One good reason to 'manage tall'!

dgallow

Well-Known Member
Is Nitrogen Fixation Oversold with Legume Cover Crops?
https://www.no-tillfarmer.com/artic...fixation-oversold-with-legume-cover-crops-dnt

Most folks should be able to meet soil N needs with vetch, crimson clover, white clover, red clover, and/or alfalfa. Seed cost and management intensity generally increases and plant persistence decreases from the first to last on the list. It doesn't hurt anything to experiment with other forage legumes on small areas for persistence sake.

Areas with very long growing seasons may need an interim crop of summer annual legumes to maintain soil N cycle for higher soil/plant productivity over the longer growing season. No matter which forage legume you choose 'managing tall' and for near maturity should be the goal for soil N banking.

Why would one plant a legume only to terminate the growth before maturity, or manage for only young vegetative growth, or not even include legumes with other seeds? Kinda like filling the tank 1/4th full for a long trip.....you will go in the right direction just not as far as you need and at more expense due to down time! The nice thing about legumes....the gas (N2) for their engine is free in the air at about 80% composition of air.....or you can buy gas at the COOP which is not free! One must simply choose the best engine(s) for his program and his environment!

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So to make that applicable to the avg plotter using clover, alfalfa or a mix as a forage base in plots, we should maintain the base with a long term perspective with the ability to drill in warm and cool season grasses and broadleafs but keeping the grasses and or broadleafs at planted rates low enough not to full canopy and suppress the clover?
 
Is Nitrogen Fixation Oversold with Legume Cover Crops?
https://www.no-tillfarmer.com/artic...fixation-oversold-with-legume-cover-crops-dnt

Most folks should be able to meet soil N needs with vetch, crimson clover, white clover, red clover, and/or alfalfa. Seed cost and management intensity generally increases and plant persistence decreases from the first to last on the list. It doesn't hurt anything to experiment with other forage legumes on small areas for persistence sake.

Areas with very long growing seasons may need an interim crop of summer annual legumes to maintain soil N cycle for higher soil/plant productivity over the longer growing season. No matter which forage legume you choose 'managing tall' and for near maturity should be the goal for soil N banking.

Why would one plant a legume only to terminate the growth before maturity, or manage for only young vegetative growth, or not even include legumes with other seeds? Kinda like filling the tank 1/4th full for a long trip.....you will go in the right direction just not as far as you need and at more expense due to down time! The nice thing about legumes....the gas (N2) for their engine is free in the air at about 80% composition of air.....or you can buy gas at the COOP which is not free! One must simply choose the best engine(s) for his program and his environment!

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If I read this properly and someone can tell me I'm wrong and NOT hurt my feelings. I'm not a soil expert so I'm trying to dumb this down a bit so even I can understand it.

By allowing the legume in question to produce as much biomass as possible it increases the amount of N you return to the soil. It's based on a percentage so all things being equal a crop that produces 3%N at 1500 lbs/acre of biomass provides 1/2 that total N than the same crop allowed to produce 3000 lbs/acre. Now - the plant has to die to release the N back into the soil otherwise it still remains mostly trapped in the living plant itself. So the key is getting the most biomass you can and returning it to the soil. This is also where plant maturity comes into play as well. A well established clover plot will have far more root mass (also biomass) than say a plot planted on a seasonal basis. I see this when I rotate out my clover plots when they start to fade and use them as annual plots of corn for a year or two.....my N additions are minimal because of the N stored and available in the soil from the terminated prior clover plot. Mixing say clover into a short term/cover plot simply won't have the time to grow the amount of biomass to really contribute much.
 
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