The stand is thin due to operator error. Is it worth it to go back out and drill additional cereal rye? If so, at what rates? Or should we leave it be?
Greene: Drilling has a higher probability of success over broadcast spread due to getting seed-to-soil contact, but there is a higher cost of application. I have seen cereal rye work well when planted as late as Thanksgiving, but the risk of failure increases after Nov. 1.
The Midwest Cover Crop Council has good resources for cover crop decisions. For drilling cereal rye, they suggest 40 to 90 pounds of pure live seed per acre. Knowing that you have a partial stand, seeding at the low end of the range should be sufficient. Leave an undrilled strip to gauge the impact of drone only against the drone-and-drill-applied section. The later in the season you drill, the higher rate you’d want to establish a stand. Heavier stands will provide greater weed suppression.
Overstreet: Depending on when the corn is harvested and your goal for planting cover crops, I would probably just leave it be. If you try to go in after harvesting, you will probably damage what you have already established. The later-planted cereal rye will not ever catch up and make as much biomass as the earlier-planted crop. The earlier-planted cereal rye will tiller out more if it does not have competition, and by next spring, it will fill in the gaps some.
If your goal was growing forage to harvest prior to planting the soybean crop or for weed suppression, you may want to scout the field in February or early March. If the crop is still too thin, you may be able to overseed some spring oats. If your goal was to slow erosion or to improve soil health, leave the cover crop alone until termination.
Ritter: Without knowing how thin is “thin,” I may lean toward keeping the stand as is. My basis for this is that this is not for grain harvest, so the stand doesn’t have to be perfect. Drilling is not fast, and diesel is not cheap. Let’s not forget the maintenance on the drill.
Research shows you need about 135,000 to 150,000 plants per acre to get the intended benefits of the cover crop. If you don’t have that stand, then consider drilling in enough to at least reach that minimum.
