Next year I have 14.5 acres going into a CP25 CRP planting of NWSG's and native forbs. The field was planted in corn this year.
In the spring I plan to disc the (new) waterways and plant them in brome and oats, then hope like heck we dont have any gully-washers for a while. I'm not sure what to do for prep work, if any, on the rest of the field.
So far these are the options that have been suggested:
A. Just drill the new CRP into the corn stubble and do nothing else. (supposed to cause the least erosion, I could have the stalks chopped in the fall if that would be helpful)
B. Disc the corn stubble in and cultipack before planting in the spring. (would probably make the best seed bed?)
Which method do you think would give me the best results? Also, do any of you plant oats as a cover crop for your NWSG plantings? I would like to use a cover crop to hopefully cut down on weeds and erosion, but that may also shade out the native forbs in the mix?
In the spring I plan to disc the (new) waterways and plant them in brome and oats, then hope like heck we dont have any gully-washers for a while. I'm not sure what to do for prep work, if any, on the rest of the field.
So far these are the options that have been suggested:
A. Just drill the new CRP into the corn stubble and do nothing else. (supposed to cause the least erosion, I could have the stalks chopped in the fall if that would be helpful)
B. Disc the corn stubble in and cultipack before planting in the spring. (would probably make the best seed bed?)
Which method do you think would give me the best results? Also, do any of you plant oats as a cover crop for your NWSG plantings? I would like to use a cover crop to hopefully cut down on weeds and erosion, but that may also shade out the native forbs in the mix?