# Reclaiming Wet Ground



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

With cover crops....from Ag.com.

Regards, Mike

http://www.agriculture.com/crops/cover-crops/use-cover-crops-to-reclaim-wet-ground_568-ar44695


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

What they should have added was if it's going to lay fallow with or without cover crops, no better time to add more tile.

Last field of beans we planted was a waste of time, should have just took the delayed planting on it then spent the summer slamming roll after roll of tile in it.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

So before the land was farmed and tiled, how did the natural land handle all the excess water??


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## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

Some soaked in. Some ran off. Some sat on the surface.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

hog987 said:


> So before the land was farmed and tiled, how did the natural land handle all the excess water??


Didn't matter then if it took till the middle of August to dry out or if it never did.


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## hog987 (Apr 5, 2011)

Should have rephrased the question. With the natural soil higher in organic matter, better soil tilth, more vegative growth. How much better was the natural soil in dealing with and using the excess water?

I think the idea of fall seeded cover crops is a good idea. Use excess spring moisture to help grow organic matter instead of just trying to get rid of the water.


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## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Thats always debatable and something we keep playing with on burning our cover crops down in the spring. Sure green growing plants use moisture but they also shade the ground. Would they ever use more than could evaporate off on bare ground? Still working that out. Even if we spray early to get bare ground sooner, you still have a lot of root mass left that cuts down on erosion.


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## Bgriffin856 (Nov 13, 2013)

First year we have left ground lay fallow. Was planning on seeding them back but was too wet and still is wet. Have a good cover crop of weeds grasses and volunteer clover. No bare soil here thats the nice thing about round up...no carryover.


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