In this Practical Farmers of Iowa blog, ISU graduate student and researcher Dana Jokela writes about using a roller-crimper to terminate cereal rye.

Spraying cereal rye with common burndown products (glyphosate, paraquat, etc) prior to ryelage harvest is illegal. Consequently, termination of cereal rye that has been harvested for forage is best managed with post-harvest herbicide applications. Glyphosate is a more effective burndown option than paraquat for post-harvest termination of cereal rye.

Drought has been prevalent in the northern and western portions of the Corn Belt in recent growing seasons, while southern parts of the Midwest have seen flooding. Cover crops impact both wet and dry soils in the spring.

Several months ago experts from Purdue University discussed the herbicide shortage for the 2022 growing season and outlined a couple of scenarios where growers can switch to alternative herbicides to accomplish the same weed control objectives. In this article, they discuss some options for fields that have a mixture of cover crop species growing in them and how to effectively terminate the cover crops before corn or soybean production.

A fall-planted cereal rye, wheat, or triticale cover crop can have both positive and negative impacts, for example by tying up nitrogen, reducing soil moisture prior to planting, increasing insect pressure, reducing weed pressure, reducing soil erosion and allelopathy. These tips from the University of Nebraska will share tradeoffs to help you better assess cover crop termination timing for your operation and risk level.