In our latest edition of the No-Till Farmer Newsletter, you may have seen our No-Till Innovator Special Report which includes tips and advice from expert no-tillers, agronomists and researchers. Here’s one agronomist we interviewed for the report who had some interesting notes about best practices for cover crop planting and termination timing.

“Coming into spring and trying to decide on when to terminate cover crops. You know that can be a touchy decision there because if we leave that growing cover crop too long and it does get dry, it's just pulling moisture transpiration pulling moisture out of the ground, right? So if we terminate at the right time, it can have the opposite effect and be a blanket and hold moisture in our mulch. Now, if it gets wet in the spring, which is often the case as well, terminating too early can have an adverse effect, right? Where we've got a mulch over the soil holding that moisture in, it keeps raining, it's too wet to get in the field and plant. So there's always kind of a fine line between when's the right time to terminate. And that's just some hurdles, some extra management decisions there when it comes to a cover crop farmer versus a non-co crop farmer.”

“Just be aware when you're selecting cover crops to establish in the fall — just be aware of how easy they are to terminate. Some cover crops are harder to terminate, requiring a higher use rate of certain herbicides. Just know what herbicides those are and are they compatible with your crop you're planning to plant in the spring.”

Be sure to check out the No-Till Innovator report whether it be your physical copy or the digital download of the report at no till farmer dot com to learn more from experts in the world of no-till.