Find tips from UF/IFAS experts on cover crop use, both for growing and terminating cover crops.
“As cover crops are planted to improve soil health and are not harvested for profit, you want them to require as little effort on your part as possible,” shared a UF/IFAS Tip of the Week article. It also shared that “Improvements to soil health from planting cover crops can take many years. However, short-term benefits can include changes to the soil microbial community, which can impact nutrient availability. Cover crops can also have rapid impacts on weed management, as they can outcompete and shade out weeds.” The article continued with tips for Florida growers looking to utilize cover crops with “as little effort” as possible, both in planting and terminating them. See the tips for cover crop use below.
Cover Crop Use: Planting
The article shared these tips for planting cover crops:
- Time “planting with summer rains.”
- “Planting annual cover crops at the beginning of the rainy season (June to early July) and toward the end of the rainy season (October to early November) can help ensure good cover crop growth.”
- “For potentially faster impacts, plant annual cover crops.”
Cover Crop Suggestions
The article shared that “legume cover crops such as sunn hemp can provide nitrogen to the soil. Non-legume cover crops such as millet or sorghum-sudangrass can provide carbon, which can help increase microbial activity and nutrient cycling.”
Cover Crop Termination Tips
The article shared these tips for when cover crop use is done for the season:
- “Letting cover crops in citrus groves produce seeds can be a good thing. Waiting until after the cover crops flower and produce seeds can help build a seed bank in your soil so you don’t have to plant as many seeds in the next season.”
- “Annual cover crops planted in the beginning of the rainy season will likely start to naturally die by the end of October. At this point, mow the cover crops and do a shallow discing to break up the plant material.”
- “Then, plant your next round of cover crops. The old cover crops will provide additional moisture for the new seeds.”
Griffin Fertilizer is committed to helping both growers and ranchers make sound agronomic and economic decisions in order to maximize the health of their grove and pasture. As a full-service custom dry & liquid fertilizer blender and crop protection product distributor, we will continue our mission to further advance Florida agriculture. For questions -or concerns about your farm or pasture, contact us and one of our team will be in touch.