Getting a cover crop established after a Palouse harvest is a race against the calendar and the rain. Aerial seeding gives you a head start: we can broadcast seed into a standing crop or fresh stubble, so the cover is on the ground and ready to catch the first moisture, weeks before a drill could get across the field.
Why seed from the air
- Earlier establishment. Seed into standing stubble ahead of, or right behind, the combine instead of waiting for a drill.
- Ground you can't drive. Steep hillsides, wet draws and soft spots all get the same even coverage.
- Speed. A whole field, or a whole farm, covered in a day when the weather lines up.
Species and rate
Cereal rye is the Palouse workhorse for aerial seeding: cheap, tough, and it germinates on a little moisture. Depending on your goal, we also fly other cover mixes and pasture and CRP seed. Broadcast seeding usually calls for a somewhat higher rate than drilling, since the seed sits on the surface instead of in a furrow.
Get the seed on before the rain and let the weather do the drilling for you.
Timing
The sweet spot is putting seed down just before a rain, with enough season left for the cover to root in. Watch the forecast, get on the schedule early, and we'll fly it into the window. On the Palouse that often means late summer into early fall, but it depends on the crop and the year.
The payoff
A cover that's up and rooted before winter holds your soil on those steep slopes, feeds the ground and gives you a cleaner start next spring. Aerial seeding is the fastest way we know to get there.