thank you for sharing this information. Did you plant these seeds at same time or one before the other, and if so what what time frame between the second
Thanks, we planted that mix after a mid June hail storm that took out a corn field. The radishes are huge and headed out and putting seed out. The clover is a a foot tall. We are in northwest iowa. We re wondering moving forward what should we do? We plan on corn next spring. Should we cut them down in a month and let them dry up and strip till or just let them winter kill and try to plant into it next spring.
It’s always a bit intimidating when a cover crop unexpectedly does “too well.” In the end, I think the large amount of growth will be a good thing. The radishes will be breaking deep compaction layers and the crimson is fixing a lot of nitrogen at this stage in its life. The good news for this mix is that both ingredients will decompose quickly. The coming winter will kill the radishes and frost off all of the current clover growth. The crimson will likely survive the winter, but it’s growth will be starting from scratch next spring and most of the fall growth will have melted down and be decomposing - just like an established alfalfa field that went into winter with a large amount of top growth. I would plan to no-till plant your corn into this mix and burndown the clover when it’s 4-6” tall if you still have plenty of material on the ground. If it decomposes more quickly than you’d like, you can always let the clover get a little bigger for an increased N credit. Best wishes for your crop! Dustin Johnson Forage Agronomist The CISCO Companies
Did you plant it with fertilizer? Or just the mix? What was your seeding rate? Was that the first go around for cover crops in that sandy soil? Sorry, I am very curious as we have sandy soil too...
