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Ag Extension Agent.

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Cooperative Extension

 

• fast germination and emergence
• competitiveness
• tolerance to adverse climatic and soil conditions
• ease of suppression
• fertility benefits
• inexpensive establishment

• If your primary problem is nitrate contamination, you might want to consider brassicas or deep-rooted winter grasses. Both of these types of crops are more efficient at taking up residual nitrogen fertilizer than legumes.
• If your goal is erosion control and no-till planting, brassicas or oats would be a good choice. Both of these crops establish quickly in the fall and then winter-kill in the cold regions.
• Leguminous cover crops would be the preferred choice for enhancing soil fertility. Other considerations may affect this choice as well. For example, a grass-legume mixture may provide better erosion control than the legume alone, while still increasing soil nitrogen content.
• If you need a quick crop to plant in midsummer to suppress weeds before the fall planting, then consider a fast-growing crop such as buckwheat or sorghum-sudangrass.

• If you only have a drill, then you must choose a cover crop that can be seeded after harvesting the cash crop, or sown simultaneously with the cash crop. Drilling cover crops after cash crop harvest has advantages and disadvantages. It's good if soil moisture is low when the cash crop is developing, but it can also delay legume establishment by several weeks which can mean poor fall cover and slow spring regrowth. Many cover crops perform better when seeded earlier.
• If you have a broadcast seeder, you can overseed cover crops into standing cash crops. This practice generally provides quicker establishment and earlier ground cover.
• If you don't have access to a mower and don't want to use herbicides, then you most likely need a cover crop that winter-kills naturally.

• potential dry matter yield
• amount of nitrogen required by following crop vs. amount of nitrogen the cover crop can provide
• seed and inoculant availability
• compatability of seed size with equipment
• seed cost and potential for seed harvest -- potential use as pasture or hay
• existing weed pressure and cover crop competitiveness
• management costs and returns

1. What are your priorities for growing cover crops? In other words, what benefits do you hope to receive from your efforts?
2. What kind of equipment do you have that can be used to seed, suppress, or incorporate cover crops?
3. Describe your crop rotation scheme for the upcoming year for all or part of your farm. Be sure and include time and space requirements.
4. What are some of the other factors that you think are important to consider for your cover cropping program?

North Carolina Cooperative Extension, Chatham County Center
P.O. Box 279, Pittsboro, NC 27312
919-542-8202

Website created and maintained by Debbie Roos, Agricultural Extension Agent.