With snow still on the ground and more forecast for the Midwest, it’s early yet to tell about some cover crops…how they fared this winter.
“I’ve heard from a few farmers though, located in the Midwest swath between I-70 and I-80, who are concerned that the brown fields where they planted annual ryegrass last fall won’t survive,” said Dan Towery, agronomist with Ag Conservation Solutions (W. Lafayette, IN). “I’ve told them ‘don’t count it out yet’ because if the plants were well enough developed before the first frost, the plant can come back nicely. In other words, if the crown root system developed well and the plant had two or more tillers, they winter over better.”
Towery also said that soil moisture is important and even how the cover crop is planted. “Snow cover may be e specially important with dry soil conditions. Also drilling provides a slightly deeper crown versus broadcasting the seed. Timing of planting and Nitrogen availability also factors into the plant tillering and developing secondary roots.”
Tags: Ag Conservation Solutions, all cover crops, capturing nitrogen, Dan Towery, drill seeding, Midwest cover crops, No-Till, winterkill
March 11th, 2009 at 5:42 am
Below is a post I put on AgTalk would like any advise
I aerially seeded annual rye17lb crimsonclover12lb on about 300 acres. Some in wheat stubble, some in standing corn and some in standing beans. I also tried cereal rye80lb on about 120 ac. in both standing corn and beans. I seeded this on Sept 9. It rained 1″ plus that evening and next day.
I had I thought excellent stands for aerially seeding last fall. We did some drainage work in Nov. and Dec. and some of the annual rye had 14″ roots before thanksgiving.
I noticed in Jan the annual rye looked brown but did not have concern.
I went out last Fri and Sat. to do soil testing and got sick at the amount of winter kill. Everywhere I had allot of residue the annul rye is 90% gone. The clover is spotty at best. The cereal rye is fine even in 200 bu corn residue.
It appears the mat of residue and the annual rye heaved enough to separate the top growth from the roots.
Any thoughts from those of you with experience. I know aerially seeding is not the best but I don’t think drilling in late Nov is good either.
I know I gained allot from last fall growth but would have liked to have March’s growth before killing it.
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March 12th, 2009 at 1:48 pm
Mike, I need to know a couple of things before I can answer your question adequately:
1. Where you are located - how far north?
2. How much annual ryegrass growth occurred before freeze up?
We’ve seen some inconsistency regarding annual ryegrass winterkill. Among the many factors, a couple of key ones include a quick drop in temperature ( greater than 40 degrees) with wind chills and no snow cover.
There is some difference among annual ryegrass varieties regarding winter hardiness and more study is underway. That being said, we have enough experience in the Midwest and winterkill to say that brown plants may look dead now but MAY still green up when warm temperatures arrive. It all depend if the crown was killed.
Here’s what I’d suggest: Dig some plants up and cut the crown in half. If it is still white, then it is still viable and the plants should recover. If the crown is mushy and brown, then the plant is dead.
Regarding other cover crops - crimson clover is not very winter hardy either. Have you seeded a mixture of annual ryegrass and crimson clover before? The bigger, heavier cereal rye seed is more winter hardy than annual ryegrass and crimson clover and penetrates the residue better than lighter seed.
Dan Towery
October 25th, 2009 at 8:00 pm
has anyone frost seeded annual ryegrass into corn stubble in february or march prior to planting soybeans in may
May 17th, 2010 at 4:06 pm
I think one of the keys to winter survival of Ryegrass is to NOT put nitrogen on it in the fall. Nitrogen causes a plant to take on a lot of water. What happens when water freezes? It expands and to the degree it expands depends on how cold. So my theory is that the cells in the plant become water logged you might say and burst …just like a frozen pipe! I base this on the fact that I have grown annual ryegrass for the last 2 years and haven’t lost a stand either year from freezing. This past year was the coldest winter we had here in KY in some time.
May 18th, 2010 at 10:01 am
Doug, I’m doing more research on this…and I sent you a note the other day about Garry Lacefield at U of KY…but I’ve put another post on the site today with some more info on the topic you raised. Thanks for your independent research on this and for sharing your experience. Tim Buckley