Here Comes the Roller Crimper | Part 1 of the 2022 Corn Fields Series - Rodale Institute 

Hi Taimur, thanks for the awesome questions! :) 1. We’ve had issues in the past with multi-species cover crop mixes because of the different maturity dates of each species in the mix. This makes it difficult in a roller crimping system because there is a small window to crimp the cover crop, and that window becomes either smaller because of multiple maturity dates, or we have to pick and choose. 2. We've never inoculated corn. With legumes, In this case, we did not, because we already have a well established soil that is high in rhizobia that immediately colonizes root nodules of the legume. In soils that struggle to fix nitrogen, we would recommend inoculating. And soil that does’t regularly have legumes in it, legume seeds should be inoculated for a few years. It doesn’t hurt to always inoculate legumes, but it is an added cost to consider. 3. You can apply compost, but we recommend doing it closer to the crimping process. If you apply compost during the planting of a legume, it won’t pull nitrogen from the air as effectively, because it has enough access to nitrogen in the soil from the compost application. 4. You could do that, but animals may not be as efficient, and you may end up with more weeds because of the trampling of the soil (basically like tilling; stirring up the weed seeds to the top of the soil). As apposed to having a cover crop, crimped and laying on top, which acts as a weed suppressive mat. Hope that helps? :)

Glad we could inspire you! :)

I had an issue with hairpinning. Had 3 different multiple species cover crops. I ended up taking off all the coulters and just running opening discs, and closing wheels

Yes, great insight there Mathew! :)

Slugs and Snails & Puppy dog tails?