One-pass train for rapid cover crop establishment

“Recent seasons’ weather patterns have created significant challenges for successful autumn establishment of cover crops and companion planting,” he advises. “With increasingly protracted dry weather periods, it’s crucial to conserve any available soil moisture and also encourage rapid root growth for establishing seedlings to seek out reserves.

“Shorter windows of good conditions for sowing makes high work rates to cover ground quickly a priority,” he adds.

The tillage train principle ensures that seeds are accurately placed into adequate tilth, while minimising surface movement to protect against water loss and weed seed incorporation.

Furthermore, operating in tandem with the Nutristart LQ a tailored liquid fertiliser can be placed directly alongside the seed, to encourage faster establishment of the crop. James adds that the direct placement of liquid fertiliser optimises the rapid uptake of nutrients and avoids the waste of broadcast surface application.

Fertiliser composition and application rates can be tailored to individual field conditions by agronomists, but research suggests to typically aim for a low N; high P, 5-15-5, to encourage rapid rooting and biomass development.

“The aim is to achieve more consistent establishment in challenging conditions,” he says. “That’s essential for cover crops to maximise their potential to retain and recycle nutrients,

while protecting and enhancing the soil structure through the winter, along with optimising the role of companion planting alongside the establishing crop.”

James highlights the MultiCast 400 unit can be fitted with a specific metering cartridge for small seeds or cover crop mixtures, with the versatility to change cartridges for other applications, such as Avadex Granules, or to swap onto other machines through the year. Metering of both seed rate and fertiliser is matched to forward speed via Garmin GPS.

The Multicast 400 and Nutristart LQ tillage train combo is now available for growers to try out through the Techneat Hire scheme.