No-till Pumpkin and Winter Squash after Winter Rye Cover Crop, Northern Indiana, 2020

No-till planting of pumpkin into a killed winter rye cover crop is a system used by growers in a number of states, including Indiana. Advantages mentioned by producers in addition to soil health benefits from the cover crop include cleaner pumpkins at harvest, and in rainy seasons, less mud in the field making a more pleasant experience for customers who pick pumpkins right from the field. There is interest in conducting more research in this production system at university research farms. The purpose of this project was to develop a workable system at the Pinney Purdue Ag Center for no-till pumpkin production after winter rye that can be used for demonstration and in future research to better understand and improve production practices. Common methods for killing rye in no-till systems include using a herbicide and roller-crimping so the trial included both methods. Because winter squash is similar to pumpkin and there appears to be increasing interest in winter squash the trial included both pumpkin and squash.