hi Kristin,

There are so many options. Here’s the categories and main approaches I am aware of in a no-till context:

– chemical termination

– winter kill

– roller crimp (using either a board by hand or tractor roller-crimper) at appropriate stage (I think usually soft dough stage for cereals)

– flail mow at appropriate stage (as above) using either BCS / walk-behind tractor or ride-on tractor flail mower.

– mow with finish mower or small hand pushed mower at appropriate stage. I have tried a 20hp ride on mower for this but it can’t handle biomass that is like 5′ high

– weed wacker (string trimmer)

– scythe

– one of the techniques above plus occultation with silage tarp or landscape fabric

– animal termination: grazing sheep or cattle (maybe with chickens or ducks too)

– spread compost or mulch (leaf, straw) on terminated cover crops for additional weed suppression

– self-propelled, walk behind heavy duty string trimmer (like this: https://www.drpower.com/Power-Equipment/Trimmer-Mowers/Walk-Behind-Trimmer-Mowers/DR-Trimmer-Mower/p/T4X1070DMN)

The best termination choice depends on what your goals, timing needs, farming system, and cover crops selected are:

(1) Winter kill of summer-fall sown cover crops is easy provided you select cover crops that will reliably winter kill in your climate.

(2) If you don’t care about retaining surface residue (for weed suppression or residue organic matter) animal termination can be great. It’s what we are doing more and more of with our sheep.

(3) Flail mowing leaves a nice fine mulch evenly spread, and can be done with a BCS flail mower or tractor flail mower. For the scale you mention it’s pretty common. Downside: finer residue does not provide the weed suppression levels that roller crimped does.

(4) Many cover crops will not reliably terminate by mowing or cutting if you try to terminate them before they reach maturity (i.e., after seed head formation but before seed maturity). I believe (someone correct me if I’m wrong) roller crimping has a wider range of termination times

(5) Push, self-propelled and ride-on mowers won’t work really well if a high biomass cover crop.

Planting into this:

– no-till drill (tractor mounted)

– transplant by hand

– strip tillage then plant with Jang, etc.

– you can try the double disc opener on the Jang

– direct seeding into high residue at the small market scale is tough. I have yet to find ideal tools for this. Some people are mowing, cover with tarp, and letting residue break down before seeding (which takes a while).

Happy to give more specific ideas if you let me know what you’re trying to accomplish.

Take care, Skye