Pennsylvania no-tiller and cover crop expert Steve Groff says the general rule of thumb in Pennsylvania is that the first killing frost is around Oct. 20, and a traditional hairy vetch plant date would be Oct. 1 or roughly 3 weeks before the first average killing frost date. But for Groff’s Winter King hairy vetch, there is more wiggle room for the planting date. 

“I planted Winter King into November, and it still survived,” Groff says. “Not 100%, but it survives. It does depend on the intensity of that given winter, but we have made a huge leap in terms of survivability when you plant it that late. If we knew exactly what the winter was going to be like — colder than normal or warmer than normal — we could make exact decisions, but hey, that’s farming.”

Groff says the seeding rate depends on a few different factors. For no-tillers who have never planted hairy vetch before, he recommends 20-25 pounds per acre as a good starting rate. He also strongly recommends planting the hairy vetch with a companion crop, a common agricultural practice of planting a crop grown alongside another crop to gain some advantage in yield or crop protection from pests or the elements.

“If you plant hairy vetch with spring oats, for example, and if you get that planted early enough in the fall that it grows, the oats will protect the hairy vetch from the cold weather,” Groff says. “That’s a strategy that you can use to get away with planting a little later and having a higher percentage of survivability. I always recommend a companion crop of some sort.”

Groff says the hardest year to grow hairy vetch is typically the first year. It gets easier each subsequent year, allowing no-tillers to reduce seeding rates by 20-25% after 1-2 years.

“Hairy vetch usually has 3-5% hard seeds, meaning those seeds will not germinate the 1st year and maybe not even the 2nd year either,” Groff says. “So, when you plant hairy vetch, 3-5% of it will come up later down the road. If you choose to plant hairy vetch, you might as well put it on the deed to your farm because it’s going to be there for years to come.”

To learn more about how Groff’s King Hairy Vetch does on his farm, read Mackane Vogel’s article “Steve Groff’s Winter King Hairy Vetch Survives Multiple Freeze-Thaw Cycles” on Cover Crop Strategies.