Cover crops over in the west

[Case290]

Cover crops in the wet west ? Any one managed to successfully manage it year in year out. In no till Slug pressure is unreal atm (cover crop before wheat) is it only practical for cover crops before spring cropping.

 

[T Hectares]

Cover crops in the wet west ? Any one managed to successfully manage it year in year out. In no till Slug pressure is unreal atm (cover crop before wheat) is it only practical for cover crops before spring cropping.

Not sure why you’d pay to establish a CC before WW when there’s a free crop of vol OSR or beans/peas with no disease issues from the vols ??
CC’s overwinter protecting soil and nutrient loss before a spring crop seem to be a good idea to me and works well here, often grazed off with sheep, slugs though are a diminishing issue here...

 

[CastleM]

Encouraging to hear slugs is a diminishing issue. Can you put it down to anything in particular? Do you have a low disturbance system or more convention tillage?

 

[Case290]

More of these I expect no till leaves the habitat for them I’ve definitely noticed more in a very short time.

 

[T Hectares]

Encouraging to hear slugs is a diminishing issue. Can you put it down to anything in particular? Do you have a low disturbance system or more convention tillage?

I think the main slug threat into WW diminished when we shifted drilling back a month, as for the other crops it must be a sign of improving soil health ??