| Dear
Jeff,
Is it possible to no-till/crimp/plant into 12-year-old CRP
[Conservation Reserve Program] land with lots of quack grass
and every other weed imaginable?
Bill Konkoly
Wisconsin
Dear Bill,
Not without lots of herbicide. Let me explain what I mean.
Our roller is really designed to work in combination with
cover crops—specific cover crops that are “winter
annuals.” These are crops like hairy vetch, rye, Austrian
winter pea, wheat, barley, etc. And they are all crops that
are generally planted in the fall, live through the winter,
thrive in spring, and finally die back in summer and drop
their seeds. What our roller does is kill these crops early—once
they have physiologically reproduced, but before the seeds
are ripe. So, in effect, we are working with nature to better
time an event that will happen naturally to suit our need
to grow a crop and protect it from weed pressure. Now, as
for weeds or perennial plants, our roller really won't do
much to kill them. What will happen is that the roller will
physically knock them down, the planter will go through the
mat, and then the weeds will grow back and choke out the crop.
That is why I said you'd need herbicide to kill the weeds.
In a conventional no-till system, we use herbicides to replace
tillage to manage weeds. With our system, we use cover crops
to replace tillage or herbicides. Hope that information helps.
Good Luck,
Jeff
|
