Chicken Muck -> Cover crop -> Sugar Beet question.

[Daniel]

In a normal average year how long between ploughing and waiting to dry to work for beet drilling , ,if you want to come look at what we doing in 4 different fields , We put resistant bcn radish in one stubble turnips kale rape and mustard in another , straight mustard ,and late drilled mustard and tillage radish in another , kale rape hybrid pointless as a pidgeon magnet , Oil radish looked poorest 14 kg ha , not too big ,but put spade in and very good rooting ,I think it’s whats underneath better than a lot of top , It will all get mown off and maybe a taste of glypho and a good dressing of pig muck , ,ploughed 5/6 inch deep to get some fresh soil and then low disturbance subsoiler cultivator through it on RTK at 45 cm rows , I would put muck on as near too sowing as you can what ever fert you need to balance it ,but use a portion of it as liquid at drilling if you can . to kick start it ,till it finds the muck ,did one this way last year and first lift 93 t ha , ,

Plough, power harrow twice, wait couple of days and drill this year. We were late like everyone but still did 90t+. Nothing wrong with the yield, just interested in the best use of the muck.

 

[Daniel]

The idea is that the cover crop releases its nutrients to the following crop. You apply the muck in the autumn, doing minimal soil damage and the cover crop holds onto the goodness.

Yes, this.

 

[wellingtonfarmer]

The idea is that the cover crop releases its nutrients to the following crop. You apply the muck in the autumn, doing minimal soil damage and the cover crop holds onto the goodness.

Would cover crops release n quick enough for a crop like spring combinable crop that require early n?

 

[Brisel]

Would cover crops release n quick enough for a crop like spring combinable crop that require early n?

That's where I'm less confident. You'd certainly have little early N released. I took some N soil cores & had them tested in late Feb after a couple of cover crops. There was about 72 kg/ha N in the test results against 70 kg N in the naturally regenerated stubble, though I wouldn't expect much to be in the soil as the canopy was still dying off when the samples were taken. Cover crops were 1 field of Pedder's winter legumes (peas, vetch, beans), 1 field of vetch + berseem clover (slugs loved the clover!) and 1 field of forage rye + vetch. Yields the following harvest were pretty even. Fairly inconclusive!

 

[wellingtonfarmer]

That's where I'm less confident. You'd certainly have little early N released. I took some N soil cores & had them tested in late Feb after a couple of cover crops. There was about 72 kg/ha N in the test results against 70 kg N in the naturally regenerated stubble, though I wouldn't expect much to be in the soil as the canopy was still dying off when the samples were taken. Cover crops were 1 field of Pedder's winter legumes (peas, vetch, beans), 1 field of vetch + berseem clover (slugs loved the clover!) and 1 field of forage rye + vetch. Yields the following harvest were pretty even. Fairly inconclusive!

I'm sticking with spring application then