Cover Crops and Conservation Tillage
for Soil Erosion Control on Cropland
Conventional seedings - Establishing Birdsfoot Trefoil or Crownvetch as a Living Mulch
Conventional seedings following plowing or chisel plowing, disking, and harrowing have been the most successful. Prepare a seedbed as you would for any other legume seeding and don't plant the cover crop seed more than 1/4 inch deep or it won't emerge. It is better to broadcast the seed on the soil surface than to bury it too deep. If something like a Brillion seeder without disks or spring tooth tines is used, seedings can even be made after corn planting. Otherwise, make the seeding before corn planting so the disk openers of a normal drill don't disturb the corn. Pursuit + Basis (Treatment 1, Table 2) is the best herbicide mixture for most annual weeds in IT corn underseeded to crownvetch and birdsfoot trefoil. Don't, however, let the weeds get taller than 3 to 5 inches before application.