General Cover Crop Information

• Time travel and soil quality An article from The New Ag Network website concerning the importance of cover crops to the successful preservation of soil quality in long-term sustainable farming systems.
• Cowpea: A potential summer cover crop for Michigan growers An article from a 2002 Vegetable Crop Advisory Team Alert describing cowpea as a potential summer cover crop for Michigan growers.
• Cover crops benefit winter manure spreading (PDF) An article from the July, 2005 Michigan Dairy Review discussing the benefits of seeding cover crops on fields that will receive manure anytime from fall through spring.
• An overview of cover crop benefits and objectives from a Michigan State University Department of Crop and Soil Sciences website.
• Cover crops: Always a good idea (PDF) A brief article by Michigan State University Extension educators on the benefits of cover crops on fields receiving manure between harvest and spring.
• Cover Crops for the Columbia Basin A cover crops overview from the Grant & Adams Counties Extension of Washington State University.
• Freeville Organic Research Farm: 2004 cover crop demo plots A resource for information on various cover crops, based on a demonstration of cover crop plots established late June 2004 and including pictures and preliminary observations for each crop.

Happenings at the Kellogg Biological Station

• Growers meet at summit to improve cover crops research (PDF) An article from The IPM Report, a fall 2006 publication of Michigan State University’s Integrated Pest Management Program.
• New Tool Reduces Fieldwork Needed Under Organic Field Crop Systems A discussion of the benefits of using a cover crops roller/crimper in systems of organic no-till corn and soybeans.

Additional Cover Crop Resources

• An archive of past and current publications of The IPM Report, from Michigan State University’s Integrated Pest Management Resources website.
•  Links to educational resources and information on cover crops and other agricultural topics, from the Michigan State University Extension’s “Value Added Agriculture” website.

Cover Crops Research Projects and Results

• The Effect of Perennial Cover Crops on Natural Enemy Communities in Corn and Soybeans. A research project conducted through Iowa State University’s Department of Entomology evaluating the effect of two perennial forages on arthropod natural enemies as pest control cover crops in soybeans and corn.
• Enhanced nitrogen mineralization in mowed or glyphosate treated cover crops compared to direct incorporation (PDF) A research project conducted through Michigan State University’s Department of Crop and Soil Sciences and Department of Horticulture providing information on the effects of mowing and glyphosate application on cover crop decomposition and N mineralization.
• Environmentally Friendly Vegetable Systems: (PDF) Evaluating Cover Crops, Compost and the Combination. The results of the first four years of a six year study of vegetable systems and soil quality improvement in a sandy soil, including a potato-snap bean rotation and sweet corn or wheat with or without one of three cover crops.
• Protect Water Quality with Slurry-Enriched Seeding of Cereal Covers on Corn Silage Ground (PDF) A research project evaluating the process of slurry-enriched micro-site seeding, “which combines low-disturbance aeration tillage, seeding, and slurry application in a sustainable and cost effective manner with little soil disturbance of loss of protective crop residues.”
• Manure Slurry-Enriched Seeding of Biosuppressive Cover Crops A research project comparing stand establishment and biomass yield of oilseed radish and oriental mustard established as a summer seeding in wheat stubble with conventional no-till drilling, and manure slurry-enriched micro-site seeding.
• Cherry orchard floor management: (PDF) Opportunities to improve profit and stewardship. The results from a project conducted on cherry orchard floor management comparing multiple floor treatments including a cover crop mix and cover crop plus fertigation.
• Cropping Systems to Improve Vegetable Production Under Short Crop Rotation (PDF) A research project conducted using “a cucumber-tomato rotation as a model to develop a novel cropping system that would combine the benefits of summer and winter cover crops for sustainable vegetable production in Michigan.”
• Influence of Eight Cover Crops on Yield and Quality of Cucumber, Eggplant, Pepper, Squash and Tomato (PDF) The results of a research project conducted to “determine if cover crops have an influence on yield and quality of the five major vegetable crops grown in southwest Michigan,” as well as to “evaluate how effective cover crops are as part of an IPM disease control program.”
• Cover crops no-till drilled following wheat harvest A section from The New Agriculture Network’s online newsletter detailing a 2001 Kellogg Biological Station study on no-till drilling a cover crop following wheat harvest and comparing the weed control to frost seeding red clover into wheat in March.
• Cover crop trial summaries (PDF) Three 2006 studies on weed and soil management with results from 2005, from Freeville Organic Farm.

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