NYJER in a cover crop cocktail mix

Nyjer as a Cover Crop Mix choice.

My Courtice Niger in flower.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guizotia_abyssinica

Aka niger, noog/nug, nyger, nyjer, or Niger seed; ramtil or ramtilla; inga seed; and blackseed.  It also gets called niger thistle, but it is not a thistle.  Powers-that-be also implore us to pronounce it Nyjer, not Nigger.

It is an erect, stout, branched annual herb.  This is one of those obscure, off-the-charts species which seems rarely used or promoted for cover crops.  And yet when searching for it, nyjer is definitely used overseas as a cover crop, if not primarily for the seed, as an oilseed source, or birdseed.  I got inspired to write, because I found some!

When I started searching for this a few years ago, the only seed I found was imported for birdseed, and hence irradiated, making it sterile.  I did, however, source some seed from Sally Norton (https://twitter.com/salnorton73) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sally_Norton now of the Australian Grains Genebank. She is the point of call for anyone ‘trialling multiple accessions’ of all sorts of crops.  Back then the list was here.

Sally is keen to be approached for the same reason – the seed and gene banks are not just doomsday collections, but available for sharing seed for small trials.

In the 2012 summer trial I did get some to germinate, grow and flower, but along with everything else, it died before growing much.

Peter and Adele Slade from “Glenmore”, near Quirindi, NSW, grow it! They also grow millets, native grasses and hemp, more their claim to fame.

Under irrigation, (warm season crop) it can grow up to 8’ high, and he sells all he grows for finch seed (a tiny seed).  Apparently finches thrive better on fresh seed than irradiated seed, and the oil in it makes it a vital part of their diet.  The plant won’t compete with dominant grasses, and is a high water user, so I doubt that it would readily go to seed here, in a mix.  He sows in Jan, and windrows and harvests it mechanically.  Nyjer seems to attract bugs, handles alkaline soil, has biofumigant properties and is low seed yielding.

Peter says he can expand his growing area, or contract out, as demand rises.

There is an established American source, useful for info.

And to be fair, it is also sold by RB Dessert Seed Co in the Ord RIA, but only by the 25kg bag.

By the bag it sells for ~$6/kg.  Now, that begs the question, why would we grow it? It comes back to the Big Question, what do we want to achieve?  If a part of a 20-30 species mix at a very low rate, to add to diversity (of genus, root depth and plant height) & attract insects, then maybe it has a place.  If we have a $10/ac budget for seed, then probably not.  Then again, that is cheaper than some wildflowers by the seed packet.

My point is, if you want it, you can get it, in the mail.

Find Peter Slade in the white pages under Slade A, Quirindi. (I have his permission to promote his work.)

Twitter

Robbo Robinson’s Twitter.com profile.

The more I see about cover cropping being toyed with in Australia, especially via Twitter.com, the more I feel redundant, as if “my work here is done”.  And anything else I can add will verge on rambling, when there plenty of growers having a go, sowing paddocks with CC mixes, and publishing results with photos and captions.  Maybe they were doing so a few years ago, but I wasn’t seeing it in my Google searches, or it wasn’t getting published.

So, to help things along, if you want to learn more now, I suggest you get yourself on Twitter, and start following and reading.  For a start, search for (in no particular order): https://twitter.com/FreddoMorgan

https://twitter.com/PlantCoverCrops

https://twitter.com/dcook70

https://twitter.com/jacksonmdavis

https://twitter.com/WaddiPark

https://twitter.com/hollands_track

https://twitter.com/RowcropAust

https://twitter.com/sjlanyon

https://twitter.com/ZwarFarms

https://twitter.com/VicNotill

https://twitter.com/AParidaen

https://twitter.com/agriprof

https://twitter.com/ttoose

https://twitter.com/CoverCropTweets

https://twitter.com/AnashkaFarms

https://twitter.com/grassrootsag

https://twitter.com/pogue_fraser

https://twitter.com/Big_roo1

https://twitter.com/AnthonyPfitzner

https://twitter.com/AlexMilnerSmyth

https://twitter.com/Rhizoterra

https://twitter.com/sgroff1

https://twitter.com/SANoTill

https://twitter.com/blake_vince

https://twitter.com/t_vollmer

https://twitter.com/tandssewell

https://twitter.com/ONCoverCrops

Also, simply do word searches: cover crop, covercrop, #covercrop, #tillageradish #rootsnotiron etc.  With and without gaps, the hashtag (#), singular and plural.  You will end up finding growers, agronomists, seed merchants and researchers having a crack.  You will discover permies and gardeners, Poms growing feed for deer, pheasant, quail etc, Yanks being mandated to cover their soil in winters to stop erosion into streams and lakes, and getting subsidised for it.  You will find unusual uses for common and obscure species of plants getting used for cover crops.  Get down that rabbit hole and enjoy.  (Sleep is important, remember).

You could also search for mentions of the gurus who are not on Twitter: eg Gabe Brown, Dave Brandt, Rick Bieber, Jay Fuhrer, Elaine Ingham, Rolf Derpsch, remembering to use “” marks to help search for names, like a phrase. You might find more links to talks on Youtube, or written articles.  Or Nuffield Scholars.  Another rabbit hole.

Should I keep this up?  I see a future in the CC practice in Australia, and with it a seed industry.  It is already happening: AGF seeds at Smeaton, Vic, is distributing Tillage Radish ™ and mentioning sunn hemp.  Any number of NSW & Qld seed distributors are supplying tropical species which are appropriate for southern growers in the summer.  Field days and crop walks are already happening to see what is happening in different rainfall zones.

I’ll just keep asking the hard questions and bouncing ideas.

David Cook, Nuffield Scholar

David Cook with wife Tracey, on right, with hosts Ulrich, Beate and Clemens Tink, on David’s Nuffield Scholarship European tour.

I want to promote the blog of David Cook, of Shepparton, Vic, Australia.  http://davidcooknuffield2013.blogspot.com.au/  I’ve met David on a few occasions, and I thank him again for his helpful pointers on my quest.  His blog tells his story well, and if you google his name and association with the Cross Slot seeder, he has considerable publicity already.  Thinking of David and others in Australia who are having a crack, reminds me I am not doing any trailblazing, but exploring and adopting what has already been done in the world, in some ways from decades before.

 

Summer Cover Crop Trial Feb 2014 Week 2

After week 1 the weather was cooler, not many days over 30C.  These tropical plants still grew noticeably.  It made me wonder if I had, again, missed the boat for a real summer growth test ie planting anytime in Dec.

Adzuki Beans,coming along better than I expected.

African Marigolds, Crackerjack, making a good start.

Black Chia, progressing nicely.  Small plants coming from small seeds is to be expected after 2 weeks.

Burgundy beans.

Butterfly pea.  If these grow well, it will be for the first time.

Clitoria ternatea  is the scientific name.  I just love to say it.  Look it up to see why it is named so.  It is a pity they will hardly flower enough to demonstrate it.

Ebony cowpea.  Sown right in the chaff trail, I tried to weed it a bit, but the wheat crowds it easily.

Foxtail millet.  All the millets can be distinguished from wheat by the leaf and plant shape.  I’m glad I sowed them in rows though.   In the mixtures the grasses are not so easy to identify.

French white millet, being consistent with the identifiable leaf shape.

Grain amaranth.  It didn’t germinate very thickly, and I don’t have high hopes for its potential.

Green amaranth.  Although with red leaves I wonder if something got mixed or mislabeled.

Guar.  At this stage the plants had germinated well and were growing well.

The poor lone Kenaf seed is still keeping up with the rest.

 Kow Kandy.  At this stage very few plants of anything were taller than the 1-2 leaf wheat plants.  The odd Kow Kandy plant was taller with a different colour.

Lab Lab, still being comparable to the cowpeas.

Amaranth, Love Lies Bleeding.  Still a very small plant, but growing nicely.  Unless they thrive in an earlier summer planting, I get the impression we would have to be keen to keep any amaranths in the mix, if for the sake of producing biomass.

Mung beans.  At this stage, looking good, comparable to sunn hemp.

Foxtail millet, panorama.  At this stage, looking similar to wheat.

Parsely, the ‘just for fun’ wildcard.  Slow to germinate, which by itself cuts it off a list of potentials.  Maybe I’ll stick to sprinkling seed over the lawn, to make it smell good at mowing.

Pearl millet.  To be fair, since all millet seed is small, and some smaller than others, I reckon I sowed them too thickly, resulting in overcrowding, and not being a fair test to the growth potential.  It may have been an overwatering issue, but some patches look a big Nitrogen hungry.

Red Caloona cowpea, comparable to ebony.   Their leaves follow the sun like sunflowers.

Pigeonpea are a skinny unimpressive plant, trying to grow tall.  For all the size and number of seeds sown, few germinated, and my past history with them has me skeptical.  But the seed is readily available, and popular globally, so still worth a shot.

Rice beans.  Another tall skinny plant, but my best year for them to date.

Safflower, as always, looking good so far.

Shiroie or Shirohie millet.

Sunflowers.  Ever reliable.

 

Sunnhemp.  I don’t suppose we could ever get it to grow to the 2m height.

Tillage Radish.

Ultrafeed.

The mystery cv amaranth.

White Chia.

Winifred brassica.

Mixtures, sown thickly.

And the other spots of mixtures.  One got a ‘night watering’, one got overwatered, one underwatered with bore water and hence the salt was visible on the soil surface, resulting in stunted growth.  In all the plots the wheat, even out of the direct chaff trail, came up like a brush, some I weeded, most I left for realism.  It says a lot about chaff spreading (or burning) being the first step for no till cropping.

As I post this I have just taken pics of week 5, and have observations on the freshness of mixes vs monocultures. I also rejoice in not having lambs getting into the only green feed on the farm, and curse the long-toothed grumpy dumb alpaca who could get in to… well he reiterated some things I have heard before, and he heard things I am sure he has heard before.  But that is for a later post.

The really good news is that the lambs by tomorrow morning should be on hooks somewhere, so apart from hares, the plot is safe.

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Summer Cover crop in Texas

The Yanks are “miles” ahead of us in cover cropping experience, and their no-till magazines are often highlighting articles about success stories, (or example stories).
‘ “Hot, dry weather is exactly why you would want to plant a summer cover crop — to protect your soil,” he (Tommy Henderson) says’

Ok, the article by Dee Ann Littlefield, USDA, Natural Resources Conservation Service, touches on the ‘Why?’ But I’d rather let others do the talking on that subject.
See the full online article http://southeastfarmpress.com/grains/no-till-cover-crops-helping-texas-grower-fight-heat-drought?page=1

Summer Cover Crop Trial Feb 2014 Week 1

Summer Cover Crop Trial Feb 2014 Week 1

What a difference a good soaking and hot soil will do, after 7 days.

These pics are the plants so far, which have germinated, size being relative to the icypole sticks.  Some strips have not germinated yet.  Most include the selfsown wheat as well, which touches on an old question of mine:  winter or summer, what does all the other ‘rubbish’ do, which comes up among what we sow, and leave to grow?  Will it swamp the desired spp, add to the biomass, carry over diseases etc?  And instead of having the cover crop grow in neat rows for us to sow between next season, will all the rubbish (think of ryegrass, hogweed) between the rows create extra problems for us ‘tyned’ croppers?  But I digress.

I’m amazed at what does come up, and yet would be disappointed if nothing did.  There is a hint of mustard and paddy melons.  Btw, this paddock did NOT get sprayed with Ally or any SUs last year, so nothing should hold back the seedlings after the dry summer.

Black Chia, cover crop sp.

Adzuki beans. cover crop sp

African Marigold “Crackerjack”, cover crop sp.

Aussie Gold Sunflowers, cover crop sp.

Burgundy Bean, cover crop sp.

Butterfly pea, cover crop sp.  The seed was treated with boiling water first.

Ebony Cowpea, cover crop sp.  As always, very impressive, and it is easy to see why it is a staple part of a cover crop mix.

French White Millet, ever reliable, possibly the cheapest part of a mix.

Green Amaranth, cover crop sp.  With red leaves as a seedling, go figure.  I am impressed that they have shown up after a week – usually I see nothing for 2 weeks.

Guar, cover crop sp.  This is the untreated strip, the seed strip innoculated had not shown much growth yet.  Indeed, none of the legumes have been innoculated, but ideally should be.  That is a discussion for another post.

Kenaf, cover crop sp.  This one poor seed was lucky to hide in a packet last year.

Sorghum X sudangrass hybrid “Kow Kandy”, competing with wheat. It’ll grow.

Lab Lab, cover crop sp.  So far it is as impressive as the cowpeas.

Love Lies Bleeding Amaranth.  A cover crop contender?  If someone thinks I’m gambling with creating a weed problem for myself, just sing out.  The true Grain Amaranth hasn’t shown yet.

Mung beans, cover crop sp.  So far this “top 4 legume choice” is proving its worth.  I’ve heard it called ‘mongrel bean’ by those trying to produce seed.

Foxtail Panorama Millet, cover crop sp.  Small so far, but give it time.

Pearl Millet, cover crop sp. So far the most impressive grass.

Red Cowpea, cover crop sp.  On a par with the black, but one type usually outdoes the other here.

Foxtail Red Panicum Millet, cover crop sp. Small seedlings, but give them time.

Rice Beans, cover crop sp.  I won’t hold my breath for these, and it took me a while to see they had come up.  But they obviously come up with a good soaking.

Safflower, cover crop sp.

Shiroie millet, or Shirohie millet, cover crop sp.  Small so far, and looks very much like a summer ‘weed’.

Sunn Hemp, cover crop sp.  Since I haven’t said much about it yet, this is a legume, not related to the ‘grass’.  This is one of the most favoured cover crop species in the world, but so far is tricky to source in Australia.  This is the first time I have grown seedlings successfully, so am very happy about the progress.  I do not expect them to go to seed here, nor grow to the usual 2m+ – not enough heat days.

Tillage radish, cover crop sp.  This I DO expect to go to seed, possibly quickly.  This is normally a winter crop (so on late summer or early autumn rains here), and I want to see what they do in a summer mix.  Being a large seed, I should not be surprised they are large seedlings.

Sorghum “Ultrafeed”, a forage sorghum hybrid, cover crop sp.  Given time it will be taller than me.  Don’t mind the wheat.

Amaranth, an unknown sp., the small red leaved plants.  Picked from a local garden from 2m high plants.

White chia, cover crop sp.  I have high hopes for the chias, being impressed 2 years ago on little rainfall.  The small seedlings are no surprise considering the small size of the seed.

Winfred forage brassica, cover crop sp.  I still have small hope for this, but am surprised on the germination rate considering the age of the seed.  There are many forage brassicas which can and should be trialled in a mix.

Overview of the plots, mungbeans in the foreground.

Summer cover crop mix cocktail, seedlings, high density.  Feb 2014 1 week after planting.  This trial will last until the paddock gets sown in late autumn, maybe 2.5 months.

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Summer Cover crop trial Jan 2014

Summer Cover Crop Trial Jan 2014.

A rugged mix / cocktail of summer cover crop seed

The garden sized trial for early 2014 is sown, and watered, finally. So it will be a “February germination” trial.
And from past lessons learned, the walk rows are wide, I can and will irrigate it at the turn of a tap, they will be labelled, and it will be fenced. And I sowed individual trials and plenty of mixture. I still sowed in a chaff trail and in wheel tracks.
It has been hot and dry, the wheat stubble is short, the soil was mostly friable.
My hypotheses are:
– that the chaff trail will need weeding of wheat,
– it should be too early to germinate the autumn weeds (eg ryegrass) but ripe for the summers (heliotrope, melons, bindii if any, etc)
– the plants in the header wheel tracks will suffer
– the heat and moisture will aid a good germination rate, (they are sprouting as I type) unless the seed is too close to the surface.
-unless we do get a rain predicted this weekend, I won’t have to worry about eventual ester drift wiping out all the legumes.
The mix includes: tillage radish, some amaranths, guar, sunn hemp, butterfly pea, adzuki beans, rice beans, burgundy beans, mung beans, pigeon pea, sunflower, safflower, winfred canola, chias, African marigolds, cowpeas, lab lab, french white millet, shiroie millet, pearl millet, red panicum fox millet, panorama fox millet, kenaf, Ultrafeed, and Kow Kandy.
I also predict the winfred and burgundy beans will be unimpressive, and everything will look like it needs fertilising – because nothing gets anything.  More than that, this ground is, IMO, chemically infertile, far off “Albrecht style balanced”, and hardpanned.  Having said that, the topsoil shows evidence of some biological activity.  And I say all that because if we think growing a good winter crop is difficult, try sowing a summer crop with a 4 day germination window with potential heatwaves to follow.

Another impression I got this time was, dry sowing this seed would be easy, by disc or tyne.  But if we get a summer rain and we want to get everything sown, how will a disc go while the soil, and soil cover, is still wet?  What is the experience in the Americas in sticky soils?

I know that by irrigating it well the trial will not simulate normal conditions.  Too bad – our last two summers have been dry, and we know what grows in a hot dry summer.  The power bill.

Let’s see what happens this year.

Controlled Traffic Farming

Controlled Traffic Farming, or CTF, workshop

Pictured:  Downward view of RH side of a seeder box, rear axle extension out to approx. 3m wheel centers.  I understand the cost saving in choosing a small box with the pivoting center dolly wheel, but having owned on before, I am not a fan.

Disclaimer:  I blog on this because it fits with a plan to use precision methods to sow cover crops and cash crops after each other, and in the overall goal of improving soil productivity.

Last week I attended a Controlled Traffic Workshop hosted by Vic No Till Farming Association and SPAA (Precision Agriculture Association) at Rupanyup, in the interests of planning machinery mods.  There was much time spent on justifying the concept, which surprised me a bit:  as a convert to the principle, I was expecting a few more practical ideas.  The discussions though proved worthwhile and exposed the following food for thought:

– 14% wheel-over-ground coverage is a fair ballpark figure expected on a 30′ / 9m system, 11% for 40′.

– the imperial / metric  debate is alive and well eg 9m or 30′ (9.14m).  IF the manufacturers went to a harvester front CUT width of a metric 9.00m then the debate would be simpler.  We always want the harvester to be 1. the starting point for both cut and wheel spacing 2. = or > sowing width.  They nearly had me on metric till I was reminded that for the purposes of spray jet spacings, an evenly spaced 12″ or 15″ row system fits spraying systems best, or at least spraying on and inter row should fit somehow.  There is also a case for 132″ wheel spacing (exact centers) over 120″.

– that managing permanent wheel tracks is one of the biggest issues.  There seems to be a paradox with wanting firm wheel tracks to carry wheel loads, and not having them sink to make gutters.

– that the best way to help sowing depth near sunken tracks is to not have them – either avoid making deep tracks if possible, (eg avoiding wet conditions, using ‘tracks’ on headers) or maintaining tracks before sowing.

– that there is damage / compaction to soil on either side of permanent tracks, but it is a secondary issue.

– permanent tracks in reliably wet areas, creating gutters, can warrant the use of concrete or gravelled tracks.

– Normal treaded tyres contribute to guttering.  Because we don’t need the mud-shedding so much on the harder established tracks, we get away with tyres more like Alliance 550 style tyres.  (just google it).

-tracked machines seem to offer a smoother ride on permanent tracks.

– Not all RTKs are the same.  It sounds as though they are all different – JD, Trimble, GPS Ag, but some offer compatibility options.  This has implications for using a contractor with the same RTK system as that on your farm.  The problem sounds to be the slight differences in direction readings: over long runs (eg over 2km) the spacings become significant.

– residue spread remains a big issue on harvesters, especially if carried against the uncut crop.  Chaff is carried best if chopped with the straw.

– if residue is deliberately concentrated on wheel tracks (for weed control) then dust control on the tracks is a benefit.

– interrow sowing – it seems to be easier offsetting the bar and box than offsetting or nudging the tractor.

– for the sake of precision, there is an argument for using the axle from a matching wrecked harvester on the chaser bin.  I think manufacturers are increasingly getting on board with custom widths

– Lastly, the increasing weight of machinery seems to have an impact on compaction and the success of the system.  Therefore minimising machinery weight seems to be one of the goals.  From other ‘life experiences and conversations’ I think that is a fair call, also in terms of capitalisation and productivity.  And if we want to continue increasing farm size, it has implications for using ‘multiple units of machinery and labour’ which is a whole other discussion.

Postscript:  It was touched on at the workshop that one of the many benefits of controlled traffic farming is in trials and tests.  Even if it has nothing to do with not compacting crop soil, it makes it easy to uniquely sow or spray a strip, record the place, and record results as we like, especially to the row at harvest, for grain quality and yield, with yield mapping, sat. imagery etc.  And it is relevant to covercropping because, as I’d like to reiterate, I don’t know much and need to do trials to see what will grow and what the anecdotal and measurable results are.

David Brandt, Ohio. Covercropper, No Tiller, champion of soils.

Promoted by Gabe Brown on his ranch facebook page today is an article by  Tom Philpott in MotherJones.com .  (open that motherjones.com link for the full article).  To quote: “One government agency website called Brandt the “Obi-Wan Kenobi of soil.” “.

Brandt is one of those Yanks to watch, who hosts field days and promotes the cause of cover cropping.  Sure, he is a summer cash cropper (corn, soybeans) who cover crops in his winters, but the principle remains.  Sure it touches on the “Why?” but also the how, the yield results, the existence of the seed industry over there, and the visits by Australian farmers already to see what is possible.  I think it is one of the best articles written about him I have seen yet, even without him mentioning tillage radishes (one of his seemingly favourite spp.  Google “Tillage/radish Brandt” images.)

This also shows how even though Brown has a dig at Brandt sometimes over differing opinions and practices re stock and intensive cropping, they share a cause, passion and stage for promoting the benefits of cover cropping.

Summer cover crop trial Dec 2012

Well ,this has been a long time coming.  By request, this is a recent update on the latest trial.

Summer cover crop plan Dec 2012.

 

These spp and cv were chosen based on what was available, recommended, and out of  plain curiosity.  They were sown in 1m long paired rows between short wheat stubble rows around Dec. 15 2012 after a 40 point rainfall event.  Half the rows were hand watered for a few weeks after that to simulate wetter conditions.  The soil is alkaline shallow loam over clay, sprayed with “Ally” last year.

What I did right:  Fenced it off – for sheep anyway.  Rabbits were not going to be a problem, unlike the previous year (a story for another day).

– had seed organised and treated (guar was innoculated), and the plot planned.

– watered it properly, in March, with a fire truck.

-had the plot close enough to home for easy observations.

What I could do better – site the trial somewhere it could easily be watered, by irrigation/ sprinkler at the turn of a tap.

– watered it earlier than I did.  After a near record dry summer period (6 months), March 15 was way too late, I think, to simulate summer rainfall.  The plants grew like an early autumn break.

– leave a little more space between the ends of the rows – at least a boot width.

– use the freshest seed possible.  I wonder if the cowpea, lab lab from the previous year were too old.

Initial results:  Since it was so dry everywhere, not even weeds grew.  The initial 40 points grew nearly nothing in the first fortnight, even where I watered the rows.  Some plants grew, but if not the first 40C heatwave nuked them, the 2nd an 3rd heatwaves did.  After the March watering, the most notable germination was from weeds, responding like an autumn break.  They included self sown wheat, ryegrass, canola, marshmallows, bindii, paddy melons, mustard.  The wheat is already headed and in flower.

A close up of the niger in flower today, then shots from 2 weeks ago:  the most pleasing results for me.

The millets grew slowly and got lost amongst the ryegrass, so I add them to show they did germinate. In order:  panorama fox millet, red panicum, shirohie, French white millet.

The other results are for later update or comment.