Aerially Seeding Winter Rye Into Standing Corn in Minnesota: Successes and Failures.

Cover crops during the off-season are one way of reducing nitrate losses from agricultural fields. Of all the potential cover crops, cereal rye (Secale cereale L.) in particular has been shown to reduce nitrate leaching, among other benefits. However, it is difficult to establish winter rye following cash crop harvest due to the upper Midwest’s cold winters. Some evidence has shown that broadcasting seed into a standing crop early in the fall can result in earlier growth than drilling the seed after harvest, although results have been mixed. Current research has shown successful establishment in some fields while others seeded on similar soils on the same day completely fail to grow. This study aims to determine factors affecting the success of establishment.