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Best/cheapest spring cover crop for future fall turnip plots?

IowaBowHunter1983

IowaBowHunter1983

Well-Known Member
Staff member
(Sorry if this is already posted somewhere)

I am wondering about others opinions on the best & preferably inexpensive spring cover crop. I am in the process of prepping several new plots that will be purple top turnips. Currently it is useless scrub brush that is neither food nor bedding. I am just looking for something I can plant that will get me to August to prevent erosion and excessive weed growth. I am not overly concerned about actually providing a spring food source as I have a lot of clover that will get the deer to soybean season. (maybe annual clover is the answer)

Thanks.
 
I have gone with cheap, red clover in the past just to cover the "gap" you too are facing. It's easy to frost seed, the deer will use it this spring and summer and it will give you some nitrogen boost too.

Although I have never used it myself yet, I am considering trying some buckwheat this year in almost this exact same scenario.
 
Check out berseem clover or crimson clover, both are annual clovers and grow very fast and produce a lot of great growth to till into the soil for brassicas. Welters Seed carries both.
 
If you went to frost seed clover in s couple weeks on last years brassica plots how heavy would a guy put it 20 lbs per acre?
 
*note: you cannot frost seed berseem clover. It best planted in late April/early May

Right now if I were to frostseed clover with intentions of turning it into brassicas this year I'd just get a cheap red clover and Paul reccomended 8-12#s of red clover per acre if planting it using convetional methods, more if frost seeding. I'd say 20#s is plenty if you're frost seeding, you could cut it back a bit if you wanted.
 
chipterp said:
If you went to frost seed clover in s couple weeks on last years brassica plots how heavy would a guy put it 20 lbs per acre?
Click to expand...

I think you could get reasonable people to disagree on this one, but when I have just been trying to cover a spent brassica field from March/April to late July/early August, I have frost seeded red clover in the 8-10#/acre range and been happy with it. But that assumes you are hitting fairly bare ground, which is normally the case.

If I am trying to make a really nice clover field that I plan on having around for much longer than 3-4 months until I plow it down for brassicas, etc, then I would up that rate and depending on how bare, or not, the ground is, I may even double it to 20#/acre if the soil is "trashy" on top.

Although I have never tried it personally, I am pretty sure that Paul(Dbltree) recommended against frost seeding berseem clover. Red and white...all day long, but not berseem, as far as frost seeding. My recollection is that berseem was a very good spring clover option, but just not to frost seed it.
 
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