Cover Crops

I'm trying something new for next year. I've seeded red clover in my wheat field last winter, and let it grow all summer. This fall, I've performed a burndown, and will no till corn next spring.
From what I've researched, legumes (red clover) provide nitrogen for the following crop, especially when has not been tilled into the soil.

Is anyone currently doing this? What has been the success rate?

We have several growers using clover (red or crimson) as a cover crop. They are planting into wheat stubble or corn silage stubble in the fall/late summer. The clovers are then burned down in the following spring prior to corn planting. Are they getting additional N from the clover? YES. How much? A little harder to answer. We are probably getting between 40 and 80 lbs of Nitrogen. A couple of things "here" (South Central PA), a cover crop growing in the spring is preferred in order to "grow out" the excess moisture we have. We have folks planting into the cover live or crispy dead. Neither has experienced any real problems into the clover. In fact, we've had only positve responses to planting into it. The issue this past spring was moisture. For those that killed w/ RU well ahead of planting (7-10 days), rains after kill severly hampered the ability for the soil to dry out for planting. That dead residue really held the moisture and planting was severly delayed. I've encouraged most to consider spraying at planting or using gramoxone for a quicker kill and a smaller window for weather to cause problems. All are very happy with the results of cover crops in general and specifically clover has become the species of choice for fields going into corn. I fully expect cover cropping to become a necessity "here" to making no-till work.

So far a 2.4D and roundup mix or gramoxone has killed the clover. Well, let me clarify that a little, no one has complained that they didn't get a good kill with these products. I haven't been in contact with every single farmer that has used clover cover crops, but, I am pretty sure I'd have heard if they didn't kill it! An active healthy plant should take in the herbicide of choice very well. Don't beleive it? Just try it on a small field or a portion of the field OR grow some RR corn and experiment in that. At least with the RR corn you can spray again if you don't kill it. Farmers here have voiced the same concern you have and it appears to be an unfounded fear. I've ssen some very healthy and very tall clover (18") get sprayed and corn no-tilled with no clover regrowth (or at least any that caused a problem). The resdiue that it puts down and the moisture that can be retained is really, really incredible. However, the only way to be convinced though is to do it yourself.

I've seen/heard of slug problems in varying no-till situations with and without cover crops. Certainly the residue from cover crops make a good habitat for slugs and they will most likely be a problem for you from time to time. No one has come up with a really good, cost effective way to deal with them that I've heard about. On top of that they always seems to hit a field or section of field that is visable from the road! No one here that I know of has seen/experienced a bad enough slug problem to scrap the whole notion of no-till and cover crops yet. Expect them and adjust your system if they become a problem.

For more information regarding Red and Crimson Clover go to: "www.oregonclover.org"