Tag Archives: cover crops

How to Pull Nitrogen into Corn with Annual Ryegrass

Posted on January 22, 2019 by Tim Buckley

One of the dozen benefits from planting a cover crop like annual ryegrass is to sequester, or uptake, available nitrogen (N) in the soil. This is accomplished mostly by reducing the amount of N that leaches out of the field … Continue reading →

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Ryegrass, Good for a Climate Goin’ Through Some Changes

Posted on December 12, 2018 by Tim Buckley

Science tends to win out over guesswork. Few would disavow centuries of medical experience in favor of hocus-pocus and suspicions. Similarly, those with decades of working the soil tend to heed the sciences pertinent to agriculture, rather than winging it … Continue reading →

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Grass Roots are Important – Whether in Politics or in Cover Crops

Posted on November 13, 2018 by Tim Buckley

This recent election proved again why “grass roots” are important. More than colorful flyers and 30-second ads can ever do, grass roots is where democracy started, and continues to start each election cycle. The more money being thrown at negative … Continue reading →

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Recalling a Man Who Put Annual Ryegrass on the Cover Crop Map

Posted on October 17, 2018 by Tim Buckley

  Mike Plumer was a guy who made sure he knew what he was talking about before he’d open his mouth. He didn’t tout his academic degrees or his professional experience as much as giving you the benefit of his … Continue reading →

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Nitrogen and Carbon – Two More Benefits of Annual Ryegrass

Posted on September 26, 2018 by Tim Buckley

In the last blog post, we addressed the myth of annual ryegrass being hard to manage. Follow good control procedures and it is not an issue whatsoever. Two other assets of annual ryegrass: it creates a savings in expenditures for … Continue reading →

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The Myth of Annual Ryegrass as a Cover Crop

Posted on September 10, 2018 by Tim Buckley

They say, “It’s hard to control annual ryegrass”. As myths go, it’s tame. They used to say that “stepping on a crack would break your grandma’s back.” They used to think that spiders were bad luck. For 20 years now, … Continue reading →

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National Effort to Expand Use of Cover Crops

Posted on August 15, 2018 by Tim Buckley

The Foundation for Food and Agriculture Research launched a national effort to expand use of cover crops. Called the Healthy Soils, Thriving Farms initiative, the group includes the USDA as well. It is a collaborative, multi-partner research effort to improve soil health in the … Continue reading →

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Whipsaw Weather Calls for Prayers…and Cover Crops

Posted on July 27, 2018 by Tim Buckley

The coldest April on record to the hottest May on record…the Midwest can’t catch a break! Now mid-summer, people wonder whether more radical weather or trade and tariff issues will derail the current crops in the field. Perhaps this is … Continue reading →

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Understanding the Nitrogen Advantage of Annual Ryegrass

Posted on July 17, 2018 by Tim Buckley

Let’s review the facts about nitrogen, in the context of growing corn in the Midwest, and the connection to ryegrass as a cover crop. One, corn needs a lot of nitrogen, and if corn is planted year after year in … Continue reading →

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Annual Ryegrass as a Forage Crop

Posted on July 6, 2018 by Tim Buckley

The Alberta (Canada) Agriculture and Forestry department encourages livestock producers to plant annual ryegrass as a forage crop. Here’s a link to the entire article.  In essence, they say that ryegrass and other annual crops provide flexible feed sources for … Continue reading →

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