Cover crop incorporation or not

[Colin]

Got some reasonable crops of either Vetch and rye or oilseed radish and black oats. The oilseed radish ground is going into carrots or potatoes and the Vetch is before spring oats. The radish is simple enough it will be deep ploughed before ridging. But the Vetch is another matter, would a Clayson SR go through it? When should I spray it off? How much N will be left behind? See attached pics.

 

[David_A]

What are you following the vetch with?

 

[David_A]

Doh! Just read your question properly... maybe you need a disc drill.

 

[Shutesy]

I would happily drill into that vetch with my DTS, should think a Claydon would be ok? @Brisel might have some insight?

 

[Brisel]

Thanks for the heads up. I'm in my first season of "proper" cover crops so I haven't tried drilling through fibrous mostly prostrate CCs like vetch. @juke has more experience of this as he has been doing it for longer than me.

I am working on the basis that without a leading disc to chop through the vetch there is a risk of it getting wrapped around the tine legs. Are you still running the leading discs on your DTS @Shutesy ? Have you taken the shoulder off the disc?

I intend to spray mine off shortly (January) to allow time for it to rot down before March sowing with my Claydon. I'll be doing the same with my waist high mustard. This will probably mean another sniff of glyphosate just before sowing in case of any regrowth or incomplete kill due to shading but this avoids the need for topping to mulch it up which will undoubtedly harm a lot of wildlife on the ground, plus it also avoids lots of compaction risk from the topper pass on fragile wet soils.

 

[Shutesy]

I am working on the basis that without a leading disc to chop through the vetch there is a risk of it getting wrapped around the tine legs. Are you still running the leading discs on your DTS @Shutesy ? Have you taken the shoulder off the disc?

Still running the leading disc, and yep the shoulder came off the day the drill arrived. Same plan as you with regard to spraying off cc as well, sometime in Jan to get stuff nice and dead by drilling time.

 

[juke]

Wouldn't like to comment about the SR drill, but the hybrid would fly through that no trouble, we would drop the leg out n put the leading disc up front

 

[Louis Mc]

Be careful with getting the oil radish killed. Glyph doesn't do a great job. Plenty of stories of oil radish surving spraying,disconnect, ploughing, bed tilling, destoning and coming up in the spuds

 

[Brisel]

I started a thread in Cropping a while ago about spraying glyphosate in winter. Perhaps something like Kyleo (glyphosate & 2,4D) would kill the radish better? It's a bit cold for hormones to work but MCPB certainly destroyed my vetch at the end of October (in a game cover aimed at charlock which failed to work on that)!

Wouldn't like to comment about the SR drill, but the hybrid would fly through that no trouble, we would drop the leg out n put the leading disc up front

Are you putting the disc in because of the cover crop matter or just because you don't see the need for a deep leading tine?

 

[juke]

Are you putting the disc in because of the cover crop matter or just because you don't see the need for a deep leading tine?

More beacuse it's not needed after covers , the tine does work fine for spring drilling in trash etc,