Author Archives: covercropper

About covercropper

G'day, I'm a grain grower in the NW Wimmera area of Victoria, Australia. This blog is to share my journey of exploring cover cropping here, mostly summer mixes /cocktails. How to, what, when, will it work in improving our soils, productivity and profits?

NYJER in a cover crop cocktail mix

Posted on July 14, 2015 by covercropper

Nyjer as a Cover Crop Mix choice. 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, … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Method, Seed, Summer broadleaf spp, Trials | Tagged adele slade, australian gene bank, blackseed, glenmore, guizotia abyssinica, inga seed, niger, niger / noog, niger cover crop, niger thistle, nug, nyger, nyjer, nyjer cover crop, peter slade, ramtil, ramtilla, rb dessert co, Sally Norton | Leave a comment

Twitter

Posted on July 14, 2015 by covercropper

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Shout | Tagged Twitter | Leave a comment

David Cook, Nuffield Scholar

Posted on March 25, 2014 by covercropper

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Shout | Tagged David Cook, Nuffield Scholar | Leave a comment

Summer Cover Crop Trial Feb 2014 Week 2

Posted on March 24, 2014 by covercropper

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Method, Seed, Summer broadleaf spp, Summer grass spp, Summer legume spp, Uncategorized | Tagged African marigold, Amaranth, amaranth cover crop, azuki bean, burgundy beans, butterfly pea, chia, cover crop species, cover crop trial, cover cropping, cowpea, fox millet, French white millet, guar, kenaf, lab lab, mung bean, panorama fox millet, pearl millet, red panicum fox millet, rice bean, semi arid cover cropping, summer cover crop cocktail, summer cover crop mix, sunflower, tillage radish | 2 Comments

Summer Cover crop in Texas

Posted on March 22, 2014 by covercropper

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Seed, Shout, Summer legume spp | Tagged cow pea, cowpea cover crop, Dee Ann Littlefield, guar, guar Texas, sesame, sesame cover crop, summer cover crop, Texas summer cover crop, Tommy Henderson, usda nrcs | Leave a comment

Summer Cover Crop Trial Feb 2014 Week 1

Posted on February 16, 2014 by covercropper

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Method, Seed, Summer broadleaf spp, Summer grass spp, Summer legume spp, Trials, Weeds, Winter cc spp | Tagged African marigold, Amaranth, amaranth cover crop, azuki bean, burgundy beans, butterfly pea, chia, cover crop species, cover crop trial, cover cropping, cowpea, French white millet, guar, kenaf, lab lab, mung bean, pearl millet, rice bean, semi arid cover cropping, summer cover crop cocktail, summer cover crop mix, sunflower, tillage radish | Leave a comment

Summer Cover crop trial Jan 2014

Posted on February 10, 2014 by covercropper

Summer Cover Crop Trial Jan 2014. 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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Method, Seed, Summer broadleaf spp, Summer grass spp, Summer legume spp, Trials, Weeds | Tagged adzuki beans, African marigold, Amaranth, azuki beans, burgundy beans, butterfly pea, chia, cover crop, cover crop cocktail, cover crop mix, cowpeas, French white millet, guar, kenaf, lab lab, mung bean, mungbean cover crop, panorama fox millet, pearl millet, pigeon pea, red panicum fox millet, rice beans, safflower, semi arid cover cropping, shiroie millet, summer cover crop, sunflower, sunn hemp, tillage radish, Ultrafeed, winfred canola | 2 Comments

Controlled Traffic Farming

Posted on October 23, 2013 by covercropper

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Method, Shout | Tagged conservation farming principles, controlled traffic, controlled traffic farming, ctf, spaa.com.au, vntfa.com.au | Leave a comment

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

Posted on September 21, 2013 by covercropper

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 … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Method, Seed, Shout | Tagged David Brandt, Gabe Brown, motherjones.com, Tom Philpott, winter cover cropping | Leave a comment

Summer cover crop trial Dec 2012

Posted on June 22, 2013 by covercropper

Well ,this has been a long time coming. By request, this is a recent update on the latest trial. These spp and cv were chosen based on what was available, recommended, and out of plain curiosity. They were sown … Continue reading →

Posted in Climate, Method, Seed, Summer grass spp, Trials, Weeds | Tagged African marigold, Amaranth, azuki bean, black gram, black gram cover crop, brassica carinata, burgundy bean, burgundy bean cover crop, chia, chia cover crop, climate, cover crop species, cowpea, cowpea cover crop, Ethiopian Cabbage, finger millet, finger millet cover crop, French white millet, French white millet cover crop, guar, kenaf, kenaf cover crop, lab lab, lab lab cover crop, marigold cover crop, moth bean, moth bean cover crop, mung bean, mung bean cover crop, niger, niger / noog, niger cover crop, panorama fox cover cover crop, panorama millet, panorama millet cover crop, parsley, parsley cover crop, pearl millet, pearl millet cover crop, pigeon pea, pigeon pea cover crop, red panicum, red panicum cover crop, rice bean, rich bean cover crop, safflower, safflower cover crop, shiroe millet, Shirohie millet, shirohie millet cover crop, soy, soybean, soybean cover crop, sunflower, sunflower cover crop, sunn hemp, sunn hemp cover crop, tepary bean, tillage radish, tillage radish cover crop, velvet bean, velvet bean cover crop, winfred, winfred cover crop | Leave a comment

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