The University of Vermont Extension Northwest Crop and Soils Team recently received a grant to work with farmers to adopt cover crop interseeding. Our team is seeking out interested farmers in the Champlain Valley and Northeast Kingdom to try interseeding this season.
What is interseeding?
Interseeding is a method of planting seeds in between rows of an established cash crop, such as planting cover crops into a corn silage system. With interseeding, cover crops can be planted as early as the 4th and 6th leaf stages of the corn. Interseeding can also occur later in the season after the corn has tasseled.
How do you interseed cover crops?
Cover crops can be interseeded into growing corn with a variety of equipment options. Specialized equipment includes Interseeder Grain Drills and Highboy Seeders, both options available through the UVM Interseeding Grant. In addition, broadcast spreaders, fertilizer spreaders, and helicopters can be used for interseeding cover crops.
What is the benefit of interseeding?
Interseeding allows farmers to get cover crops in the ground earlier so they don’t have to worry about getting them planted and established in the fall! Interseeding also allows farmers the opportunity to plant a more diverse array of cover crops that might include tillage radish and clover. Farmers all across Vermont have been rapidly adopting cover cropping to improve soil health, reduce erosion, and reap benefits associated with this practice.
Looking for more information on interseeding?
For a more detailed look at interseeding, please refer to the UVM Extension Northwest Crop and Soils Program Publications Under Cover: Integrating Cover Crops into Silage Corn Systems, Tips for Interseeding Cover Crops, and/or Interseeding Cover Crops—Innovative Technologies, which can be found on our cover crops webpage www.uvm.edu/extension/cropsoil/covercrops.
Interested in trying interseeding?
If you are interested in trying interseeding, please contact Heather Darby (heather.darby@uvm.edu) or Jeff Sanders (jeffrey.sanders@uvm.edu) at UVM Extension Northwest Crop and Soil Team 802-524-6501. The team has both equipment and technical expertise available. You can also view a fact sheet of information and get an enrollment form here.