If you had to scavenge for food from Thanksgiving to Easter, chances are you wouldn’t be very productive and may not survive. The same is true of soil microbes.

Timing of control and planting in a single pass could limit adoption; hope lies in breeding cover crops that flower in time for traditional planting window.

When compacted soils become a problem, as they can anywhere in the country, cover crops can be an effective solution, according to experienced no-till farmers. But you need to know which crop will work in your area to provide the kind of long tap roots needed. Visitors to Farmer’s Forum, the message board of No-Till Farmer, offered a number of possibilities recently. We share their ideas here, as well as thoughts about an assortment of other topics.