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Thumb of Michigan | These are some results from a number of years ago on our farm. 1 year results, randomized and replicated. These could vary year to year, but anyway some sort of an idea of what we've seen.
The field was rye (Aroostock) harvested for seed. We were actually looking at a couple of different things, PSNT being one of them. These were planted in Aug, 1998.
First, the N credit:
Crimson clover- 45 #
Oilseed radish- 65#
Hairy vetch/rye- 105#
Dry bean/soybean mix N sample was lost
Yields-
Crimson clover- 162.1
Hairy Vetch/rye- 160
Oilseed Radish- 173
Dry Bean/soy mix- 169.8
No cover- 163.5
The hairy vetch/ rye mix and to a lesser degree the clover had high infestations of slugs, and was very hard for us to kill and consequently plant into. First and last time I tried vetch, and have only used clover a couple of times since. We don't have enough time in the spring to kill either ahead of corn. For us, the cheapest (by far) cover was the dry bean/soy mix. However, I have concerns, maybe unfounded, about using soys in particular in our program. I prefer a summer planted cover crop AFTER wheat harvest vs clover interseeded into wheat, simply because it gives me opportunities to clean up some wheat stubble with glyphosate, then plant a cover.
I'm assuming you've been getting your forage radish seed from or are working with Steve Groff. Anyway, when we compare notes, I think you're planting a very, very similar plant to OSR. As I said before, we have to be very careful here as to what we plant so as not to increase a pest problem. If you've never had Sugar Beets on your farm or never intend to, green light all the way on forage radishes in my opinion. In my experiance, radish doesn't like to come up with anything else green. However, once established, it competes extremely well with almost anything as you've found out. We WILL NOT have winter annuals grow in a field seeded to OSR. Seems to be a pretty good deterrent to some other weeds, but I have never did enough real observations on that aspect to say one way or the other which ones OSR helps control.
Hope this helps. | |
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My radish experiment
