ÄDELHOLM 2024: PREPARATION – COVER CROP
A decision has finally been made: barley, with hairy vetch sown to some test areas. The vetch might be changed out for crimson clover, if the seed is not available. Seed is sourced from SvenskaFoder. Barley will be sown to ca. 70 kg/ha, and the legume to ca. 30 kg/ha (max permissible = 30% by seed weight) over an area of 0.20 ha.
THE DECISION PROCESS WAS WAY HARDER THAN IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN…
We’ll be having a cover crop in Ädelholm Field 3, between the wheat crop of 2023 and the sugar beet crop of 2024. The nematode test we had done suggests this field is pretty OK for nematodes.
The pin nematode, Paratylenchus (stiftnematod), numbers are above the threshold for damage. The note says that the numbers can grow quickly if the wrong cover crop is grown. Oilseed radish, Raphanus sativus ssp. oleifera (oljerättika) is the default cover crop of choice. Given the pin nematode shouldn’t be too excited by this crop (I believe), a structural variety of oil radish can be grown. Lantmännen have the variety Stinger. I like Stinger – she was a friend at uni. I’m also hoping to add a legume to the mix, because I like legumes. The oilseed radish will likely out-compete any legume, so it might need to go in as a strip.
Giving 2023 is shaping up as an early year, there is also concern around having too much biomass from the cover crop. At IIRB 2022, work from IfZ showed that the cover crops with good biomass growth generally helped the sugar beet crop establish (better soil structure), but also that there were problems with available N later in the sugar beet season and ultimately lower sugar yields. The low biomass cover crop of vetch lead to the best sugar beet yield (might also gave a bit more N?). So, with that in mind, combined with the desire to include legumes, and that barley is already available to the contractors, it might be a barley + legume (max 30% by seed weight) mix.
The rules for compensation stipulate that the crop cannot be terminated before 20 October, and that no fertilisation is allowed between harvest of the cash-crop and termination of the cover-crop.
SOWING
The 2023-24 cover crop in field Ädelholm-3 was sown 27 August. BUT THERE WAS NO HAIRY VETCH, just barley…
DEVELOPMENT
It looked OK. Was sprayed out with RoundUp ca. and ploughed under late on 19 December.