Interseeded cover crop and corn experiment is going well

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Interseeded cover crop and corn experiment is going well

A researcher is very optimistic about potential yields for both corn and the interseeded cover crop.

Jamie Patton with the University of Wisconsin’s Nutrient and Pest Management Program has several test plots at Peninsula Research Station near Sturgeon Bay. She tells Brownfield, “We got the cover crop on at V4, perfect timing with rain, and what we’re seeing is lush vegetative growth of that interseeded cover crops providing a great cover.”

And she’s very optimistic about what the yields will be. “I’m keeping my fingers crossed that we can bring this to maturity, but looking at somewhere in that 200-plus range bushels per acre in these interseeded cover crops.”

Patton says she used 30, 60, and twin-30 inch corn rows with a 60-inch gap. “We’re looking at can we grow some nitrogen in those rows between that 60-inch gap, and then move the corn over next year and see if we can get a nitrogen credit so some innovative things that were brought to me by farmers and farmer-led groups in the area, so I’m listening to my clientele and giving it a whirl.”

The twin 30-inch corn has a heavy mix of legumes including cowpeas, crimson clover, hairy vetch, and cereal rye.  Some of the plots are interseeded with annual ryegrass, brassicas, legumes, and broadleaves including flax and sunflower, and she says the brassicas have really grown. 

Jamie Patton discusses corn and cover crop research plots at Sturgeon Bay research facility

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