Timing of Wheat Cover Crop Burndown

Chad Lee, Extension Agronomist, University of Kentucky, Lexington
Carrie Knott, Extension Agronomist, University of Kentucky, Princeton

Cover crops can be excellent systems to capture excess nutrients and reduce the risk of erosion over the winter months. The most common cover crop used is wheat but other species are gaining popularity. The timing of cover crop removal is important to the success of the primary crop. When possible, cover crops should be killed a minimum of two to three weeks before planting the primary crop. While killing the cover crop before planting the primary crop is preferred, there are some positive reasons for waiting to kill the cover crop after planting. Both options will be discussed.

Burndown Weed Control for Corn and Soybeans

Jim Martin and J.D. Green, Extension Weed Scientists, University of Kentucky

The status of weedy vegetation in corn and soybean fields ranges from very clean to very weedy. Burndown treatments applied last fall or during the last few weeks have created a clean seedbed. Burndown treatments that had a soil-residual herbicide look cleaner compared with those that did not have a soil-residual herbicide. This is especially true with marestail. However, do not expect these fields to remain clean for long since the warm temperatures will likely degrade soil-residual herbicides sooner than normal and allow weeds to emerge.

The amount of weedy vegetation in fields that have not yet received a burndown will vary depending on weeds present. With the warmer temperatures cool-season broadleaf weeds such as henbit, purple deadnettle, and common chickweed are maturing earlier than normal and will soon dieback and not likely to be a significant factor unless cooler weather conditions return. However, such weeds as marestail, giant ragweed, ryegrass, and volunteer wheat are growing well and need to be monitored. This may motivate growers to apply burndown treatments earlier than normal in order to manage weeds before they become too large.

Planting corn into sod, 2011

Chad Lee and Jim Herbek, University of Kentucky
email: Chad Lee or Jim Herbek

Planting corn into sod comes with some general opportunities and challenges. Corn could generate a gross return of $500 to $700 per acre, or more, depending on yield and marketing. That is a large enough opportunity to consider taking old pasture or hay fields and converting them to corn for 2011.

While some producers have plenty of experience with corn, others are more experienced with tobacco, hay or pastures. The general comments below are targeted to both types of producers.