Planting Crops into Cereal Rye When Soils are Cold and Wet
Many farmers have had difficulty getting crops planted due to cold, wet soils.. Farmers who planted cover crops are also struggling to figure out how and when to plant to maximize the grain crop yield. Often this involves getting the cover crop killed at the right time. When it is cold and wet, often the best strategy is to let the cover crop grow so it can dry out the soil. Farmers often have waited too long to plant the cover crop field because they think it is too wet, but generally, cover crops use evapotranspiration to remove water from the soil and the soil is actually drier 5-7 days earlier than conventional fields. That is a big advantage for using the cover crop. Planting 5-7 days earlier generally results in 5-7 bushels of more soybeans. However, if farmers wait too long, the soil gets too dry and hard, and then farmers may lose 5-7 bushels of soybeans. I really like to see soybeans coming up before killing the cereal rye unless the soil is getting too dry. Farmers have diffi
