Strip-Till Discussion: Are You Using Cover Crops?

The recently launched Strip-Till Farmer email discussion group gives people in the strip-till community an easy way to connect with each other and exchange ideas with strip-tillers across the country. Click HERE to sign up and join the conversation.

Let's get to our question of the week.

Are you using cover crops in your operation and if so, how are you doing it? 

A: We started using cereal rye about 10 years ago after our sugarbeet harvest to try and get something established for wind erosion through the open winters we've been having in Minnesota. Very few years do we get any fall growth but it is always there in the spring to help with the strong winds we can have. We still do this today and have added broadcasting rye on cornstalks going to soybeans as well.

In the spring, we plant directly into the rye. We also tried interseeding into corn at V6 as we sidedressed but could not get anything to survive our 22-inch rows, and shading out in August. We sprayed about 45 pounds of rye per acre in the fall with a Terragator and a spinner box. 

      - Brian Ryberg, Buffalo Lake, Minn. 

What are your thoughts? Click here to share your answer in the Strip-Till Farmer email discussion group.