Category: Research

Ohio Cover Crops: What to Know, What to Grow

Posted on by Sierra

Ohio Cover Crops: What to Know, What to Grow

Cover crops are one of the most practical ways to improve soil health, manage erosion, and boost long-term productivity. This fact sheet walks through the essentials of getting started—from setting goals and selecting species to timing, seeding methods, and termination.

Learn how different cover crop types (legumes, grasses, forbs, and mixtures) support soil fertility, weed suppression, and water quality while fitting seamlessly into cash-crop rotations. The guide also outlines cost considerations, seeding rate tips, and planning tools to help maximize both agronomic and environmental returns.

Featuring insights from Ohio farmers and supported by the Blanchard River Demonstration Farms Network, this resource offers practical advice for choosing what to grow—and when—to make cover crops work on your operation.

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Interseeding Cover Crops

Posted on by Sierra

interseeding cover cropsEarly-Season Cover Crop Interseeding

Cover crop interseeding is a management practice used to plant cover crops into growing cash crops like corn and soybeans early in the growing season. This innovative practice addresses potential challenges that Ohio growers face with aerial seeding or after-harvest planting methods.

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Saturated Buffers in Northwest Ohio

Posted on by Sierra

Saturated Buffers in Northwest Ohio:

Reducing Drainage Water Volume for Improved Water Quality

 

saturated-bufferA saturated buffer is an innovative conservation practice with positive impacts on downstream water quality. While this practice has been studied across the Midwest, there is limited research about how this practice performs in northwest Ohio. As a result, Ohio researchers are addressing the benefits, costs, and other related issues of this practice within the topography and soil characteristics of northwest Ohio.

Download Saturated Buffer Fact Sheet

Home Septic System Replacement

Posted on by Sierra

Rural property owners can help reduce nutrient discharge through a wastewater irrigation system. This home septic system allows wastewater to be reused through lawn and landscaping sprayers after the wastewater has been treated and disinfected.

To learn more about this system and its research on water quality improvements, download the fact sheet below.

Conventional Septic Systems vs. Wastewater Irrigation Systems

 

Grand Lake St Marys Wetlands Update 2020

Posted on by Sierra

GLSM wetlands have been monitored for nutrients and sediment weekly since 2017 in an effort to improve our understanding of their importance for both the local community and beyond. In GLSM, wetland acreage is expected to rise in the future as additional wetland treatment systems are already in the planning and implementation stages.

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Grand Lake St Marys Wetlands Update 2019

Posted on by Sierra

Wetlands are essential components of healthy watersheds because they improve water quality by sequestering nutrients and reducing runoff rates, provide habitat for wildlife by increasing habitat variability, improve groundwater conditions by providing recharge points, and enhance public resources use potential by providing increased opportunities for recreation and education.

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