Timing of control and planting in a single pass could limit adoption; hope lies in breeding cover crops that flower in time for traditional planting window.

When compacted soils become a problem, as they can anywhere in the country, cover crops can be an effective solution, according to experienced no-till farmers. But you need to know which crop will work in your area to provide the kind of long tap roots needed. Visitors to Farmer’s Forum, the message board of No-Till Farmer, offered a number of possibilities recently. We share their ideas here, as well as thoughts about an assortment of other topics.

Will a cover crop residue roller – considered essential in South American no-till fields – add value in the northern Great Plains? Dr. Dwayne Beck is studying that question under environmental conditions that are the equivalent of being several hundred miles north of tropical Paraguay and Brazil.

A strict no-till corn-and-soybean rotation leads you down a path to trouble. The more practical kind of diversity that you can work into your no-till system, the better.

When the hunters track across Jerry Lamp's fields in November, they wonder why the no-till soybeans haven't been combined. If they look closer, they'll find there aren't any beans or pods-only stems.

Aerial seeding of winter rye into standing corn may reduce soybean cyst nematode populations and — at least on some soil types — boost yields by up to 4 bushels per acre.