- Hairy vetch produces a large amount of biomass (2-3 tons/acre) and fixes a high amount of nitrogen (100+ lbs/acre). It has a wide planting window and is winter hardy. - Crimson clover varieties have different flowering times, ranging from 51 to 67 days after February 1st, with dry matter yields ranging from 1471 to 1946 lbs/acre. - Summer annual legumes like sesbania, sunn hemp, and cowpea can be planted following wheat and produce high amounts of biomass and fixed nitrogen. Sesbania produced 4051 lbs/acre of biomass with 79 lbs of fixed N.

2.  A lot of biomass-2-3
tons/acre
 Winter Hardy
 High Nitrogen Fixation-
100 plus lbs/acre
 Wide window of
planting
 August-mid October
 March
 Hard Seed, late
maturing
 Problem When Wheat
is in the Rotation

3.  Adapted from Gallagher, Penn State
2007 Hairy Vetch Corn Yield-0 N
Time lbs/acre %N N lbs/acre
Early (May 4) 1,400 3.82 55 113
Middle (May 15) 4,300 4.43 190 132
Late (May 31) 6,600 4.15 274 140
2008
Early (May 1) 3,204 2.49 80 92
Middle (May 14) 4,005 2.92 117 121
Late (May 29) 4,361 4.55 197 79

4. Early May Late May

5.  Large Biomass
 High N fixation-80-
120 lbs/acre
 Plant fall or early
spring
 Not as winter hardy
 Seedling Disease
problems

8.  Plant August-
September
 Early spring maturity
 Not as much biomass
as Hairy Vetch or Peas
 Can reseed
themselves

10.  Some New Varieties are 7-14 days earlier
Crimson Clover Days to 50% flowering Dry Matter yield
From February 1 lb/acre
Sunrise 51 1471
Robin 58 1587
Tibbee 67 1946
Chief 65 1921
Dixie 66 1872
Courtesy of Auburn University

12.  Following Wheat
 Summer Annual
Legumes
 Sunn Hemp
 Sesbania
 Cowpea
Cowpea

13. Sesbania Sunn Hemp

14.  Summer Cover Crops lb/acre %N lb N/acre
 Sesbania 4051 1.97 79
 Sunn Hemp 5097 1.87 83
 Cowpea 3325 2.47 81
From MU Bradford Research Center 2012

16.  Each Species of
Legume has a
Different Species of
Bacteria
 You must match them
together.

18.  Very Short Growing
season-60 days
 Some Weed Control-
Allelopathy
 Inexpensive Seed-
much like wheat or rye
 Attract Beneficial
Insects
 Many uses for
Vegetable production
 Nutrient Cycling

19.  Inexpensive Seed
 Rye is very winter hardy
 Spring Oats is not winter
hardy and will winter
kill-can be used to our
advantage
 Rye tremendous dry
matter
 Suppress weeds
 Allelopathy or Blocking
Light
 Good to mix with
legumes

20.  Plant in Fall
 Overwinter-most of
the time
 Deep Roots-5-6 ft
 Scavenge Nitrogen
 Dense matt controls
weeds
 Can become a weed!
 Herbicide resistance
problem

21.  Late Summer Planted
 Sequester Nitrogen
 Loosen Soil
 Weed Control?

22. 5.75 lbs
0.75 lbs

23. Fall
Spring

24. Nutrient Scavenge, Loosen Soil, Weed
Control

25. Tillage Radish Root dug out-32”
Courtesy of Steve Groff-Pennsylvania

26. Ohio State Loosen Soil-
University
Courtesy of Increase root
Steve Groff growth and
Open water
field
infiltration?
Tillage
Radish®
field
Soil compaction
decreased by >40%

29. Depth pHs OM P Ca Mg K CEC Mn
Inches % lb/acre lb/acre lb/acre lb/acre meq/100g ppm
0-3 5.6 4.2 16 3393 279 170 12.4 25.2
3-9 6.0 3.2 8 4211 318 85 14 25.0
9-12 6.0 2.5 7 3513 480 136 13.5 4.3
12-18 5.4 2.4 3 5459 1262 285 23.8 0.1
18-24 4.8 2.2 1 4598 1393 340 23.7 0.7
24-29 5.1 1.6 16 5101 1525 308 24 16.2
29-36 5.4 0.9 28 3728 906 267 16.4 35.4
36-48 5.7 0.9 32 4102 1244 244 17.8 26.0
From MU Bradford-2012

30. K content ppm
Crop 0-3 inch 3-6 inch 6-12 inch
none 105 b 100 ab 109 a
Rye 97 b 89 c 96 ab
Crimson Clover 96 b 72 d 71 c
Hairy Vetch 127 a 108 a 86 bc
From Hargrove, 1986. Agronomy Journal

31.  Rye and Radish can capture 100 or more
lbs/acre of N
Shoot Dry wt Root Dry Wt Shoot N Content Root N Content Shoot N Root N
After Corn lbs lbs % % lbs lbs
Radish 2165 2599 1.86 1.15 39.3 30
Rye 1757 2.39 37.9
After Soybean
Radish 3345 1989 3.93 3.12 132 62
Rye 2545 3.94 100
From Dean and Weil, 2009 Journal of Environmental Quality

33. Brief

34.  Hairy Vetch-$2.0/lb or $40-60/acre
 Austrian Winter Pea-$0.73/lb or $29-44/acre
 Crimson Clover-$1.2/lb or $24/acre
 Radish-$4 lb or $32/acre
 Cereal Rye-$0.23 or $14-21/acre
 Annual Rye-$0.80 or $16/acre
 Sunn Hemp-$2.5/lb or $50-75/acre
 Sesbania-$2.4/lb or $48/acre

35.  Hairy Vetch-$40@ 100 lb N/acre=$0.40/lb
 Austrian Winter Pea-$29@80 lb
N/acre=$0.36/lb
 Crimson Clover-$24@75 lb N/acre=$0.32/lb
 Sunn Hemp-$50@80 lb N/acre=$0.62/lb
 Sesbania-$48@80 N/acre=$0.60/lb

37.  Divide monoculture
seeding by number of
species:
 Ex) Hairy Vetch-30
lb/acre, Cereal Rye-90
lb/acre, Austrian
Winter Pea-60 lb/acre
in monoculture
 When mixed: Hairy
Vetch-10 lb/acre, Cereal
Rye 30 lb/acre, and
Austrian Winter Pea-20
lb/acre

41. Table 1. Typical herbicide rates, sensitive species, half- life, and potential for carryover injury to
sensitive crops (carryover potential based on half lives and soil availability). Herbicide half-life
estimates derived from the WSSA Herbicide Handbook, 2007 or other scientific literature.
Herbicide Typical rate/acre Sensitive species Half life (days) Carryover potential
Accent 2/3 oz brdlfs+grass 21 Low
Assure/Targa 8 oz grass 60 Low
Atrazine 1 lb brdlfs+grass 60 Moderate
Authority 4 oz brdlfs 32-302 Moderate
Balance Pro 2 fl oz brdlfs+grass 50-120 Moderate
Callisto 6 fl oz brdlfs 5-32 Moderate
Classic 2 oz brdlfs 40 Moderate
Dual II Mag 1.67 pt brdlfs+grass 15-50 Low
FirstRate 0.33 oz brdlfs 8-33 Low
Harmony 1/8 oz brdlfs 12 Low
Harness 2 pt brdlfs+grass 10-20 Low
Impact 0.75 fl oz brdlfs+grass 14 Low
Laudis 3 fl oz brdlfs+grass 14 Low
Outlook 16 fl oz brdlfs+grass 20 Low
Peak 1 oz brdlfs 9-152 Moderate
Permit 2/3 oz brdlfs 9-27 Low
Prowl H2O 3 pt brdlfs+grass 44 Low
Pursuit 4 fl oz brdlfs+grass 60-90 Moderate
Raptor 5 fl oz brdlfs+grass 20-30 Low
Reflex 1.5 pt brdlfs 100 Moderate
Resolve 2 oz brdlfs+grass 2-4 Low
Select 10 oz grass 3 None
Sencor 0.33 lb brdlfs+grass 14-60 Low
Sharpen 3 fl oz brdlfs 7-35 Low
Simazine 1 lb brdlfs+grass 60 Moderate
Stinger 5 oz brdlfs 40 Moderate
Valor 2.5 oz brdlfs 12-20 Low

49. 8/25/12 10 lbs./ac. Ryegrass broadcast
8/27/12 5 lbs./ac. Radish planted
10/19/21 Photos
Ellis and Hoorman, 2012

57. Bio Strip-till
Spring, Steve Groff

58. Plant Into the Radish and
Then Kill the Ryegrass

61. Cereal Rye and Hairy Vetch Oats and Hairy Vetch Overseeded
Overseeded into Corn on September Into Corn on September 6th 2011
6th 2011

62. Crimson Clover overseeded into Crimson Clover drilled into soybean
Corn on September 6th 2011 Residue on October 12

64. 1200-1500 lbs/acre 2,000 lbs/acre

65. 2-5,000 lb/are depending upon the year

67. Courtesy of Penn State Extension, 2012

68. 100
Corn germination when planted into rye cover crop
90
80
70
Plant count per 10 feet
60
50
40
30
20
10
0
chop roll chop roll chop roll chop roll
before cc destroyed same day cc destroyed 1 week after cc destroyed 2 weeks after cc destroyed
From MU Bradford Research Center, 212

73. DAY OF DESICCATION 5 DAYS LATER
Flailed Rolled Rolled Flailed

74. PLANT PERPENDICULAR TO SEED TO SOIL CONTACT
THE WAY IT WAS ROLLED CAN BE A CHALLENGE

77. From Wagger, 1989. Agronomy Journal
100
90
80
70
60
lbs/acre
50 Rye
40 Crimson Clover
30
Hairy Vetch
20
10
0
2 4 8 12 16
Weeks

78. From Wagger, 1989, Agronomy Journal

79. Cover Crop Harvest Time Dry Wt N Concentration N C:N
Total
lbs/acre % lbs/acre
Rye Early 6355 1.49 94 27:1
Rye Late 8144 1.25 101 32:1
Crimson Clover Early 3827 2.76 106 14:1
Crimson Clover Late 5260 2.48 131 16:1
Hairy Vetch Early 3720 3.69 131 11:1
Hairy Vetch Late 6337 3.22 204 12:1
From Wagger, 1989. Agronomy Journal

81. May Corn Grain Sorghum
Missouri 1997-1999Cover Crop Cover Crop Fertilizer N Fertilizer N
Cover Crop Seeding rate Dry Matter Equivalent Equivalent
lb/acre lb/acre lb/acre
Hairy Vetch 30 1744 37.3 54.8
Hairy Vetch 20 1451 40.2 46.5
Austrian Winter Pea 60 712 26.4 35.1
Austrian Winter Pea 40 757 33.6 6.5
HV+Oat 30+90 1197 28.5 40.9
HV+Oat 20+90 1059 18.6 21.7
AWP+Oat 60+90 990 -24.2 15
AWP+Oat 40+90 481 -16.8 -3.6
Oat 90 0 -24.5 -4.2
From Reinbott, et al, 2004. Agronomy Journal

82.  Weed Control
 Smothering or
Allelopathy
 Soil Health
-soil microbes
 If no-till: soil and
water conservation

83. From Steve Groff
Cover Crop No Cover Crop

85. 1991-2003
CORN-SOYBEAN MULCH-TILL 2003-2012 NO-TILL + COVER CROP
Soybean-Wheat
Soybean-Corn

86. Centralia 88-Acre Research Field

87.  Better Water
Infiltration
 Nutrient Cycling
 Root Development

88.  Bacteria-100
million-1 Billion!
 Fungal Filaments-
Several Yards
 Protoza-Several
Thousand
 Nematodes-10-20

90.  Tillage Cereal
 Time No Cover Radish Rye
 %
 Late Fall 96 0 0
 Late March 99 3 1
 Late April 75 37 0
From Lawley, et al, 2011. Agronomy Journal

92.  Cover Crop Broad Grasses Peren. Total
 2007 Number/ft2
 Hairy Vetch 1.2 2.1 6.8 10.4
 None 1.8 8.0 9.9 20.1
 2008
 Hairy Vetch 0.7 0.7 0.6 2.0
 None 5.1 6.3 0.9 12.3
 From Mischler, et al 2010 Agronomy Journal

94.  Corn/Soybean
 Corn/rye/Soybean/radish+oats
 Corn/rye+legume/Soybean/polyculture including
legumes
 Corn/Corn-plant early
 Overseed oats+radish or oats+radish+crimson clover
 Corn/Soybean/Wheat
 Similar to above except after wheat follow a tropical
legume such as sunn hemp, cowpea, and then other
cover crops in the fall