Cover crop failure ,!

Fred · Aug 31, 2014

The first of my cover crops , oil raddish, failed on certain parts of the fields, slugs etc,

Itw as established using a horsch joker and seeder box,

It was destined for spring wheat , what do I do now?

I am rapidly falling out of love with spring wheat , so might go to winter beans ,

Baling Hay · Aug 31, 2014

Why have you fell out of love with spring wheat?

SilliamWhale · Aug 31, 2014

Leave it and drill spring wheat when your ready

britt · Sep 1, 2014

They did say on a weather forecast at the weekend that we have had the coolest August for 30 years. So probably not the best year for establishment.
I seem to recall a newspaper saying that we were in for the hottest for 300 a few weeks ago. :scratchhead:

Pedders · Sep 1, 2014

probably dodgy seed

Great In Grass · Sep 1, 2014

Pedders said:
probably dodgy seed

hybrid vigour · Sep 2, 2014

that's why it is an advantage to sow a TerraLife mixture - you get a range of plants so if you lose one or 2 species to pests/weather, there is still a good cover.

HV

Pedders · Sep 2, 2014

hybrid vigour said:
that's why it is an advantage to sow a TerraLife mixture - you get a range of plants so if you lose one or 2 species to pests/weather, there is still a good cover.

HV

of course in the interests of balance it should be pointed out that other mixtures are available

dontknowanything · Sep 2, 2014

Pedders said:
probably dodgy seed

mine aren't great this year, I was wondering if it may be the seed as well?

Clive · Sep 2, 2014

Things are slow on my August planted covers but they have established fairly well

Some for a beetle damage that we nearly sprayed for but decided against as it came cold and wet last week

Going to give them a shot of N tomorrow

Stuff planted in July is almost waist high and flowering now, shows how important early establishment is

dontknowanything · Sep 2, 2014

Clive said:
Things are slow on my August planted covers but they have established fairly well

Some for a beetle damage that we nearly sprayed for but decided against as it came cold and wet last week

Going to give them a shot of N tomorrow

Stuff planted in July is almost waist high and flowering now, shows how important early establishment is

Mine's had N trial strips, absolutely invisible so far, which I am very surprised about.

Clive · Sep 2, 2014

dontknowanything said:
Mine's had N trial strips, absolutely invisible so far, which I am very surprised about.

How long ago ?

Reason I felt it could help was that osr vol fields show clearly N overlap from previous crop in dark green scavenging N

dontknowanything · Sep 2, 2014

Clive said:
How long ago ?

Reason I felt it could help was that osr vol fields show clearly N overlap from previous crop in dark green scavenging N

2-3 weeks ago.

Our CCs have always very clearly shown N overlap, as does OSR this year. But then you are talking about hundreds of kg of N extra, I put on 30. Still expecting to be able to see it clearly though.

York · Sep 3, 2014

dontknowanything said:
2-3 weeks ago.

Our CCs have always very clearly shown N overlap, as does OSR this year. But then you are talking about hundreds of kg of N extra, I put on 30. Still expecting to be able to see it clearly though.

now
what was applied? nitrate / Ammonium?
liquid / dry?
how was it applied?
how much rain did you get afterwards?
each point has a influence on:
leaching & availability.
Also, was there straw on top, so did the N "fall" into a heavy residue matt?
What we find the most secure is 21-0-0-24 applied at planting placed.
CC planting has to be done, if you want the highest security on establishment, with the same caution than a main cash crop. OK, this is more costly than chuck in & see what comes, but it is our tillage for the Cash Crop in a NT system. How much effort you put into a good plowing? Or do you send out the 3-day apprentice with the tractor & plow and leave him alone to plow?
York-Th.

dontknowanything · Sep 3, 2014

Yara N35+7SO3, so both urea and AN. Yes it was applied on to some straw, and yes it has rained since. That's farming, and it's how we could apply it.

York · Sep 3, 2014

dontknowanything said:
Yara N35+7SO3, so both urea and AN. Yes it was applied on to some straw, and yes it has rained since. That's farming, and it's how we could apply it.

look, afterwards every one know how it should be done, so I'm not doing a comment on how it was done.
Maybe it helps to be reminded:
-the famous saying: microbes always have the 1st serving at the table
- plants can't wonder around
- can't find the info of the amount of Ammonium N, can't be much. Even the 10:10 ratio (N:S) isn't met with this fertiliser.
Over here it is still custom to apply N, especially as liquid, on straw to help the break down to get rid of it. .....
Most likely there are more applicable points.
York-Th.

dontknowanything · Sep 3, 2014

York said:
look, afterwards every one know how it should be done, so I'm not doing a comment on how it was done.
Maybe it helps to be reminded:
-the famous saying: microbes always have the 1st serving at the table
- plants can't wonder around
- can't find the info of the amount of Ammonium N, can't be much. Even the 10:10 ratio (N:S) isn't met with this fertiliser.
Over here it is still custom to apply N, especially as liquid, on straw to help the break down to get rid of it. .....
Most likely there are more applicable points.
York-Th.

So how should we apply N for cover crops, solid AS?

Microbes may have the first serving, but there is still 30kg more N in total where we have applied it.

We varied S application a lot this year, because Steve Townsend told us we weren't using enough. Fields with 50kg showed less deficiency in the grain than fields with 110kg.

SilliamWhale · Sep 3, 2014

Albrecht practice pushes too much AS for my liking. V acidic and not always a payback. But it will also depend on soil s status.

Clive · Sep 3, 2014

thrown 200L of straight home melted AS at ours today - not a lot of N really (16kgs/ha) but it might just help it along

@York I do worry that using AS so much could result in too much S ? but is that possible on light sandy land ? or shouldn't I worry ? we have acidic soils so do wonder if AS could sometimes make matters worse and push up our requirement to lime ?

SilliamWhale · Sep 4, 2014

Clive said:
thrown 200L of straight home melted AS at ours today - not a lot of N really (16kgs/ha) but it might just help it along

@York I do worry that using AS so much could result in too much S ? but is that possible on light sandy land ? or shouldn't I worry ? we have acidic soils so do wonder if AS could sometimes make matters worse and push up our requirement to lime ?

The idea of using AS to acidify the root zone to locally release H+ ions. But plants can do this themselves by releasing their own H+ ions which helps mobilize nutrients which is what happens when they start rooting - and they also acidify the area exactly around the roots where they need the nutrients - even placement of AS won't get it as close as the what the plant can do itself.

So whilst the plants may appreciate the N I don't see any reason to go over and above on the S for acidification reasons.

Cover crop failure ,!

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