I've just seen in the SW6 winter cover crop guidance that it is prohibited to apply fertiliser or manure. I thought one of the best places for FYM was prior to winter cover crop followed by spring cereal?!
No manure allowed before SW6 winter cover crop
- Thread starter SpottedFlycatcher
- Start date
- Location
- Exe Valley
Well I guess since it is for water quality then any fertiliser is evil, soil health not thought about
Best place for manure is infront of a winter wheat crop. I initially balked at this then realised why would I waste chicken muck and sludge on a cover crop followed by a low nutrient requirement spring crop? SW6, spring oats, chicken muck/sludge, wheat.
OK thanks, that would be our usual approach but we are starting a new rotation and wanted some muck after barley. Rotation will be. WW > WB > SW6 + low input spring wheat > GS4 > GS4 > FYM before WW. It was more a query about prohibiting muck before SW6 as its supposed to be a good place for FYM to make N available in spring especially if cover crops can be grazed. Frédéric Thomas has written about this recently
Nearly
Member
- Location
- North of York
If you've enough muck to put some on before a cover crop then why not do it?
Plants do the same job of collecting nutrients whether they are used as a cover or a crop.
Daft rule.
Plants do the same job of collecting nutrients whether they are used as a cover or a crop.
Daft rule.
Have you got a written justification for autumn N before a winter wheat crop from a FACTS registered advisor? Under the Farming Rules for Water which are now law, you will need to justify this, though no till & crop residue breakdown would helps. Just saying...
https://www.gov.uk/government/publi...or-water/applying-the-farming-rules-for-water
The SW6 rule is daft. I guess it's just to mitigate overwinter leaching if the cover crop is thin & they don't want to do anything that promotes manure application. The RPA want the cover crop to sequester any residual soil N.