The Iowa cover crop fact sheets are a quick reference to aid in selection and identification of cover crop species. The fact sheets provide information on cultural traits, planting, and performance ratings.
Annual Ryegrass
Annual ryegrass is a deep-rooted winter annual grass that grows quickly and is excellent as a cover crop for fighting soil compaction.
Barley
Barley is a cool-season annual grass that is very good as an Iowa cover crop for reducing soil erosion and fighting compaction.
Buckwheat
Buckwheat is a summer annual broadleaf cover crop that establishes and matures quickly, helping to suppress weeds and fight soil compaction.
Cereal Rye
Cereal rye is a cool-season annual grass that is a popular cover crop for its ability to establish in the fall, suppress weeds, reduce erosion and soil compaction.
Cowpea
Cowpea is quick growing warm-season annual legume that provides a good grazing
source and nitrogen fixation.
Crimson Clover
Crimson Clover is a quick growing cool-season, winter annual legume cover crop. It is a strong nitrogen fixer and scavenger. Crimson clover has a strong root system that helps reduce compaction and build soil.
Hairy Vetch
Hairy Vetch is a cool-season annual legume cover crop that can provide an excellent nitrogen
source. It grows slowly in the fall, but root development continues over winter, providing energy for quicker growth in the spring.
Oats
Oats are a cool-season annual grass and popular Iowa cover crop because they grow quickly, help reduce soil erosion, and provide quality livestock grazing in the fall.
Radish
Radishes are a cool-season annual brassica cover crop. They have a long taproot that helps with water infiltration and soil compaction. Radishes are also very good at scavenging excess nitrogen from the soil.
Rapeseed
Rapeseed is a fast-growing cool-season brassica often used in cover crop mixes to help fight soil compaction, capture residual nitrogen, and help with water infiltration.
Red Clover
Red Clover is an easy to establish cool-season, winter annual legume that provides an excellent nitrogen source to the soil. Many Iowa farmers use red clover in a mix for livestock grazing.
Sorghum-Sudangrass
Sorghum-Sudangrass is a quick growing summer annual grass used as a cover crop to scavenge excess nutrients in the soil, suppress weeds, and fight compaction.
Sunflower
Sunflower is a quick growing summer annual broadleaf cover crop often used in multi-species mixes to help fight soil compaction and scavenge excess nutrients in the soil.
Triticale
Triticale is a deep-rooted cool-season annual grass that resembles wheat and cereal rye. It provides excellent cover, lasting residue, and scavenges nitrogen.
Turnip
Turnips are cool-season biennial brassicas that offer diversity in a cover crop mix. Turnips can help capture nitrogen in the field, reduce soil compaction, and provide quality grazing.
Wheat
Wheat is a cool-season annual grass that is an effective cover crop for weed suppression, erosion control, and as a livestock grazing supplement.
Winter Camelina
Winter camelina is a winter hardy brassica used as a cover crop to fight soil compaction and scavenge excess nitrogen and phosphorus.
Factsheets were created in a collaboration between USDA-NRCS and Iowa State University Extension and Outreach (Mark Licht, Hillary Olson, Mila Pessotto, J.D. Hollingsworth). Jason Johnson with USDA-NRCS designed the factsheets.