Abstract

Cover crops for the Organic No–till Plus experiment were planted on September 12, 2005, and consisted of three treatments: 1) a control (no cover crop/tillage used after planting); 2) a cover crop combination of winter wheat (56.25 lb/acre) and Austrian winter pea (18.75 lb/acre), and 3) a cover crop combination of rye (64 lb/acre) and hairy vetch (32 lb/acre). The cover crops were rolled with a roller/crimper mounted, rear-mounted on a tractor on May 25, 2006. The roller consists of a large steel cylinder(10.5 ft wide × 16 in. diameter) filled with water to provide 2,000 lb of weight. Plots planted to the wheat and pea mix were rolled two times, while those in the rye and hairy vetch mix were rolled 2 to 3 times. The corn and soybeans for the experiment were drilled on the same day as rolling (May 25), the soybeans(BR 3F43) at 160,000 seeds/acre and the corn (BR 67M07) at 32,000 seeds/acre. Nine 6-in. Roma tomato seedlings were planted in three replications of each treatment on June 15. Transplants were side-dressed with 0.5 lb/plant of hoop-house compost at the time of transplanting.

Keywords: Horticulture, Agronomy

How to Cite:

Delate, K., McKern, A. & Rosmann, D., (2007) “Evaluation of an Organic No-Till System for Organic Corn, Soybean, and Tomato Production”, Iowa State University Research and Demonstration Farms Progress Reports 2006(1).