Cover crop after fallow and before spring crop

[New Puritan]

Apologies if this is in the wrong part of the forum. I'm after suggestions for a cover crop (or alternative options altogether...).

I have a field that grew an impressive crop of wild oats in 2017. Last year it was docks, which seemed to come from nowhere. This year the field is fallow, whilst I work out what to do with it. It's had two passes with a stubble cultivator type machine, 2 weeks apart and the second at 90 degrees to the first, and the cultivator's done a reasonable job of killing stuff off.

I need to point out here that this is certfied organic land, so chemical options are more or less non-existant.

The rainfall during June has allowed it to green up again, but what shall I do now? I'm thinking of making one more pass with the cultivator and then trying to establish a cover crop of some sort that can take it through to the end of next winter.

What would you do in this situation? Many thanks for any sensible suggestions, and please forgive me if I have left out any important details.

 

[New Puritan]

I wrote the above just before I went to bed and then lay thinking it had been written poorly...

Just to add, the soil has a pH of 6.6 and is a heavy Wealden clay. The last crop was winter wheat. The next crop will likely be a spring crop, though my options are fairly open as to exactly what (especially depending on how well I think I've tackled the weeds).

The main purpose of the cover crop is to provide ground cover to prevent loss of nutrients, and smother weeds if possible. Adding OM or N are secondary (but would also be good).

 

[Nick Adams]

How about mustard for a month, followed be a winter cereal grazed off with sheep after Christmas for tillering and weed control. I'm pondering similar decision on problem fields. I normally spring crop but no opportunity for weed control.

 

[davidroberts30]

mustard,forage rape etc

can you not get another 1 or 2 stale beds before establishing a cc

 

[New Puritan]

Thanks @Nick Adams & @davidroberts30 .

I was thinking mustard but wasn't sure if that was just my inexperience speaking, i.e. I thought "I need a cover crop" = "I shall plant mustard". It's nice and cheap and competitive, but I was wondering if there was anything better suited to heavy land, or to crowding out weeds etc.?

In the circumstances, when is the best time to put it in, and how best to establish it? I'm really conscious of how much this fallow is costing me, both in terms of loss of productivity this season but also in passes with the tractor, especially draft work.

There's a short article in the latest Direst Driller about what weeds tell you about your soil. It gives docks as an example of showing a low pH. Can anyone enlighten me on this? My land is all heavy, but with a range of pH from 6.0 to 7.0 and the docks don't seem to follow much of a pattern. Partly I just assume they are going to be ubiquitous in an organic system so I just have to tolerate them to some extent (albeit do everything I can to limit them). I do a fair bit of hand rogueing with an old fashioned dock fork but it gets silly on a 15 acre field when it's infested with the bloody things.

 

[New Puritan]

@Nick Adams - with your suggestion of a winter cereal being grazed, do you mean put in a winter cereal with the intention of taking it through to harvest next summer, but graze it as well? That's opening up a whole new approach for me, how does one manage doing that without damaging the crop? I don't have any sheep but wonder if I could get some in from someone at that time of year? I assume I'd then need a derogation if they were non-organic sheep and suchlike.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

I personally think docks are just a symptom of bare soil, rather than any particular "chemical imbalance". The soil needs some type of conduit to get the biology supplied with energy and the successful pioneers (docks, thistles, broadleafed flatweeds) pop up to help.

As for your CC, what are your main criteria, eg do you want heaps of biomass, a quick crop, a cheap crop?
Diverse covers are usually the more effective but also the seed cost is higher if you have to buy it in. Mustard / linseed and clover? What else is in your rotation?
What's the structure like, maybe half a pound of daikon radish in the mix?
To compete with docks (which sound quite a success) then you need plants like them (chicory, oats, radish, sunflower) in root structure and depth.

It's all a big tradeoff, however your CC management is every bit as important as your cash crop's.

 

[New Puritan]

Thanks @Kiwi Pete - you've reminded me of radish. I was looking at a seed supplier's website the other night and was reading about them, and that in turn was what led me to wondering if mustard would be the correct thing, or something else.

You're right about docks being a pioneer species, but they seem to hang around longer than some of the others, and their enthusiasm for reproduction worries me.

The CC is mainly needed for ground cover to prevent loss of nutrients, but adding OM and out-competing weeds are also good. Adding N via legumes would come much lower down the list as the rotation (albeit still being properly worked out) features 2 years of red clover, a crop of wheat underplanted with white clover / trefoil; and a crop of lentils.

The land is heavy and has some localised patches of fairly shallow compaction. The farm has not seen any really heavy machinery in the last 20 years, my JD3050 or the old Claas Senator are the biggest machines to work on it in that time. That got me thinking the radishes might be a good idea, in terms of helping improve the structure to a relatively shallow depth.

When people sow a mix, how do they choose what to put in and the ratio? I assume some CC species do not mix well, with some outcompeting the others?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

@Nick Adams - with your suggestion of a winter cereal being grazed, do you mean put in a winter cereal with the intention of taking it through to harvest next summer, but graze it as well? That's opening up a whole new approach for me, how does one manage doing that without damaging the crop? I don't have any sheep but wonder if I could get some in from someone at that time of year? I assume I'd then need a derogation if they were non-organic sheep and suchlike.

Yes, graze it to promote tillering, remove rusted leaves etc at strategic times during its growth.
It's done down here, as it's much more reliable than spraying with fungicides and growth retardents, also helps with soil microtopography to reduce any capping from drilling in a tillage system.
Often used as a response in a wet spring where most leaves are damaged from soil splashes -simply prune them off with sheep and restore the vigour of the crop.

As for seed ratios, it can be educated guesswork sometimes...
I design a fair few CC mixes and some of them will be several layers thick!
It's a challenge I quite enjoy, as a rough guide I use half the usual seed rate that a salesperson would use, for each species.
What I've seen on here, I'd advocate about one-third of what the salesfolk would recommend as a standalone, as they are "fairly generous"

30 pounds of linseed/ 5 pounds of mustard, half to a pound of radish per acre would do. If you grow too much biomass, it then leaves the problem of cycling it all - or being forced into removing it, which is a fertility loss

You can't plant bad plants, some are just better than others.

 

[New Puritan]

Thanks @Kiwi Pete - that all makes sense. I've noticed the generosity of suggested planting rates with the undersown clover/trefoil I put in, I used nothing like the recommended amounts but there is still a nice understory of it in the wheat.

What does the linseed bring to the deal? I do grow it as a cash crop (or try to) so I'm a bit wary of using it as a cover as well. Similarly I grow spring rye as a grain crop so won't be planting that as a cover.

Thanks again,

 

[New Puritan]

Giving it another going over today.

When's best to plant the cover crop?

And would broadcasting it on work, or does it need drilling?

 

[Chae1]

I personally think docks are just a symptom of bare soil, rather than any particular "chemical imbalance". The soil needs some type of conduit to get the biology supplied with energy and the successful pioneers (docks, thistles, broadleafed flatweeds) pop up to help.

As for your CC, what are your main criteria, eg do you want heaps of biomass, a quick crop, a cheap crop?
Diverse covers are usually the more effective but also the seed cost is higher if you have to buy it in. Mustard / linseed and clover? What else is in your rotation?
What's the structure like, maybe half a pound of daikon radish in the mix?
To compete with docks (which sound quite a success) then you need plants like them (chicory, oats, radish, sunflower) in root structure and depth.

It's all a big tradeoff, however your CC management is every bit as important as your cash crop's.

I liked @martians reply when asked about thistles in herbal ley at groundswell.

The thistles are there cause god put them there! They might not be there next year, he might change his mind.

 

[Dan Powell]

I liked @martians reply when asked about thistles in herbal ley at groundswell.

The thistles are there cause god put them there! They might not be there next year, he might change his mind.

Hilarious. God keeps putting docks in my herbal leys. I've tried praying they will disappear but it's just not happening so a barsteward fallow it is. The joys of organic conversion...

 

[Kiwi Pete]

I liked @martians reply when asked about thistles in herbal ley at groundswell.

The thistles are there cause god put them there! They might not be there next year, he might change his mind.

This is very true.

You couldn't make it up: agriculture is mainly comprised of folk who hate most insects, and most plants.
No wonder there's a battle going on

But who is gonna go broke first - God or the farmers?

 

[Badshot]

Whatever you plant I'd get it growing asap. Then get someone with sheep to graze it off. Cycling nutrients in an organic system must be priority.
I'd probably go with something like .
Oats, vetch, oil radish, clover of some sort., Maybe a few stubble turnips too. Few sunflowers be pretty.


Don't go mad on rates and it'll not cost too much.
Plenty of sheep men will gladly electric fence it and pay you for the grazing.
Possibly cover the seed cost.

 

[New Puritan]

Thanks @Badshot - absolutely, it sort of worries me having bare soil for any length of time, tempered by knowing it's required in this instance. With no rain forecast for a while I'm not too worried about nutrients washing through, but I'm not quite sure how many times to keep passing with the cultivator before I get something growing (hence asking on here).

Incidentally please accept my apologies everyone for posting in the 'Holistic' part of the DD forum, and then putting up photos of bare soil and cultivators. If I had posted this in the main part of the forum it would have attracted a load of people moaning about why they don't like the term 'organic' etc.

Doing some online research (i.e. looking at a computer when I ought to be doing something else) yielded this useful sheet on docks: https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/sites/www.gardenorganic.org.uk/files/organic-weeds/docks.pdf.

From the picture of the lifecycle, I'd say I have a good many that are about 4 years old, and it's those I'm trying to get with the fallow. If I can encourage as many seeds to germinate as possible, then cultivate once more, and then immediately plant a competitive crop, hopefully the dock seedlings will not make it to maturity. Nothing is going to work 100% in this sort of system, but I am hopeful of being able to improve things a bit from where I am now (or where I was, last year).

I have spring wheat in an adjacent field that has had its share of docks in the past. This year I ploughed it in January prior to a cold dry spell, and then did a stale seed bed prior to sowing, and then sowed an understory of white clover & black medic. I doubt they'll be putting much N into the ground given the short timescale, but they seem to have done a good job of using up available space and stopping weeds coming through, the field looks quite clean (for organic!)

I will probably buy a mixture of what @Kiwi Pete and @Badshot have suggested, I'm actually quite looking forward to working out the mixture and getting it in. I will update the thread as I go along, if of interest?

For sheep grazing - what sort of rate do people charge? Something fair to both parties is all I'd want.

 

[RushesToo]

@New Puritan I would be very interested in updates.

 

[Badshot]

Thanks @Badshot - absolutely, it sort of worries me having bare soil for any length of time, tempered by knowing it's required in this instance. With no rain forecast for a while I'm not too worried about nutrients washing through, but I'm not quite sure how many times to keep passing with the cultivator before I get something growing (hence asking on here).

Incidentally please accept my apologies everyone for posting in the 'Holistic' part of the DD forum, and then putting up photos of bare soil and cultivators. If I had posted this in the main part of the forum it would have attracted a load of people moaning about why they don't like the term 'organic' etc.

Doing some online research (i.e. looking at a computer when I ought to be doing something else) yielded this useful sheet on docks: https://www.gardenorganic.org.uk/sites/www.gardenorganic.org.uk/files/organic-weeds/docks.pdf.

From the picture of the lifecycle, I'd say I have a good many that are about 4 years old, and it's those I'm trying to get with the fallow. If I can encourage as many seeds to germinate as possible, then cultivate once more, and then immediately plant a competitive crop, hopefully the dock seedlings will not make it to maturity. Nothing is going to work 100% in this sort of system, but I am hopeful of being able to improve things a bit from where I am now (or where I was, last year).

I have spring wheat in an adjacent field that has had its share of docks in the past. This year I ploughed it in January prior to a cold dry spell, and then did a stale seed bed prior to sowing, and then sowed an understory of white clover & black medic. I doubt they'll be putting much N into the ground given the short timescale, but they seem to have done a good job of using up available space and stopping weeds coming through, the field looks quite clean (for organic!)

I will probably buy a mixture of what @Kiwi Pete and @Badshot have suggested, I'm actually quite looking forward to working out the mixture and getting it in. I will update the thread as I go along, if of interest?

For sheep grazing - what sort of rate do people charge? Something fair to both parties is all I'd want.

I charged 35p this winter.
They fenced, they lookered, I just cast an eye now and then.
It just covered seed cost.

 

[davidroberts30]

Ive seen a organic farm use a destoner to get rid of docks many years ago!!
basically once the field was ploughed it looked like they'd ploughed up a field of carrots!!
Iirc they destoned it to get all the roots to the surface and let them dry in the sun,then the cultivated stale seed bed like you are doing

 

[ih1455xl]

How about sticking some beans in for free n and then roll them down in a frost