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Caution when using cereals as cover crop

A small grains specialist is cautioning growers about the risks of using winter cereals as a cover crop on prevent plant acres.

Jochum Wiersma with the University of Minnesota tells Brownfield farmers should not plant rye or winter wheat when there was a small grain preceding it.

“You want to break the green bridge as we call it so that aphids that are in there, and some other things like wheat curl mite flush out of that system so they don’t reinfect and colonize the winter cereals that you just planted right following it.”

He also points out if cover crops aren’t being used for forage, its primary objective is to absorb water.  Because of that, Wiersma recommends seeding as quickly as possible.