re: Planted summer plots today

Going from the tillering stage to flowering, the carbon-to-nitrogen ratio might change from 18:1, where it is going to mineralize nitrogen as it decomposes, to 50:1, where it is going to immobilize a lot of nitrogen as it decomposes. That’s not necessarily a bad thing. A lot of nitrogen that could have leached out of the soil is being retained and will be released to the crop as the season progresses. It does mean that nitrogen needs to be managed differently, though

Cover Crop strategies

Or are you talking about crimping vs mowing or spraying?


Edit: I thought you were asking about timing.

Another benefit is that you can mount a crimper on the front of your tractor to crimp and plant in one pass.
When you spray to terminate crops they may stay standing for a long time before they even fall. Especially grasses that we use a lot in fall mixes. You could kill it then mow it after it does, but then you will have windrows through the field and now you have made a total of at least 3 passes across the field. (Spray, mow, plant)
Just mowing it may not kill it and the mowed crop could out compete the planted crop.
A crimper won’t kill everything in the field either. If you do it when grasses are too young they will stand back up.