winter rye cover crop – Sustainable Market Farming

Cover Crops for November: Winter Rye and Austrian Winter Peas

Cover Crops for November: Winter Rye (with Austrian Winter Peas early in November)

Winter rye headed up. Mow or turn it under very soon! Don’t let it shed seed.
Photo Pam Dawling

The first half of November is the last chance to sow winter cover crops in central Virginia

Our average first frost is October 14-20. If yours is later, see my post Cover Crops for October. It is still worthwhile to sow a few cover crops up to three weeks past your average first frost, and I’ll tell you about those, with ideas on what to do if your climate is past that point.

If the area is ready for cover crops up to 10 days past the frost date, sow winter wheat or winter rye and hairy vetch or Austrian winter peas.

See Planning Winter Cover Crops, a post that includes my Short Simple Guide to Winter Cover Crops and my slideshow Cover Crops for Vegetable Growers.

Last Chance Cover Crops in November: Rye

Rye grows impressive roots that improve the soil. Kauffman Seeds

Winter rye can still be sown in the mid-Atlantic in the first half of November. Winter rye is the cereal grain rye, not ryegrass. Ryegrass comes in annual and perennial forms, but neither is a good winter cover crop here. They don’t produce as much biomass as cereal rye, and can become weeds in our climate.

Winter rye is hardier than any other cover crop and can take later planting dates. Some people do sow winter wheat in early November rather than winter rye, so if you don’t have rye seed, use wheat. It can be tricky to have the cover crop seed you want, without risking buying more than you need. Sometimes it pays to use what you already have, as it may not give good germination if saved over to next fall.

Winter rye has an allelopathic effect (inhibition of germination) on small seeds, that lasts three weeks or more after rye is turned under. This means you will need to be fairly confident that the weather will allow you to till the rye in with three weeks to go before sowing carrots, spinach or other spring crops with small seeds. Transplants are not affected in the same way. If necessary, reconfigure your crop rotation plan over the winter. Plan for the next food crops after winter rye to be ones planted after late April, such as late corn plantings, winter squash, transplanted watermelon, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, June-planted potatoes, fall brassicas, and second plantings of summer squash, cucumbers, beans.

A field of winter rye with a strip of crimson clover in early May.
Photo Bridget Aleshire

Other key features of winter rye cover crop

Rye grows 5′-7′ (1.5-2.1 m) tall.
Mow-kills at flowering, but not earlier.
Suppresses weeds (especially lambsquarters, redroot pigweed, ragweed).
Adds lots of organic matter if grown to full size.
Improves the soil’s ability to absorb and store water.
The roots hold the soil together and greatly reduce erosion.
Can be used to scavenge nutrients left over from a previous legume crop or to hold onto nutrients applied for a crop that failed.
Sow from 14 days before to 28 days after first fall frost.
Don’t sow before September in zone 7 – it may set seed.
Rye makes little growth in mid-winter, but very good growth once spring arrives.
Rye can be sown in the spring, although when incorporated, oats break down quicker.
Can be undersown in sweet corn or in fall brassicas in early September, and left as a winter cover crop.

Cover crop of rye and winter peas with flowering crimson clover. Photo Bridget Aleshire.

Include Austrian Winter Peas if possible in the first week of November

See my September post for more about the benefits of including legumes with winter cover crops grasses. Also how to inoculate legume seeds with the nitrogen-fixing bacteria. Austrian winter peas can be sown later than other legumes. See my October post for more about those. See Working with the time you have left for options if you are in another climate zone.

A key to success with legumes is to sow early enough in fall to establish before winter halts growth, and to plan not to need that plot next year until flowering time for that legume. Austrian winter peas bloom here at the end of April (about a week later than crimson clover, and a week earlier than hairy vetch). (If you have a legume that doesn’t reach flowering, you get less nitrogen for your money, and will need to add some compost or other source for the following food crop.) Suitable crops for following Austrian winter peas are ones planted after May 1: winter squash, melons, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, peppers, middle sowings of sweet corn, June-planted potatoes. This is pretty much the same list as crops that can be planted after winter rye.

Austrian winter peas
Photo https://www.uaex.edu

October 15 (our average frost date) is our clover/peas watershed (legume-shed?). Before that date we use crimson clover; after it (until 11/8, 3 weeks after our average frost date) we sow Austrian Winter Peas, along with winter rye or winter wheat.

Austrian winter peas winter-kill in zone 6, but are hardy in zone 7. Hardy to 0°F (-18°C). Sow Austrian winter peas at least 35 days before first hard freeze (25°F/-4°C) – in zone 7, that’s a 50% chance on 11/8. See Weatherspark.com for info on your location, or Dave’s Garden.

Last Chance cover crop

In the second week of November, we sow winter rye alone as our last chance cover crop. It is too late for any legumes.

Grain seed will store OK for the next year, but peas and beans really lose viability fast. If you still have Austrian winter pea seed from last year, I’d say throw it in this November rather than keep it for a third year, even if you are past the usual date. Germination rate goes down to 50% after a couple of years, and the plants won’t be sturdy.

Barbara Pleasant tells us two other ways cover crops can improve soil: Rhizodeposition and bio-drilling.

Rhizodeposition is a process whereby plants release sugars and other substances through their roots. The root tips host colonies of helpful microorganisms that go deeper as the roots grow deeper. For rye, this depth can reach 6 feet (2 m)!

Bio-drilling is what happens when cover crop roots “drill” into compacted subsoil. Oilseed and daikon radishes are cover crops famous for this action. The roots push deep into tight subsoil. Bio-drilling also happens when deeply rooted cover crops penetrate the subsoil and then die. With winter rye this can happen when the headed-up rye is mowed close to the ground in spring, or the rye is tilled into the top soil, severing the roots below till level. The next crop can follow the root channels made by the cover crop. This gives access to nutrients (including dead roots and microbes) left behind by the cover crop.

How to protect the soil over the winter if it is too late for cover crops

Carrot harvest cart. Our Danvers carrots have plenty of sturdy leaves to protect the soil over winter. Photo Mari Korsbrekke

Sowing cover crops too late means you don’t get enough growth in the fall, and the soil is not adequately protected from erosion or from weed growth over the winter. Try really hard not to leave bare soil over the winter.

If it’s too late to sow cover crops, but you do have a healthy growth of weeds, mow them at the beginning of November and then leave everything alone until early spring. The weed roots will hold the soil together and the above-ground growth will protect the soil from heavy rain. Having live plants will provide food for the microbial life in the soil.

If you don’t have weeds, but only almost bare soil, and it’s too late to sow cover crops, find some kind of organic mulch to cover the soil. When we harvest our storage carrots in November, we return the cut tops to the soil surface. Another seasonal option is tree leaves (sometimes conveniently left in bags by the curb). Best to ask the “owners” before lifting them. Other ideas include straw or hay. Woodchips or sawdust will work for winter protection, but don’t till them in when spring arrives. Rake them off and compost them nearby. If turned under, they use up a lot of nitrogen decomposing, and your crops will be starved.

More resources on cover crops

My book Sustainable Market Farming has a chapter on cover crops and many pages of charts about particular options.

Cover of Managing Cover Crops Profitably book from SARE

The book Managing Cover Crops Profitably (third edition) from the Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Program (SARE), is the best book I know on the subject. You buy the book for $19 or download it as a free PDF from SARE.

Cover Crops for October: Winter Wheat and Austrian Winter Peas

Focus Cover Crops for October: Winter Wheat and Austrian Winter Peas

In August I wrote about cover crops such as millets, southern peas, buckwheat which are frost-killed. For most of us in the mid-Atlantic, it’s too late for those.

October is too late to sow winter-killed cover crops in central Virginia

Our average first frost is October 14-20. If yours is later, and you still have 40-60 days to your average first frost, you can still sow oats to winter-kill. If possible add a legume (soy and spring peas are easy, and will be killed by the frost, so they won’t complicate food crops next year). For us, the cut-off date for oats is September 15 if we really push it. Sowing too late means you don’t get enough growth in the fall, and the soil is not adequately protected from erosion or from weed growth.

Oats winterkill completely at 6°F (-17°C) or three nights at 20°F (-7°C. Fall-sown barley (Hordeum vulgare), grows even faster than oats, and dies at 17°F (-8°C).

There are still three weeks here when it is worthwhile to sow cover crops (up to a month past first frost), and I’m going to write about those here.

See Planning Winter Cover Crops, a post that includes my Short Simple Guide to Winter Cover Crops and my slideshow Cover Crops for Vegetable Growers. Oats, barley, wheat and rye sown too early can head up and seed before you get to winter, making them less useful, and more of a weed problem. Once we’ve reached mid-October, this is no longer an issue here.

Winter rye cover crop headed up in early May.
Photo Pam Dawling

Winter-hardy grass cover crops to sow in October

Winter rye and winter wheat can be sown in the mid-Atlantic in October. Wheat has less of an allelopathic effect on small seeds, the inhibition of germination that lasts three weeks after rye is turned under. Wheat doesn’t produce as much biomass as rye, so there’s the tradeoff. We sow wheat if the area is ready for cover crops 20-40 days before frost, allowing us to make faster use of those plots in the spring, compared to plots sown to rye.

Winter wheat prevents erosion, suppresses weeds, scavenges excess nutrients, adds organic matter, encourages helpful soil microorganisms, and the fine root system improves the tilth. It is less likely than barley or rye to become a weed; easier to kill than barley or rye; cheaper than rye; easier to manage in spring than rye (less bulk, slower to go to seed); tolerates poorly drained, heavier soils better than barley or oats.

The challenges of wheat are that it does not have good tolerance of flooding, and is a little more susceptible than rye or oats to insects and disease.

For us wheat is a good, trouble-free winter cover crop. The later it gets towards our cover crop cutoff date of November 15, the more likely we are to choose rye. Also, of course, if we have already used all our wheat seed! Winter rye is hardier than any other cover crop and can take later planting dates. More about Last Chance Cover Crop next month. Then I will also write about how to protect the soil over the winter if it is bare.

Austrian Winter Peas graphic

Secondary cover crops in October: Include legumes where possible

See my September post for more about the benefits of including legumes with winter cover crops grasses. Also how to inoculate legume seeds with the nitrogen-fixing bacteria. See Working with the time you have left for options if you are in another climate zone.

Another key to success with fall sown legumes is to sow early enough to establish before winter halts growth, and to plan not to need that plot next year until flowering time for that legume. If you have a legume that doesn’t reach flowering, it’s not the end of the world, you just get less nitrogen for your money, and won’t be able to supply all the N needs of the following food crop. Crimson clover flowers in central Virginia 4/16-5/2, most usually around 4/20. Austrian winter peas bloom at the end of April, and hairy vetch in early May.

Austrian Winter Peas. Photo UAEX Edufarm Ranch Resource Library

More about Austrian winter peas

Austrian winter peas can be sown later than other legumes.

Hardy type of Field Pea. (Black peas)
Winter-kill in zone 6, hardy in zone 7. Hardy to 0°F (-18°C). (Canadian/spring field peas are hardy to 10-20°F (-12° to -7°C))
Can sow several weeks later than clovers
Sow at least 35 days before first hard freeze (25°F/-4°C). In zone 7a, 8/10–11/8
Optimum temperature for germination is 75°F (24°C), minimum germination temperature 41°F (5°C)
Good at emerging through crusted soil
Tolerate a wide range of soil types
Make rapid spring growth in cool weather
Suppress weeds, prevent erosion
High N-fixers – a good stand can provide enough N for the following food crop when incorporated
They fix as much, or more, nitrogen than crimson clover
More dry matter than hairy vetch (which produces more than crimson clover) in the SE
Can be mixed with grasses for vertical support, more biomass and better weed suppression
Suppresses Septoria leaf spot in tomato crops the next year
Blooms late April at Twin Oaks, before hairy vetch
Flowers attract beneficial insects (especially honeybees) and reduce aphids
The tendrils and shoot tips make a nice addition to salads or stir-fries in early spring

Winter rye with Austrian Winter Peas. Photo Cindy Conner

Cautions with Austrian winter peas

Pea seed cannot be stored long. The germination rate could be only 50% after 2 years. Run a germination test if you have seed you are unsure about.
Seeds are large and heavy – high sowing rates (compared to clovers). Cost/area is fairly high, a little higher than vetches
If you haven’t grown peas or beans on that plot for some years, inoculate the seed.
Winter-killed in zone 6, at 0°F (-18°C). For the best chance of winter survival in cold areas, choose your sowing date to get plants 6-8″ (15-20 cm) tall before the soil freezes. (Hairy vetch is more cold-tolerant than AWP.)
Sowing in a mix with a winter grain will improve cold weather survival by reducing soil freezing and heaving.
May not do well if sown in spring – require a cold dormant spell.
Not tolerant of flooding, drought, high traffic, salinity, heavy shade, long cold spring weather below 18°F (-8°C) with no snow cover, or hot (or even warm) weather.
Do not regrow after mowing or grazing once blooming starts.
Peas on their own do not add much organic matter to the soil – the vines break down quickly.
May increase 39 species of pest nematodes, so if you are already having trouble with those, this is not a good cover crop for you.
Susceptible to Sclerotinia crown rot, which can completely destroy crops during winter in the mid-Atlantic. One reason not to grow pea crops on the same land two years running.
Can also be host to Sclerotinia minor, Fusarium root rot and Ascochyta

More resources on Cover Crops

My book Sustainable Market Farming has a chapter on cover crops and many pages of charts about particular options.

The book Managing Cover Crops Profitably (third edition) from the Sustainable Agriculture Research & Education Program (SARE), is the best book I know on the subject. You buy the book for $19 or download it as a free PDF from SARE.

Sweet potato harvest – all in!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA — Our sweet potato harvest well underway.
Photo credit Wren Vile

Usually sweet potatoes are harvested the week the first frost typically occurs. In anticipation of frosts (that didn’t happen) on Sunday and Monday nights, we harvested this week. Contrary to myth, there is no toxin that moves from frozen leaves down into the roots. On the other hand, cold injury can ruin the crop, and roots without leaf cover are exposed to cold air temperatures, and have lost their method of pulling water up out of the soil. Cold wet soil can quickly rot sweet potatoes (I know, it’s happened here).

To harvest, we first remove the vines from the area to be harvested that day. There is usually 3 afternoons’ digging for ours, and we want to leave live vines to protect the rest of the crop overnight. We use pruners to snip the vines where they emerge from the soil, leaving stumps to show where to dig. We roll the vines into the spaces between the rows. Using digging forks, we carefully dig up the roots, which grow in the ground in a bunch-of-bananas shape. We want to select good potatoes for seed, and we grow several different kinds (Georgia Jet, Beauregard, and a couple of heritage varieties whose names we don’t know), so we make sure not to mix potatoes from different rows. As we dig, we set the potatoes out beside the spot where they’ve grown, one clump per plant, so it’s easy to identify the most productive plants.

It’s important not to bruise the roots, or to leave them exposed to temperatures higher than 90°F (32°C) for more than half an hour, or they will get sun-scald. Below 55°F (13°C), they’ll get chilling injury. We also avoid any abrasion of the skin, which is very fragile at this stage. We leave the sweet potatoes to dry on the ground for 1-2 hours, unless the weather is unsuitable. This year we had ideal weather, not too hot, not too cold; breezy enough to dry the skins, sunny.

We want to grow our own slips (baby plants) next year, so we save at least 1 root per 5 slips wanted. (1 good slip every 16″.) So to plant 800 row feet, (600 slips), we save 100 each of our two main varieties and 20 each of the two heirlooms. That should be plenty. Some will shrivel or rot, so we allow a margin. We don’t save for seed any roots that look diseased. We choose plants with a high yield and no string (rat-tail) roots. From these plants, we choose small-medium sized potatoes with typical shape and color.

When grading and crating the roots in the field, we first choose the seed potatoes, and then sort storable from “Use First” roots. Large open broken surfaces will cure and can be stored, but any roots with soft wet damaged areas or deep holes (whether from voles, bugs or fork tines) will not store, and should be graded out, for composting or immediate use. We sort into 4″ deep wood flats or 5″ plastic crates for curing, and buckets for the “Use First” category.

Immediately after harvest, we took the boxes of sweet potatoes into a warm damp basement below the dining hall, to cure. This allows the skin to thicken, cuts to heal over and some of the starches to convert to sugars. Uncured “green” sweet potatoes are not very sweet at all, and are better used in dishes where they combine with other foods. A baked uncured sweet potato is a sad disappointment.

We stack our boxes of roots on pallets, and put wooden spacer sticks between boxes in each stack, to ensure air flow. We get quite good temperatures, but keeping humidity up is difficult for us. We cover the flats with newspaper to hold in some moisture. The best result seems to come from splashing water on the concrete floor several times each day. We use box fans to improve the airflow, and the basement already has some natural ventilation.

Ideal conditions for curing are 85-90°F (29-32°C), and 80-95% humidity for 4-7 days, with some airflow and ventilation. Curing takes longer if conditions are less then perfect. The length of the curing period also varies with the dryness of the soil just prior to harvest. We usually reckon on 10-14 days. During that time, we’ll be taking turns to stoke the stove in the basement to keep the temperature up.

So – how did we do this year? Middle of the road, I’d say. Decent yields, but not a bumper crop – we still had empty boxes left over. The deer were regularly eating our vines until quite recently. Last year we had a dog to chase the deer off, but he met with a road accident. His replacement was old, and she just wanted to be a pet, so we had deer again. We used drip irrigation and biodegradable plastic mulch this year, and did a good job of weeding, so I put the lower yields down to deer damage.

Last year’s (weedier!) sweet potato field.
Photo credit Kathryn Simmons

Now the harvest is complete, we will disk the area and sow cover crops. It’s too late in the year for oats. We can sow wheat, winter rye and Austrian winter peas up till 10/31. We prefer winter wheat after the sweet potatoes, because we’ll use that area next year for spring white potatoes in mid-March, and rye takes too long to break down early in the spring.