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  • From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
  • To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] tomatoes in vetch mulch?
  • Date: Thu, 24 Aug 2006 10:14:21 -0600


See http://www.newfarm.org/depts/NFfield_trials/1103/notillroller.shtml

also
Sustainable Production of Fresh-Market Tomatoes
and Other Summer Vegetables With Organic Mulches
Aref A. Abdul-Baki and John R. Teasdale
http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/np/SustainableTomato.pdf

The alternative production system described in
this bulletin uses the winter annual legume hairy
vetch (Vicia villosa L. Roth) both as a cover crop
and as a mulch in a sustainable tomato produc-
tion system. As a cover, vetch serves to fix nitro-
gen, recycle nutrients, reduce soil erosion and
compaction, and add organic matter to the soil.
When converted to a mulch, the residue reduces
weed emergence, increases organic matter con-
tent, reduces water loss from the soil, and acts as
a slow-release fertilizer.

Research on this mode of production was origi-
nally confined to growing tomatoes in stands of
hairy vetch. However, within a few years, the
underlying concept demonstrated a great deal of
promise. Once a grower masters the principle of
growing tomatoes in hairy vetch, the concept can
easily be modified to suit other summer crops and
regional growing conditions. A surprising num-
ber of options have met with success. Selected
direct-seeded summer vegetables, like sweet corn,
snap beans, and pumpkins, can be grown effec-
tively. Alternate cover crops can be selected and
even seeded in beneficial mixtures to suit local
growing conditions.

This publication first describes the basics of the
original system: how to establish a stand of hairy
vetch, convert it into a mulch, and nurture young
tomato plants in the mulch. Once you compre-
hend the process, consider modifying it to grow
other summer vegetables, first on a small scale.
Or try customizing the cover crop to suit your
climate or soil condition. These possibilities are
discussed in a later section, “Customizing the
Basic System.”

more at http://www.ars.usda.gov/is/np/SustainableTomato.pdf


paul tradingpost@lobo.net

*********** REPLY SEPARATOR ***********

On 8/24/2006 at 10:03 AM David Tannen wrote:

>On 8/23/06, TradingPostPaul <tradingpost@riseup.net> wrote:
>>
>>
>> The technique is very simple. In late summer or early fall, you make a
>bed
>> or beds for your tomatoes. Then sow the very hardy annual legume called
>> hairy vetch, Vicia villosa. In spring you kill the vetch by simply
>cutting
>> it close to the ground, and then lay it in place on the beds. Then set
>the
>> tomato transplants right through the mulch.
>>
>> I would like to attempt organic no till on a 3 acre hay field next
>spring. I am zone 6B. My plans are to cut the hay field in the next two
>weeks. Rake the hay up to form beds. In late September, early October I
>am going to plant a cover crop in the beds to cut down early next spring
>and
>then plant tomatoes, potatoes. peppers and beans.
>
>I have read about hairy vetch in the past as a cover crop, but I was
always
>led to believe that one needs a no till roller to kill it in the spring.
>This article suggests that simply cutting the vetch will kill it. A no
>till
>roller is not a tool I want to invest in at the moment.
>
>I live in small rural community and have access to all the conventional
>tools used by chemical farmers. This includes tractors, bushogs, hay
rakes,
>tobacco planters, seeders, plows, tillers, disks and harrows. These can
>all
>be borrowed from neighbors. I presently farm a 3/4 acre area using a two
>wheel BCS walk behind tractor and am slowly converting to no till.
>
>Moving my operation up to 3 acres under cultivation is a big step for me.
>Here are my questions. Does anybody have experience with using vetch as a
>cover successfully without a no till roller? How can the above equipment
>be
>modified to plant transplants into the heavy mulch? How does one plant
>seed
>into this heavy mulch?
>
>David
>
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