Researchers Pinpoint When and How to Terminate Cover Crops in the Mid-Atlantic

Cover crop management is complex, but two recent studies could help clarify two important management factors for mid-Atlantic farmers: when and how to terminate cover crops in the spring.

Penn State researchers found that delaying cover crop termination and planting green helps retain soil moisture and can maximize early-planted soybean yields, according to Dr. Daniela Carrijo.

And University of Maryland researchers found that no combination of different herbicides and roll-crimping had any effect on cover crop residue decomposition speed, meaning most farmers will see season-long benefits as long as they aim for a late-terminated cereal rye cover crop, says then-University of Maryland grad student Dr. Cara Peterson. Both studies aim to take a few cover crop management concerns off farmers’ plates. 

Cover Crop Biomass Blankets Soil, Affecting Soybean Yield and Soil Moisture

Maximizing cover crop biomass is well established as the best way to maximize weed suppression and other cover crop benefits. For farmers in rain-fed production areas like Pennsylvania, those biomass-based benefits could also trap soil moisture for cash crops to use. 

But getting more biomass often means pushing cover crop planting dates back, which can interfere with fall harvests. What if farmers instead delayed cover crop termination and planted their cash crop directly into the cover crop, a practice called planting green? 

Carrijo tested four research plots with cereal rye and triticale monoculture cover crops: early- and late-planted soybeans in terminated cover crops (planting brown), and early- and late-planted soybeans in living, roll-crimped cover crops (planting green).