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Cover crops suppress weeds in extreme environments

A southwest Minnesota farmer says cover crops are an effective weed management tool, even under extreme weather conditions.

Jerry Ackerman of Lakefield first experimented with cover crops eight years ago, and participated in an NRCS study that began during the 2012 drought.

“Some seed companies were saying don’t waste your money on cover crops because they’re not going to grow.  Well, since it was a grant through the watershed, (NRCS) said they wanted to see the results, good or bad.  So we did apply the covers, and not much grew.  But it was cereal rye, and cereal rye is so doggone tough.”

He tells Brownfield wet weather in the spring of 2013 prevented the use of a pre-emerge herbicide and made cover crop termination difficult.

Still, the effectiveness of the cereal rye was eye-opening.

“Water hemp germinates all year long, and come harvest, half the field had a cover crop early and the other half didn’t.  And the half that didn’t have the cover crop had scattered outbreaks of water hemp.  But when we got to where the cover crop had been, it was just completely clean.”

He says even with bad stands, cereal rye consistently chokes out weeds in his fields.

Ackerman will be the featured speaker Friday at the Land Stewardship Project Farm Focus event in St. Charles.