Cereal Rye and Slugs
It’s a typical Ohio spring. Sporadic rains, followed by a few days of sunshine, then more drizzle. Farmers are trying to get crops planted, but progress varies. Under these conditions, cereal rye is growing fast which can help dry out soils but tends to shade newly planted crops. Second, with a warm winter and fairly warm spring with rain, slugs and voles (field mice) are flourishing. Weeds are also growing because it is too wet to spray all the fields. Here are some tips to deal with these problems. Cover crops, especially cereal rye, outcompete many troublesome weeds but the cover crop needs to be terminated. Most farmers will kill the cover crop with herbicides but crimper crop rollers can terminate naturally and if the crop is tall, get it on the ground. Once it is on the ground, it will hold moisture and keep soil temperatures cooler going into summer. Cereal rye is a natural fit for soybeans but is more difficult to manage with corn. Soybeans thrive on the nutrient