Cover crop termination review for 2023

Apr 13, 2023

Editor’s note: The following was written by Meaghan Anderson, Iowa State University Extension field agronomist in central Iowa, for the Integrated Crop Management blog April 3.

The warmer weather forecast has me thinking about new beginnings and the resurrection of our dormant overwintering cover crops. While some will let the covers grow for some time yet, those covers in fields going to corn this spring will likely be terminated in the next few weeks.

Regardless of when you choose to terminate your cover crop, remember that the best management practice is to terminate 10-14 days ahead of corn planting. Timing is less critical for soybean, but killing the cover crop prior to soybean emergence reduces risk to crop yield.

Herbicidal termination is going to be the most effective method available to most farmers, and despite substantial research into alternatives, glyphosate remains the most consistent product to kill grass species.

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