Grass Cover Crop Seeding Rate

Select cover crops planting dates and seeding rates using either the table1 located on pg.

Grass cover crop seeding rate.

Teff grass cover crops are a warm season annual grass native to ethiopia. Higher seeding rates will increase grain yield but not forage yield. A bushel of rye is 56 lbs. Cover crop oats establishes easily grows well under a wide range of conditions avoid high seeding rates to reduce competion to alfalfa recommended seeding rate is 1 bu 32 lb per acre.

Medium red clover. Sorghum sudan grass or sorghum sudangrass is a fast growing cover crop with an extensive root system that thrives in the heat of summer. Cover crop planting specification guide nh 340. Lbs per acre lbs alfalfa.

4 of the cover crop standard or table 2b and figure 1 at the end of this guide. It does a fine job of holding soil taking up excess n and outcompeting weeds. Our selection of trusted brands include bio till grassland and oregon. Plant height at maturity is typically 3 4 ft but varies depending on variety and environmental conditions.

Selecting cover crops. Teff grasses are fine stemmed with large crowns and many tillers. Roots are shallow and develop a massive fibrous root system. A quick growing non spreading bunch grass annual ryegrass is a reliable versatile performer almost anywhere assuming adequate moisture and fertility.

Annual ryegrass lolium multiflorum also called italian ryegrass is a valuable cover crop planting annual ryegrass as a cover crop allows the dense roots to catch excess nitrogen and help break up hard soils. It is important to note that cover crop mixtures express themselves very differently based on season and location. If rye is intended to be used as a late fall forage or spring pasture seeding rate can be increased to a range of 1 2. Ryegrass cover crops are fast growing in cool seasons.

Ensure that crops are compatible with the cropping system and soils. Generally this is equivalent to approximately 1 bushel rye seed acre for crop production. If you want to build soil without investing much in a cover crop consider annual ryegrass. Higher seeding rates will add stress on the alfalfa seedlings.

After seeing the success cover crops have had in our own operations we dedicated ourselves to educating and helping others do the same. For cover crop 40 lbs acre is good rate for new growers. This provides about 12 seeds per square foot. The final seeding rate for each species is then carried over and sum up for a total of 95 pounds of cover crop seed per acre.

You ll notice that i rounded up some values for practicality. It excels at suppressing weeds.