Summer Cover Crop Influence on Fall Vegetable Production

At the 2012 Fruit and Vegetable Field Day held at the Iowa State University Horticulture Farm, Ames, Iowa, one of the major challenges highlighted by commercial vegetable growers was “weed management.” Growers called for research on sustainable and environmentally conscious (less herbicide) ways of weed management. Use of cover crops to suppress weeds was one of the outcomes of the discussion. The goal of this project was to evaluate and study what advantages exist under Iowa growing conditions for four cover crops to satisfy farmer’s goals. The four cover crops studied were: Buckwheat (cool season broadleaf), Cowpea (warm season broadleaf), Oats (cool season grass), and Sorghum Sudangrass (warm season grass)