One of the most important times to use cover crops is after corn harvested as silage leaving very little residue and the soil vulnerable to erosion in the winter and subsequent spring. There are many ways to plant cover crops, please go to this page to look at planting recommendations. Cover crop species recommendations change depending […]
Wisconsin’s short growing season doesn’t provide a lot of time for growing cover crops. However, the early harvest of winter wheat allows an excellent window for cover crops to grow, protect the soil and provide other benefits. Cover crop recommendations typically change depending on where you are in Wisconsin but because of the early harvest […]
While removal of old stands is recommended with fall applications, many fields are now slated for removal due to winter-kill. This can be challenging, but options exist depending on the situation. Below I discuss management options for common scenarios this spring.
Establishment of dense vigorous stands of alfalfa is essential for long-term profitability, but establishment can be challenging because seedling alfalfa is vulnerable to competition from annual weeds and wind and water erosion. Roundup Ready Alfalfa was re-introduced last year as a new tool available to farmers growing high-quality alfalfa. While not for everyone, it will be useful for many alfalfa growers.
UW-Madison Extension experts discuss selecting cover crops and questions that you should be to ask yourself to help clarify your goals for using cover crops.
Cover crops can provide many benefits for the soil in crop productions systems. Benefits can include conserving soil and water as well as improving the soil. Reduced Erosion An obvious effect of growing cover crops is covering the soil surface, which can significantly reduce the potential for wind and water erosion. This is particularly true […]
Interseeding (Drilling or broadcasting early season into standing crop) Establishing cover crops after corn and soybeans is a challenge in Wisconsin due to the minimal amount of growing season left after harvest. Interseeding a cover crop during the vegetative growth of these crops provides Wisconsin farmers a cover crop establishment method earlier in the season. […]
Wisconsin’s short growing season doesn’t provide a lot of time for growing cover crops. However, the early harvest of winter wheat allows an excellent window for cover crops to grow, protect the soil and provide other benefits. Cover crop recommendations typically change depending on where you are in Wisconsin but because of the early harvest […]
Step 1: Choose a representative 2-square-foot area in the field. Step 2: Determine the most mature stem in the 2-square-foot sampling area using the criteria shown in the table to the right. Step 3: Measure the length of the tallest stem in the 2-square-foot area. Measure if from the soil surface (next to plant crown) to the […]
Stress in the seeding year reduces future yields of alfalfa. This occurs because the seeding year determines the stand plant density as well as individual plant size and vigor. The following paragraphs will show that autotoxicity, potato leaf hopper, cover crop, and, possibly, drought stresses in the seeding year will reduce alfalfa yield in future years, even when the stress is gone.
Winter Injury occurs someplace in Wisconsin every year. Being able to diagnose and manage winter damaged stands may help prolong stand life and increase production. Below is a brief discussion on diagnosing and managing winter damaged alfalfa.
Properly constructed, a drive-over silage pile can provide efficient and economical silage storage. Proper design, filling, covering and feed-out is critical for optimizing silage dry matter recovery from a drive-over pile.
