Hi Jack, I have said the same as you regarding reduction of evaporation, your absolutely correct using cover cropping, there's also Grid style planting, I plot my fields, row and spaces, the tighter the Rows, the less evaporation, The Canopy created from the close knit field of corn, works incredible for me, I also recommend rototilling, I feed my Microbial "Underworld" with rototilling, Sequestration of compost. The Microbial, "Underworld" thrives on it, every day its Thanksgiving for them and they reward me by fertilizing my fields. They Defecate under ground, which add nitrogen in small quantity's, Thrifty, sort of I guess. Earth worms, thrive in this environment, I had to Plant earth worms, I buy them from the Bait store, dig one hole, a foot round, same deep, I plant them, off they go, the soil percolates so much better, Less runoff, less soil erosion, much better percolation of rain water, even irrigation water with all the holes those worms make. Worms are part of The microbial "Underworld" I referred too as well, just not so microscopic, they defecate too, adding more nutrients to your soil, and its, sequestered, Buried, right where you need it, its at the roots of the plants where its most important. less volatilization, That's the evaporation of nutrients any of you folks reading, maybe learning I hope, its fun, its at the roots were its most important. all part of cover cropping too, covers grow better, Cash crops flourish, Roto tilling vegetation into the soil Retains moisture for the Cash crop to Draw from, soil quality improves, available nutrients sky rocket, yields go up exponentially when you Rototill and cover crop, from my experience, my cover crops come back with my cash crop, My cover crops are almost all "Sprigs" or "sprigable" plants, Rototilling plus Cover cropping your fields, will get you your desired results. Sequestration, which is Rototilling of vegetation, straws, cover crops, etc. into the soil. Get that vegetation into the ground to decompose. Composting, Rototilling, Sequestration, Cover cropping and rototilling in lay terms is like adding "Bait to a mouse trap" we need the Underworld of microbes, to attract them, use "Bait" ex. Proven composting techniques of your choosing, I love rototilling, it saves so much money and labor, Cover crops die off annually, decompose on the top of the soil. they release their nutrients which percolate with rain slowly back into the soil, year after year passively! Rototilling Compost However!!! decomposes compost radically It macerates the compost into tiny pieces, which decompose much faster, build up the soil faster, solid to vapor , called volatilization, takes place much faster, Its also much more manageable "bite" size pieces for our Microbial "Underworld" Composting, Rototilling, Cover cropping equate to Decomposition, soil enhancement, better water retention, better Growth of Cash crops. It is giving back to the environment, when you give back, You Get Back. I hope this was useful to someone, Thanks Jack for sharing, Your the only person, I ever heard talk about reducing evaporation. It Validated me. Thank you Warren
What if you took a 15 inch soybean seeder or 12 inch and seeded one row corn and the other a leguminous cover crop. I would say a clover would be best for slow early growth and shade tolerance but maybe vetch is good too. Balansa red and crimson clover sound like good candidates.
Matthew Niedbala I’m sure going to try this next year. We started w cover crops 3 years ago and as w almost everyone in the south, had the wettest harvest last year we’ve ever had. Heartbreaking bc we were just seeing a big buildup of organic matter and soil cover and dog‘on if we didn’t have to disc all 500 acres this year bc of ruts from combine.
Hi Jack, I have said the same as you regarding reduction of evaporation, your absolutely correct using cover cropping, there's also Grid style planting, I plot my fields, row and spaces, the tighter the Rows, the less evaporation, The Canopy created from the close knit field of corn, works incredible for me, I also recommend rototilling, I feed my Microbial "Underworld" with rototilling, Sequestration of compost. The Microbial, "Underworld" thrives on it, every day its Thanksgiving for them and they reward me by fertilizing my fields. They Defecate under ground, which add nitrogen in small quantity's, Thrifty, sort of I guess. Earth worms, thrive in this environment, I had to Plant earth worms, I buy them from the Bait store, dig one hole, a foot round, same deep, I plant them, off they go, the soil percolates so much better, Less runoff, less soil erosion, much better percolation of rain water, even irrigation water with all the holes those worms make. Worms are part of The microbial "Underworld" I referred too as well, just not so microscopic, they defecate too, adding more nutrients to your soil, and its, sequestered, Buried, right where you need it, its at the roots of the plants where its most important. less volatilization, That's the evaporation of nutrients any of you folks reading, maybe learning I hope, its fun, its at the roots were its most important. all part of cover cropping too, covers grow better, Cash crops flourish, Roto tilling vegetation into the soil Retains moisture for the Cash crop to Draw from, soil quality improves, available nutrients sky rocket, yields go up exponentially when you Rototill and cover crop, from my experience, my cover crops come back with my cash crop, My cover crops are almost all "Sprigs" or "sprigable" plants, Rototilling plus Cover cropping your fields, will get you your desired results. Sequestration, which is Rototilling of vegetation, straws, cover crops, etc. into the soil. Get that vegetation into the ground to decompose. Composting, Rototilling, Sequestration, Cover cropping and rototilling in lay terms is like adding "Bait to a mouse trap" we need the Underworld of microbes, to attract them, use "Bait" ex. Proven composting techniques of your choosing, I love rototilling, it saves so much money and labor, Cover crops die off annually, decompose on the top of the soil. they release their nutrients which percolate with rain slowly back into the soil, year after year passively! Rototilling Compost However!!! decomposes compost radically It macerates the compost into tiny pieces, which decompose much faster, build up the soil faster, solid to vapor , called volatilization, takes place much faster, Its also much more manageable "bite" size pieces for our Microbial "Underworld" Composting, Rototilling, Cover cropping equate to Decomposition, soil enhancement, better water retention, better Growth of Cash crops. It is giving back to the environment, when you give back, You Get Back. I hope this was useful to someone, Thanks Jack for sharing, Your the only person, I ever heard talk about reducing evaporation. It Validated me. Thank you Warren
"What are you going to do when you get a drought?" Says the bare soil row cropper to the cover crop guy. LOL.
What if you took a 15 inch soybean seeder or 12 inch and seeded one row corn and the other a leguminous cover crop. I would say a clover would be best for slow early growth and shade tolerance but maybe vetch is good too. Balansa red and crimson clover sound like good candidates.
Matthew Niedbala I’m sure going to try this next year. We started w cover crops 3 years ago and as w almost everyone in the south, had the wettest harvest last year we’ve ever had. Heartbreaking bc we were just seeing a big buildup of organic matter and soil cover and dog‘on if we didn’t have to disc all 500 acres this year bc of ruts from combine.
There is a guy that did that with tillage radishes and cow peas planted corn row on radish row
A ROWBOT, that is awesome