Too early for covers?

[farmerfred86]

I've had some bare stubble for a couple of weeks now. The weather is too dry to drill any covers but anything I plant in the next few weeks will run to seed before the autumn and need to be destroyed?
Should I wait until mid august or even later? Catch crop is usually mustard, linseed sunflower pre winter beans. Cover crop I would drill later anyway...

 

[ajd132]

I think the drills will get wrecked with it being so dry around here

 

[steveR]

I think the drills will get wrecked with it being so dry around here

Like pretty well everywhere??

 

[martian]

Not too early, but too dry for covers atm...mind you the moon is waxing, so...

 

[yellow belly]

In a previous dry year with an early harvest

i delayed planting osr because it as so dry rain second week of September drilled the rape by mid October it was as big and forward as an earlier crop in a wetter year

imho a cover will utilise the available nitrogen
if it is big by autumn it is because of the nitrogen that is made available when dry warm soil has enough moisture but not too much to was it deeper than the cover crop roots

summer cover crops need planting when soil will give enough moisture to germinate them which with notill is a remarkably small amount even on dry heavy land
break the soil up and it take a lot to get a crop growing (in the past I have spent to many years bashing dry clods for days to get the seed bed for it to be dry for a month or more after drilling )

 

[Flatlander]

drilled two fields into cover crops to recycle nutrients as both field were too wet to plant in time for them to mature before frost. One went to oats and soybeans because had seed available the other went to sorghum Sudan grass. Oats were up and looking strong in 5 days. Sorghum Sudan grass the rows could be seen in four. Perfect conditions for growth now.