Cover crops are used on many farms in the off seasons to maintain soil nutrients, control erosion, provide natural habitat for beneficial insects, and more. But not all insects drawn to cover crops are beneficial.
Farmers could also invite hungry, damaging insect species to their fields between the months of April and June.
Cover crops are often used in between harvesting and growing a farm’s cash crops to provide a wealth of benefits to the land.
According to the college of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences at Ohio State University, some common cover crops in Ohio include cereal rye, radish, sunflower, and berseem clover.
But with the increased ground coverage these crops provide, insects such as the True Armyworm and Black Cutworm have shelter to lay eggs and feast on the harvest.
Once the cover crops are removed, farmers then risk the spread of these hungry bugs to their cash crop. According to OSU Extension Field Specialist Stephanie Karhoff, these insects can destroy crops in multiple ways.
“Cutworm can either tunnel through that corn underground and cause some issues through development and seedling development," she said. "And then they can also eat above ground and really clip those corn seedlings at the base.”
Karhoff said the best way to avoid insect damage to valuable crops like corn is to wait at least two weeks to plant main crops after removing a cover.
“In theory, you're putting more distance between that cover crop providing a habitat for those insect species and important seedlings coming up. So ideally, that's going to lower the chance that they're moving on to that corn as a source of food," she said.
Balancing the trade-offs is a big part of farming, experts told WYSO.
Farmers can also immediately plant their main crop on top of cover crops but Karhoff said the results of this method are not always reliable.
In some cases, Karhoff suggests farmers can use insecticides to help stave off the destruction of their product.
But for some farmers using cover crops and regenerative farming practices, other natural methods can help reduce pest risk.
According to a regenerative farmer in Carlisle, Ohio, Michael Kilpatrick, his family avoids infestations by planting a diverse range of cover crops.
He said the varietal mix of cover crops attracts natural predators who consume these pests as well as preventing a consistent meal source for the insects to return to.
Experts with the research and program Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education, Sharad C. Phatak and Juan Carlos Diaz-Perez, said using biologically active soils can help resist pest pressures.
According to their research, providing year-round food and habitat for beneficial predators that eat pests can also offer crop protection.
Balancing the trade-offs is a big part of farming,
according to Karhoff. Making sure to protect the economic integrity of a farm while preserving the environment and justifying the use of pesticides is something farmers all over have to contend with.
"So yes, we may have an increased risk with some of these cover crops. But you're also getting those benefits like we talked about earlier with those cover crops," she said. "So it's all about managing the trade offs of on an individual farm and using the field history and management history of that field to understand what risk you're willing to manage on your farm."
