Species

The MSU Extension Cover Crops Team is working to expand this information available in this section over time, so please check back for updates.

Legumes

Red clover:

Crimson clover:

  • Crimson Clover: Overview of benefits, establishment and how crimson clover can be integrated into crop rotations

Annual medics:

  • Annual Medics (Medicago spp.): Legumes closely related to alfalfa. They are true annuals flowering, setting seed and dying within one growing season (60 to 100 days). There are more than 35 known species of annual medics, all of which have their origins in the Mediterranean region.

Cowpea:

  • Cowpea Production: Sample costs and benefits as a summer cover crop. Presentations of production costs and benefit analyses for cowpeas, based on the results of trials conducted by University of California researchers in the Coachella Valley in 1998.

Hairy vetch:

  • Hairy Vetch as a Cover Crop: An overview of hairy vetch as a cover crop, from the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
  • Cover Crops: Hairy Vetch: A complete guide to hairy vetch as a cover crop, from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Ontario, Canada

Grasses

Annual ryegrass:

Cereal rye:

Oats:

Sorghum-sudangrass:

  • Sudangrass and Sorghum-Sudangrass Hybrids: Comprehensive review of sudangrass and sorghum-sudangrass hybrids as cover crops, from Washington State University Cooperative Extension.
  • Forage Sorghum-Sudan Grass: A complete guide to sorghum and sudangrass as cover crops, from the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Ontario, Canada.

Brassicas and other broadleaf covers

Oilseed Radish:

Mustards:

Buckwheat: