News

Consider SCN when selecting cover crop seed

Farmers are encouraged to factor Soybean Cyst Nematode (SCN) into cover crop decisions.

Dr. George Bird with the SCN Coalition says some cover crops are hosts for SCN.

“And if the grower has soybean cyst nematode in a specific field, we basically don’t want to plant a cover crop in that field that would be food for the nematode and increase the population.”

He tells Brownfield thankfully there’s a fairly long list of cover crops that are poor or non-hosts for SCN.

“And these include various grasses like wheat and rye. They also include some legumes, and some brassicas.”

Bird says while there’s currently no cover crop the Coalition can conclusively identify that would lower SCN populations, there’s a lot of research geared towards finding a trap crop to accomplish that.