Fall Cover Crop Planting Update From the Field

By Beth Waage

Every fall thousands of farmers across the Midwest plant cover crops in their fields. The reasons for planting cover crops are as varied as the methods used to plant them. We reached out to three farmers this fall to ask about their cover crop planting experience. All three farmers plant cereal rye strictly as a cover crop.

Dan Gengler: No-till drill

Dan Gengler farms corn and soybeans and has planted cover crops for 15 years. He first planted them on low ground and along waterways and creeks with an old John Deere Van Brunt grain drill.

In the spring, Dan will terminate the covers in those fields going to corn prior to planting. For his soybean fields, he will plant into the cover crops while they are still green and then terminate the covers post plant. Dan noted he has good germination on cover crops spread on corn stubble, but not soybean stubble. He uses both methods, drilling and spreading, to research which method works best in his fields. This year he began planting cover crops on Oct. 12 and was done planting by Oct. 14.

Steve Nelson: Broadcast seeder

Steve Nelson has planted cover crops for five years. The field he cover cropped with cereal rye this fall will be planted to corn next spring. He broadcasts the seed because it’s faster and cheaper than other methods and he gets good results. He used a no-till drill in the past but will stick with broadcast seeding because of the lower cost.

Steve has previously planted radish and turnips but stopped after he realized there was a low likelihood of germination if they were planted after Oct 1. He has also planted clover in the past but found it harder to terminate than rye. He planted his cover crops on Sept. 29.