Soil Health Exchange Team | Soil Health Exchange

Profile

A formal biography has not been added yet.

Answers

Can clover reduce nitrogen fertilizer purchases for grass silage?

Clover can reduce purchased nitrogen for the mixture. A residue-based nitrogen credit for grass depends on decomposition of clover left in the field; silage harvest removes much of the aboveground nitrogen.

Grass–clover silage

Nitrogen ManagementLocation not suppliedOct 20269 reads

What fungi do brassica roots partner with if not mycorrhizae?

Turnips, radishes, canola, and mustards don't form working mycorrhizae. Their roots host other fungi, including a Helotiales fungus that delivered phosphorus to a wild mustard relative in lab tests. In crop fields, the most common fungus in canola roots is a pathogen, so choose brassicas for the jobs they reliably do and keep a mycorrhizal host in the mix.

Multispecies cover crop with brassicas

Soil BiologyNorthwest WisconsinOct 202617 reads

Will a turnip or radish in my cover crop mix hurt mycorrhizae for next year's crop?

Not when hosts carry the mix. In a meta-analysis pooling 54 field studies, even non-host winter covers such as radish and rapeseed raised the next crop's AMF colonization over winter fallow, and a South Dakota mix with turnip and radish more than doubled soil AMF compared with no cover. The real losses followed a non-host grown alone, a tilled-in mustard, or a long bare fallow.

Cover crop mix after sweet corn

Cover CropsNorthwest WisconsinOct 20269 reads

Do radishes and turnips really break up compaction?

Forage radish pushes a long, thick taproot into compacted layers and leaves channels the next crop can follow. Turnips root deep too, but their thick storage root is short and forms at the base of the leaves; Iowa NRCS describes turnips as good for shallow compaction and radish for deep and shallow. Neither loosens a dense layer in one season: find the layer first, plant radish early, and use subsoiling plus deep-rooted covers for a severe layer.

Radish and turnip cover crops

Soil CompactionNorthwest WisconsinOct 20269 reads

Growing milling wheat without herbicides, fungicides, or synthetic fertilizer in western Wisconsin

Start with a standard soil test and a nitrogen budget for the wheat. Frost-seeded red clover chiefly feeds the following crop. Protecting a milling market also requires a head-blight plan and grain testing.

Wheat

Organic FarmingPierce County, WisconsinOct 20269 reads

Organic Corn in Clover Living Mulch: Protect the Row and Test the Yield Response

Treat organic corn in clover living mulch as a replicated strip trial, not a whole-field recommendation. Protect a measured in-row zone, retain living interrow cover where corn is not limited, and judge the system on stand, weeds, moisture, yield, operations, and net return over at least two seasons. The strongest red- and kura-clover trials improved yield in only one of two years.

Corn

Soil HealthPAAug 202636 reads

Red Soil Cracks in the North Carolina Piedmont: Diagnose the Limiting Layer Before Treating It

Cracks alone do not prove compaction or a need for gypsum. Paired pits, roots, infiltration, and soil tests should identify the limiting layer first. Where surface structure is weak, cover crops, retained residue, and nutrient-budgeted compost or manure can improve aggregation and moisture buffering over seasons without replacing a verified hardpan or sodium diagnosis.

Cotton

Soil HealthGuilford, NCAug 202629 reads

Reducing Cover-Crop Herbicide Use in Nebraska: Three Lanes, Measured Before Scaling

Crimp cereal rye or triticale at anthesis, not simply at heading; treat the post-wheat seed list as one mixed winter-killed recipe drilled about 0.5 inch deep; and use annual/Italian ryegrass, red clover, and forage collards as the simplest Nebraska corn-interseeding core. If corn follows cereal rye, place 30–50 lb actual N/ac near planting as part of the total seasonal N plan.

Corn5.0k acres

Soil HealthNebraskaJun 202628 reads

What is cover crop diversity, and how is it measured?

In an 11-site SE Nebraska on-farm study, increasing functional-group richness raised cover crop biomass by ~29%, while adding more species of the same type gave only ~2.3% (not significant) — and no mixture beat the most productive single species on biomass (Florence et al., PLOS ONE 2019). That 29% reflects a six-functional-group design (cool- and warm-season grasses, legumes, brassicas/broadleaves) — broader than the simplified three-group teaching frame used below. Function > count is well supported; whether it pays on WI grain-corn ground depends entirely on whether you can establish the mix at all.

Corn1.0k acresCropland

Cover CropsWIMay 202635 reads

Virtual Fencing

The technology reliably contains cattle for rotational grazing and stream/regrowth exclusion, but the recurring subscription plus terrain/coverage risk decide whether it is worth it for a modest KY herd.

Hay/PasturePasture/Rangeland

OtherKYApr 2026173 reads

Interseeding into corn

Two gates decide whether this is a 2026 or a 2027 project: your corn's leaf-collar stage (V4-V6, not 'knee-high') and what residual herbicides are already in the ground. If long-residual products are down or you can't source a drill and seed in days, plan for 2027 rather than forcing a same-week stand.

Corn4.0k acres

Soil HealthILApr 202620 reads

Cereal rye is the right species for this late, pre-soybean slot

Cereal rye seeded by late October is inside the recommended central-Iowa window and overwinters reliably, so species choice is easy. The main planning question is seeding logistics: drilling behind the combine is the most reliable method and should be the default, with aerial/broadcast into standing corn reserved as a moisture-dependent contingency only for acres that cannot be drilled before the deadline.

Corn2.0k acresNo-TillCropland

Soil HealthIowaApr 202617 reads