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/ grainews.ca
MARCH 4, 2013
Features COVER CROPS
Cover crops becoming more popular With our short growing season, we have several options for cover crops in Western Canada. Kevin Elmy’s been trying some new ones on his farm BY KEVIN ELMY
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cross the United States, cover crops have been increasing in popularity. Between drought, delayed seeding, the high cost of putting the crop in, long growing season, high levels of inputs and leaching concerns, cover crops are taking hold. Most farmers planting cover crops are finding fewer nutrients in water run off, less erosion, less input required for the next crop and cooler soils during the growing season. With the amount of unseeded acres across the Prairies, some farmers tried cover crops this
year for the first time. Instead of letting the fields sit for up to three years without any production, some were willing to try cover crops.
STEEP LEARNING CURVE In Western Canada, since we are just starting with the cover crop strategy, there is still a fair amount to learn — which species to use and when, relay cropping, grazing, greenfeed, seeding into the cover crop and taking out the cover crop are some questions that come up. Because of our short growing season, we do not have a lot of options that will grow fast enough to produce
enough benefit to make it worthwhile. One way to find out what works it so do trials. We seeded seed of different species — some in the garden, and others in a couple of blends that we seeded in the field. I was unsure about RootMax Annual Ryegrass and Crimson Clover. I didn’t even know what Phacelia was, never mind how it would fit into a cover crop blend. It is very interesting to replicate something someone else has done elsewhere. In our case, we seeded out six-foot (two-metre) strips in our garden to see what the different species looked like and how they performed.
Most varieties looked weak or maybe ordinary. Put them in a blend, and they looked better than expected. Trevor Lennox and Shannon Chant with Saskatchewan Agriculture at Swift Current, Sask., did some trials and found the same thing. In pure stands, most species looked ordinary or weak. In a blend, they exhibited stronger growth.
SPRING OF 2012 This spring, because we were wet, again, and seeding was delayed, we decided to reduce our canola acres as it was getting to the end of May. There
were fields we could not get on and seeding canola in June, plus getting them off in time to get winter cereals in, just does not happen. It continued to rain through June. By the first part of July, we were able to get into the fields to get the ground prepared for seeding. There were ruts in the field, saturated pieces that needed to be aerated, and straw to be managed. We seeded a mixture of 10 pounds of crown millet (white proso millet) with one pound of Tillage Radish between July 9 and July 13 with our Bourgault airseeder, with no seed placed fertilizer. Two of the fields we seeded had just come through two years of soybeans with lots of volunteer canola. The other field had been seeded with fridge forage winter triticale. We were concerned about the nitrogen levels on the triticale stubble, but being as wet as it was we just wanted to use up soil moisture. Soybean ground had adequate levels of nitrogen for the millet.
Cover crops are going to be included in our rotation The last summer rain we received came on July 19. The other field we seeded to cover crop is where we planned on seeding corn. With the excessive spring moisture, we only seeded five acres of the 40, so we seeded some strips into the 35 acres on July 13, using three Cover Crop Solutions blends, and one that we put together. The three Cover Crop Solutions blends we tried were: Indy (includes Tillage Radish, RootMax Annual Rye, and CCS Crimson Clover); Daytona (includes Tillage Radish and CCS Crimson Clover); and Bristol (includes Tillage Radish, RootMax and Annual Rye). Our own blend included Tillage Radish, RootMax Annual Rye, CCS Crimson Clover, natto soybeans, and fridge forage winter triticale. Our goal was to seed fridge forage winter triticale that BY DAN PIRARO
NITROGEN LOSS STINKS When you surface-apply urea to your crops, more than 40% of your nitrogen can be lost as ammonia gas. This can happen on every farm to every crop. That’s why you need a nitrogen stabilizer that you can trust. AGROTAIN® nitrogen stabilizer has undergone hundreds of tests and is scientifically proven to provide you with the enhanced protection you need. Sniff out the truth at www.honestagriculture.com. NOTICE: Results may vary based on a number of factors. Before use, consult the product packaging and labeling for further information, including with respect to use, safety, hazards and health effects. AGROTAIN® is a trademark of The Mosaic Company used under license by Koch Agronomic Services, LLC. AGROTAIN® nitrogen stabilizer is manufactured and sold by Koch Agronomic Services, LLC under an exclusive license from The Mosaic Company. The Koch logo is a trademark of Koch Industries, Inc. © 2013 Koch Agronomic Services, LLC. 0313-20895-1-GN
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