b'COVER CROP CORNERSetting Goals in Cover CroppingA Key to SuccessWHERE ARE YOU GOING?How soon do you wantBroadcasting rates need to compensate for higher to get there? These are questions we need to ask beforeseedling mortality. Higher rates will be required we head out on a journey. This goes for a managementif planning on postharvest grazing or for weed journey also.suppression for either broadcasting or drilling. As In mapping out your plan, you have three optionsa rule, legume cover crops can be seeded at higher but only get to pick two. Good, fast, and inexpensive. Ifrates than grasses or broadleaf without causing a yield you want something thats good and fast, it most likelypenalty in the cash crop, as long as the legume does wont be cheap. If something is good and inexpensive,not get too tall nor smother the cash crop. Legumes it may not be fast to get done. Of course, the relativityhave co-evolved with grasses so they play nice with KEVIN ELMY,and importance of each will be in the eyes of theeach other in a mix.is founder of Coverbeholder.Crops Canada. His book CoverWhen it comes to cover cropping, setting goals Cropping inshould be the first thing that needs to be tackled. Not Western Canada ishaving a plan for your cover crop is like saying youllNot having a plan for your available through Friesen Press,grow a cereal grain crop in the field, plant oat andcover crop is like saying youll Amazon, and digitally throughwonder why the barley maltsters wont accept it for a Apple Books,grow a cereal grain crop in the malting contract. Kindle, and Google Play. For moreOnce goals have been set then species, seedingfield, plant oat and wonder info on Coverrates, seeding date, and other management decisions Crops Canada visitwhy the barley maltsters wont covercrops.ca can be made to maximize the benefits of the cover crop. Climate will be a large influence on the success ofaccept it for a malting contract.the cover crop, but lets make sure the variables we canKevin Elmy influence are covered the best we can.What goals can we pick? Usually, we want to strengthen our system; the chain is only as strong as the weakest link. We want to look at our system, soils, plants, animals, water, nutrients, and production to see what needs to be addressed. Several symptoms can beThe biggest challenges when starting into cover related back to a common issue. Low grain yield cancropping are choosing the species that will get the job be influenced by poor soil nutrients, compaction, lowdone while creating the least amount of issues and water infiltration, low active soil biology, low watermaximizing benefits. For example, radish are famous infiltration and low water retention, to name a few.for breaking up hardpan, but because they are a We need to be able to identify an issue as a symptomBrassica theyre nutrient scavengers and will compete or a root cause. Attempting to fixing a symptom mayfor nutrients with your cash crop, and they will bolt not make the problem to go away. If compaction is anafter about 40 days of growth, creating a potential issue issue thats not allowing the plant to root properly towhen harvesting. They need to be seeded so they do access soil nutrients and water, adding more fertilizernot bolt before harvest or seeded postharvest. without addressing the compaction may not resultCover cropping doesnt have to be overly in much of a yield response. We need to be able tocomplicated. Its complex, which nature is. Some of identify the root causes of our issues. the keys are using multiple functional plant groups. Once the goals have be set, then species can beNamely, grass, legume, Brassica, non-Brassica and forb, picked based on when they grow, how they grow, whatof which there are cool and warm species, annual, other plants are growing with them, root type, last cropbiennial and perennial species of most groups. and next crop. We want to maximize synergies andHaving a plan in place before pulling the trigger on minimize any antagonisms and future contaminations.cover cropping reduces the stress and increases the Seeding rates of the cover crop will reflect your goalschances for success. Successful cover cropping means and how its to be seeded.solving that issue and getting ready to tackle the next. 40SPUDSMART.COM Spring 2023'