As the growing season comes to an end, it will soon be time for vegetable and other annual crop producers to think about planting winter cover crops. Planting winter cover crop can protect the soil by reducing erosion, benefit the soil by supporting soil micro-organisms and reducing weeds, and winter cover crops can add desired nutrients back to the soil. The best winter cover crop will not harbor disease pathogens that will impact the primary crop, and are those plant species that will not become weeds when the next primary crop is planted.

When planting a winter cover crop, it is important to chose the right species that will meet the goals for the crop. If the goal is to primarily protect the soil from erosion, it might be best to use a small grain or grass species. If the soil has a history of compaction, it might be ideal to use a crop that will help break up that compaction such as radish or turnip. If the goal is to increase nitrogen content in the soil, it might be a good idea to add a legume such as crimson clover or winter pea. Of course, most farmers have multiple goals. In that case it might be a good idea to plant multiple cover crop plant species.

When I am planting cover crop, I like to start with a good small grain that will give me good winter cover. I’ll often start my cover crop mix with winter wheat, cover crop oats, triticale or cereal rye. Each of these species has its own advantages.

What I add to this basic start will often vary depending upon my goals. I like to incorporate some type of legume such as winter pea, or crimson clover. Crimson clover is usually my go to.

I may also add a root crop such as radish or cover crop (purple top) turnip if the soil is compacted. There are other types of grasses, small grains, and legumes that can be planted, but these options work fairly well here in the mountains.

Once the species to be planted is figured out, the next step is to make a plan on the establishment method. Cover crops can be planted using a no-till drill, or broad-casted. Broadcasting will usually take some minimum tillage. If planting into a previous crop that had a lot of bio-mass, or weeds, some tillage will be good anyway. Whichever method of planting that is used, it is important to make sure that the seed bed is prepared adequately. The seed bed should be firm, but not compacted. When broadcasting cover crop seed, it is important to take action to incorporate the seed into the soil at the correct planting depth. This is often best accomplished with light dragging. In other instances, a light discing may be the best approach. The most important thing to remember is to not plant too deeply. This is probably the biggest reason for poor cover crop stand establishment.

Cover crops could greatly benefit those farms that were impacted by Hurricane Helene. Cover crops can be used to increase organic matter content in soils, and to build up soil that was damaged in the storm. They will also help protect the soils that are at a higher risk of erosion, and have higher weed pressure due to the impacts of the storm.

For those farmers that were impacted by Hurricane Helene, if you are interested in planting a cover crop this year for rehabilitating your soil, we may be able to help. We have some funding available to purchase cover crop seed for farmers that are recovering from Hurricane Helene. We have access to cover crop wheat, cereal rye, oats, crimson clover, triticale and winter peas. If you think that your farm might benefit from cover crop, and if you would like access to cover crop seed at no cost to your farm, please contact David Davis (david_davis@ncsu.edu) or call the NC Cooperative  Extension Yancey County Center at (828) 682-6186.