Broadleaf Cover Crops: Why They Matter in Your Mix

0:00 [Music]

0:05 So my talk is over the broad leaves, which broad leaves are kind of, I think they're forgotten a lot of times in mixes. To me it doesn't matter what your mix is for, I think there's always room for a broad leaf and they're kind of the forgotten species. You know, your legumes are everybody's always wanting to make more nitrogen, you know, your biomass from your grasses and then all the benefits from the brassicas, but I really want to drive home why broad leaves are important.

0:43 Leaves diverse family groups. You know, your legumes are all in the same family group, your grasses are all in the same family group, your brassicas are all in the same family group. The broad leaves is where you start to diversify those family groups and Dr. Christine Jones is really always hitting at least four different family groups and the more the better, and this is where you can really start to diversify those family groups. Diverse roots and diverse leaf structure. I think this family group has

1:15 The largest structural difference in those categories. Diverse function in the soil—your legumes they produce nitrogen which is great, we need that. Your grasses have the fibrous roots. The broad leaves really can bring a lot of other great components to that soil system. And then a diverse nutritional food source for livestock. We all know how important protein is, how just dry forage matter, but we also need that multivitamin or that mineral component. And this is where the broad leaves can help fill that niche.

1:52 Great for pollinators. Diverse for pollinators—a lot of diverse flowering species, a lot of different colors, different size of flowers, different flowering times throughout the year. So really can be really great for those pollinators and those beneficial insects.

2:11 Buckwheat's the first one, family group—I'm not going to pronounce that, but it's different. I think the biggest thing that buckwheat

2:22 Is famous for is its ability to solubilize phosphorus in the soil so it is able to produce a mild acid that can make tight up phosphorus and other nutrients available. I don't know what some of those other nutrients are but I don't think it's only limited to phosphorus but that's always the big one and phosphorus is always super tied up in the soil so can really help with that.

2:48 This is an excellent pollinating quick pollinating broadleaf. You saw the butterfly before also great for bees. I like this picture because it's a picture of a wasp which yeah around our house we really don't like to see the wasps or I don't but these guys can really take down some larger non-beneficial insects, your worms, things like that that your other lady beetles, some of your smaller beneficials may not be able to. These guys can. But this is also going to be a great housing for any other lace wings, lady beetles, things like that also.

3:30 Probably one of the better, I believe, weed suppressors of the broadleaf family. You don't get a lot of that from broad leaves, but planted at a pretty high rate can really outgrow and smother some weeds. And then also buckwheat has a hollow stem, so can be utilized for some roller crimping more so than a lot of the other broad leaves.

3:52 Okra—again, different family group. I just want to keep pointing that out: every one of these is going to have a different family group that it's involved in. Okra is probably most famous for its edible seed pods—you know, pickled okra. I sure like it; it's really good. But in a cover crop mix, the tap root and its ability to withstand heat and drought is probably two of its strongest points.

4:19 And you can see here in this root dig how deep those roots are going. I mean, that's really poor soil, but you can see how deep those roots are going, accessing nutrients deeper in that soil profile and water. It's a good addition to a grazing.

4:38 Mix especially for a stockpile. Those seed pods can get very large and can be a great food source for livestock going into the winter months. And then a very large leaf structure so when you're talking photosynthesis, your solar panels, this can really start to fill in some of those areas within that mix. Don't need a lot—it is a lot of the broad leaves. It's probably your larger investment so a pound goes, is more than sufficient I think. You start getting much more than that, then the mix kind of becomes non-economical at that point, but certainly a good addition for really those drought, heat areas.

5:22 The urbit family again, different family name. The nice thing about cucurbits, so think of your watermelons, your gourds, your pumpkins, your cucumbers—they're very viny so again a little bit, maybe half pound, maybe a quarter pound in a mix can start to fill in gaps where, you know, for whatever reason maybe you do something's not growing there.

5:50 Cover that soil, bring in that sunlight. The fruit production of most of these—not only can you consume them or pick them for Halloween fall decorations, great source for livestock in a stockpile mix. And I believe there are some antiparasitic properties, especially pumpkins and gourds, so good resource there. Another again with all of our broad leaves, I think it's a good pollinating species, puts on them nice colorful bright yellow flowers. Can bring in a lot of good bugs that way. And then again the variety of species in our cover blend, I think we have all of those and then I think there's some zucchini in there as well, so get a good diverse mix.

6:37 So the next two—safflower and sunflower—now they are going to be in the same family group, so not much diversity there. But again a different family group name. The thing I like about safflower is its wide planting window. It is considered a warm season broadleaf, but I have put it in some spring mixes.

7:01 And it will handle a light frost in the spring and can be planted later in the fall. You know, to get some of the benefits of it, can be utilized as a grazing forage. Now, as long as you get the spineless, which is what we sell, you know the seed, the seeds produced can offer some good stockpile mixes. I have heard if you do get this spineless it can plant it around a field. Bard can kind of act as a natural barrier for predators, you know, coyote, fox, whatever, isn't going to want to probably run through that full of spin. So something to consider if you do find yourself some spined varieties.

7:41 Again, great pollinator, you know, yellow flower, lots of flowers. And this is a good one along with the sunflower for really good deep compaction breaking up sunflower. So same family as the safflower. Again, I keep—I know I keep repeating myself, but it's just to me that's how important they are is their pollinating ability. So we all, we all have seen the bees around the sunflowers. We all know how pretty.

9:20 Radiation in the soil and the highly microbial friendly function of this plant is key as well, getting that mycorrhizal fungi which is key to accessing especially tied up nutrients in that hard sediment, just an extension of that root hair.

9:43 One thing I want to add about the sunflower too, this is not like a wild sunflower. Larger seed and a seed that is actually probably more desirable to your birds and small insects that curl on the ground. So even if it does go to seed production, chances of it becoming a problem are very, very slim.

10:07 We also not only do we offer the black oil sunflowers, we do usually have a little bit of the Russian mammoths. So something you want to add to a garden, they can get quite tall and very impressive.

10:22 Flax, again different plant family. I took this picture here, I actually dug this. This was a mix planted in Western Kansas and what really impressed me is about this.

10:37 Flax's above ground biomass is not very impressive, you know, just kind of a long spindly plant, but it really does have a very nice root system. It's a smaller seed, so two, three pounds in a mix goes a long ways. I do like to add flax to grazing mixes, and the reason why is livestock tend to avoid it—it's got a bitter taste, they don't really care for it. And the reason I put it in is, hey, you know, we all get busy and maybe you don't get that livestock rotated as quickly as you want to. You know, if they graze everything else down, maybe there's some flax left standing to keep some biomass on top of the soil.

11:22 And then another very highly mycorrhizal fungi friendly species here, again beneficial insect attractor with very nice blue flowers. You know, more of a cool season variety, so spring planting, fall planting. If you're looking to maybe do some wheat interseeding, I've heard some pretty positive things about adding some flax to a winter wheat interseed. It's going to winter kill, so no—

11:53 Need to worry about herbicide or anything overseeding and becoming an issue with the wheat next winter. Phacelia, again different plant family. This is another good, really beneficial insect attractor. You know, very a lot of pretty flowers there, purple flowers.

12:19 I was thinking earlier this plant kind of reminds me of my daughter. It's very pretty, you know, very sweet, kind of a little short little plant, but very fibrous root, very just wild underneath the surface. So that's kind of I was just thinking that I'm like yeah, that's maybe that's what I need to. You know, Clint alluded to naming our kids after cover crops.

12:45 You know, smaller seed, so good for broadcasting. I think, and you know, a little bit goes a long ways with phacelia. I mean, probably 400, 450,000 seeds per pound, so half a pound goes a long ways. Really, really well suited in spring mixes, fall mixes. There's probably even some good grazing that can come of it. Just again, you know, we're looking for a diverse diet out of.

13:11 This the last two are two perennial broad leaves that we have. Again, different family group. Chicory has a very very big tap root and really does well in wetter conditions, so can access, you know, can really open up those wetter areas of the field of your pasture and allow that moisture to get down in there. Very tolerant wet soils, great grazing addition to a lot of perennials, or even if you're transitioning to a perennial system, adding this to some annuals as you transition can be a good fit. Small seed, so half pound to a pound.

13:59 The reason it is a good grazing addition is it does contain some antibiotic, anti-parasitic properties that the livestock will kind of seek this out to help regulate. And the last one, plantain, you know, again different plant family, kind of a lot of the same attributes as chicory. A smaller seed and a lot of the same anti-parasitic, antibiotic properties to it. So good addition to any perennial mix. Thank you.