Part 1, Section 10: Cover Crops

Section 10 Table of Contents

Cover Crops in Pennsylvania

Cover Crops

TIPS FOR NO-TILL PLANTING INTO COVER CROPS:

  1. Good residue cover is essential for notill. Cover crops should therefore be an integral part of no-till systems that would otherwise have low crop residue cover.
  2. Kill the cover crop at least 2 weeks before planting the main crop to avoid early moisture stress for the main crop as well as other problems.
  3. Plant into a standing cover crop. This will limit hairpinning. You can roll, shred, or mow the cover crop after planting, although it is not necessary.
  4. Do not use a planter with a shoe seed opener when planting into cover crops. The shoe planter will drag cover crops all over the field. Use disk openers instead.
  5. Do not use fingered row cleaners in heavy cover crops. The cover crop will wrap around the fingered row cleaners, creating many problems. Either do not use row cleaners, or use disks.
  6. Between-row cultivating of no-till corn will stimulate decomposition of the dead cover crop and release of nitrogen at the time of maximum nitrogen demand of corn.