From

Location

Message

Date Posted

Mnt.pleasant ,tennessee

I like the idea of tilling in front of plant as it grows.is there any precautions as to your cover crop being tilled in & decomposing with roots trying to grow in the rotting vegetation underground?

5/31/2014 12:18:20 AM

Home of happy lil plants

im seeing roots soooooooo far away from my 1779 plant I will neverrr touch a tiller in front of the plant area again like in the past. Don't under estimate the roots and stay plentyyyyy far ahead would be my only concern

5/31/2014 12:58:56 AM

Farming- a bunch of catastrophies that result in a lifestyle

I got roots everywhere this year too.....maybe it's a southern thing? *Laughs*
The 1546 has roots as far as 5' away from the secondaries. At first I thought "those can't be pumpkin roots". On a second look....yup, pumpkin roots!

5/31/2014 7:11:44 AM

East Jordan, MI

depending on plant size and establishment. Vines that you buried less than 2 weeks ago there is not much worry in roots being to far from the plant, but the stump and vines that have been rooted for several weeks will grow as fast as the vine is (or faster) so staying 5 ft out usually works for us as the plant grows. As far as the decomposing material and the roots growing through it, the amount of carbon vs green is so great the green stuff is gone in about a week, so again, staying 5 ft away helps the process so they aren't competing for N.

5/31/2014 7:58:41 AM

South Carolina

Great question Yardman. I think a lot of growers like the thought of nice, tilled, weed free soil around our plants but like you, I always wonder how close is too close? Especially with growing cover crops in front of the plant growth. We all hope to make the best conditions for our plants to grow in but not to the point of doing actual damage to the root system. I hope you get a lot of opinions to your questions to see what others feel is best.

5/31/2014 8:28:09 AM

Mnt.pleasant ,tennessee

Well thank ya'll .I don't want to till my hole patch at one time cause of my cover crop I planted to late last winter just started growing month so ago.its oilseed radish & its growing quickly& deep.so I'll stay at least 5' out in front.but I will fix about 10' ×10' erea when I plant seed.
Lb it always a southern thing

5/31/2014 8:39:17 AM

Anamosa, IA BPIowegian@aol.com

Radish is in the mustard family and can be hard on micorhizae. Make sure that you get it killed off soon enough so that the chemicals it produces can dissipate or leach out of the soil and then apply the mico. I use radish in mid to late summer if I lose a plant to disease or give a plot a rest by planting sweet corn so the radish can help control the disease. I mix dwarf Essex rape and rye with it. The deer eat it off in the fall and it winter kills in winter. The next spring I promptly pull out any radishes that come up from hard seed. The rye will come back in the spring, and time and the early spring rains should dissipate the fungus killing chemicals in the radish and rape. You may be far enough south that the radish and rape won't winter kill and you may have to kill it early and plant rye or oat spring cover.

5/31/2014 9:33:29 AM

Mnt.pleasant ,tennessee

Iowegian.I just tilled a 10*20 erea that had been covered in black plastic a month so it was barren there& that's ground zero for seed.then I moved my plastic up to start killing out cover crop.so time my main reaches new section should be killed out

5/31/2014 10:59:58 AM

Mnt.pleasant ,tennessee

Thank yaw all for the information

5/31/2014 1:25:41 PM