Establishing Fall Cover Crops Fall cover crops are best suited for potato land or pulse crops. Sugar beets are harvested too late in the year for a cover crop to become established. This method can work well on potato fields because of the significant amount of soil disturbance associated with the harvest. The cover crop seed is incorporated by the potato harvester and the operation used to anchor the potato vines after harvest. On potato fields, seed the cover crop within 12 hours of the harvest to take advantage of the moisture brought up by the harvesting operation.
Some operators seed their cover crops at the end of each day of harvesting.
A press drill is preferred because of better packing and fewer problems dealing with potato vines. Hoe drills and air seeders have a tendency to plug up with vines. In-line packers are the most efficient. Costs per acre for seeding from the air are comparable to other methods when considering the operator's time, operating costs, and wear and tear on machinery. The producer doesn't use valuable time seeding and a lot of acreage can be seeded in a short time.