Selection & Establishment

This cool-season grass can grow rapidly. Its shallow, fibrous roots hold soil in place, improve water infiltration and enhance soil tilth. It can also produce high volumes of biomass for organic matter.

Winter barley handles poor soils and dry conditions better than other small grains. It prevents erosion and nutrient loss. It can also add value as a forage or silage.

Cereal rye is among the most popular cover crops, largely due to its hardiness and the multitude of benefits it provides. Its fibrous roots and high biomass scavenge nitrogen, suppress weeds, improve soil structure and reduce erosion.

This versatile small grain can serve as cover and forage. It is generally winterkill and mixes well with other species. For beginning cover croppers, oats fit well following soybeans before planting corn.

Cover crop options from this warm-season grass family tolerate drought well and grow quickly. They also provide forage or grazing while building soil and capturing nutrients. However, growth will depend on seeding timing and the first frost.

This winter annual is a cross between wheat and cereal rye. It supports nutrient cycling and storing carbon and is used more in cover crop mixes than on its own.

Winter wheat can serve as an easy-to-terminate grass cover crop. It prevents soil erosion, scavenges nutrients and supports grazing. It also offers the unique option of being harvested as a cash crop if the stand and prices warrant that. However, consider how that would impact participation in cover crop programs.

Several clover species work well as cover crops, including winter or summer annuals like crimson or berseem clover and perennials like red and white clover. Clovers fix nitrogen and attract pollinators and beneficial insects.

Cowpeas, also known as southern or black-eyed peas, are a summer annual. They handle heat better than other legumes while still fixing nitrogen and quickly covering the soil surface to smother weeds.

Options like field peas, also called Austrian winter peas, can grow as a winter or summer annual, depending on latitude and growing season length, though they usually winterkill. They provide forage, fix nitrogen and suppress weeds.

This tropical legume acts like a summer annual in the U.S., producing large amounts of biomass and visible nodulation on its roots for nitrogen fixation in relatively short times. It fits more easily as a cover in zones with longer growing seasons.

Hairy vetch is most often used as a cover crop. Due to its ability to withstand winter conditions, this plant can be seeded in the fall. Additionally, it can fix nitrogen and combat erosion. Other species, like common and woollypod vetch, may be considered in southern regions. Research is examining the allelopathic effects of vetches for weed control.

A broadleaf grain sometimes grown as a cash crop, buckwheat establishes and grows quickly to cover the soil surface. Its residue breaks down quickly to add organic matter to the soil.

Though initially known as an oilseed cash crop or a dietary supplement, flax can mobilize phosphorus and add organic matter to soils when used as a cover crop. As a mycorrhizal associator, it builds the soil network of microbes that helps crops draw water and nutrients from a larger area. It is a cool-season annual with long-lasting residue.

This unique species is native to the U.S., but it was developed in Europe. It captures soil nitrates, suppresses weeds and attracts pollinators and other beneficial insects.

The deep taproots of sunflowers alleviate compaction while pulling nutrients and water up from deep soil layers and storing those nutrients. They also attract pollinators and pest predators, like birds.