Following on from groundswell bicropping

[DieselRob]

It's just had 2 doses of roundup, to kill the bg and thistles. It never got sown in the autumn which was probably a mistake. I don't even know why I didn't now, because I also failed to drill a spring crop because it was so wet so late.

It's got a cover crop recently sown into it but not emerging very well due to the drought.

So no, I haven't decided against it but waiting for something to go right!

It has been suggested to me that even if I get a good clover established post harvest it won’t be thriving enough this autumn to put a wheat in to it so I have a 10ac field destined for spring barley and I think I’ll give it a go in there and then try get a wheat in next autumn

 

[ih1455xl]

Spring oats

Genuine question: Do the help hold each up until harvest, or do they pull each other down?

My experience of harvesting by-passed vining peas is they go flat in any wind the week before harvest, and spring oats like to lean at the best of times.

the peas climb the oats haven’t had any pulled down yet the strange thing is where there’s peas the oats don’t get crown rust

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

It has been suggested to me that even if I get a good clover established post harvest it won’t be thriving enough this autumn to put a wheat in to it so I have a 10ac field destined for spring barley and I think I’ll give it a go in there and then try get a wheat in next autumn

That should work.

Sowing in the autumn with wheat is probably a waste of seed. Undersowing in the spring has worked for me. Then sow your wheat in the autumn, when it should be quite well established.

 

[DieselRob]

That should work.

Sowing in the autumn with wheat is probably a waste of seed. Undersowing in the spring has worked for me. Then sow your wheat in the autumn, when it should be quite well established.

Any suggestions on seed rate for the clover?

 

[jonnieboy]

Spring oats

the peas climb the oats haven’t had any pulled down yet the strange thing is where there’s peas the oats don’t get crown rust

What sort of seed rates are you using for peas oats ?

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

Any suggestions on seed rate for the clover?

I did 1.4kg per ha of the 2 varieties of clover.

I also did a few other species like yarrow and plantain which I would do again and some others that I probably wouldn't.

 

[ih1455xl]

What sort of seed rates are you using for peas oats ?

This year 200 peas and 150 kg/oats still think more peas tho

 

[DieselRob]

This year 200 peas and 150 kg/oats still think more peas tho

Did you start out with half rate of both components or did you up the rates from the start?

 

[ih1455xl]

Did you start out with half rate of both components or did you up the rates from the start?

Been playing around with rates for a while depends on what your after this is for feeding ourselves so more peas the better did a experiment last year at different rates for both

 

[Woldgrain Storage]

Guy I steer combine for has field of boats. Beans and oats. I'll let you know.

How did this end up? Thanks


Is there now a specific payment for intercropping/bicropping/companion cropping?

 

[Nearly]

How did this end up? Thanks


Is there now a specific payment for intercropping/bicropping/companion cropping?

Best termed a partial success. Not a great year for spring crops anyway.

 

[Humble Village Farmer]

It has been suggested to me that even if I get a good clover established post harvest it won’t be thriving enough this autumn to put a wheat in to it so I have a 10ac field destined for spring barley and I think I’ll give it a go in there and then try get a wheat in next autumn

Next time I think I will follow spring establishment with winter beans to allow more time for the clover to establish. There would be an option to use kerb for grassweeds.

 

[Fenwick]

So folks.
Who's done it?
Who's making it work?
What seed rates?
What management?
What crops?
Outputs? (It was mentioned that it's 1.3 times the monocropping option, but was that just oat or both added up because a few beans in an oat trailer would add a lot of weight due simply to them being so much heavier)


Discuss.

Standard practice for organic farms over here. Have done peas and triticale for years .

In fact, on the organic farms it is rare to see any straights, with the exception of bakers wheat.

 

[Jsmith2211]

Our winter beans and oats aren't looking too clever this year. The beans are quite thin and the oats are patchy, similar to the solecrop fields of those crops. Beans and oats worked well last year, but were very weedy, much like the spring sewn pea and barley. Pea and barley mix for harvest 22 however was our second best gross margin crop, only £100 behind wheat. 2t/ac, only the 1 spray for pre-em. no fertiliser. We will be trying a light rate of fertiliser this year, 30% full rate of the cereal. Hopefully this will help the barley to tiller (something it didn't seem to do much of this year) and therefore help to suppress the weeds a little. The interesting thing with the beans and oats was that it seemed quite variable across the field as to which was dominant. In parts of the field there were barely any beans, and in other parts of the field there were barely any oats. I was planning to see if I could spot any patterns in the growth of the following crop of wheat along the lines where the beans grew best, but unfortunately its been too wet to get a crop in there.