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Thumb of Michigan | We like Oilseed Radish as one option. It traps N, have had from a 40 to almost 70# credit year following. This year, the N credit was (if I remember right) about 25 or 30# better than what soys left in the same field. We've also used soys, dry beans, or a mixture of the 2 as a cover. Austrian winter peas look like a very good legume, but I haven't figured out how to get them into the rotation yet. They'll overwinter up here as long as theres enough residue, but won't on low residue situations. At least in my experiance.
Although I've never grown any, I have had someone tell me that they really liked canola as a cover. Deep rooted and has some effect on certain Nematodes. I don't remember if it was winter canola or not that they liked, however. We can't raise canola and sugar beets in rotation here. Although I don't raise beets anymore, I'm concerned about introduceing a problem for my neighbors, so I likely won't try that. Might be 1 option for you, though.
Wheeler as well as Balboa are good ryes, but for a cover crop the Aroostock has a lot more benefits for us. First off, its much smaller than the others. We get very good cover with 3/4 of a bu flown into corn in August. It takes 1 1/2 to 2 bu of the others to get comparable cover. Aroostock is much more cold weather tolerant. It grows longer into the winter and greens up much sooner in the spring. Ideally, we'll let rye get to at least 18" before we want to try and kill it and the aroostock does that sooner than the others. We harvest Aroostock immediatlly after wheat harvest, the Wheeler is 1 to 2 weeks later. May not make a difference for some.
Theres a guy in Ohio who wants to get some Aroostock delivered to his farm, I could contact him to see if he's getting extra if you're interested. Our Aroostock originally came through Dale, not sure where he sourced it now.
Edited by pat-michigan 7/11/2006 13:48
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Cover crops
