Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[Dieter Brand <diebrand@yahoo.com>]

Jerry,

 

You can use almost any annual or perennial as cover crop.

Some are easier to handle than others. For example, use

small grains (wheat, barley, rye, etc.). If you want to cut them

for broadcasting or transplanting a cash crop into, then you

need cut them after the seed pods (don't know what they

are called in English) start to form, or the wheat, etc., will

grow again, but before the seeds set (become hard) or

they will reseed. This gives you a window for cutting of

only a few days or a week perhaps.

 

If you use a legume (field peas, vetch, lupines, fava beans

etc.) things are easier, you can cut any time before the

seeds set, because the legume will not grow again after

cutting. Usually you cut during flowering because

N-fixing is greatest at that time.

 

A good combination is rye plus vetch. The rye will produce

plenty of root mass and the vetch will fix N. The vetch will

also be able to climb up the rye stalks.

 

Other plants commonly used as cover crops are: clover,

mustard, buckwheat, oil seed radish, alfa alfa, etc. You

better check with local farmers to find what works best

under your local conditions and what are the dates for

sowing, flowering, cutting, harvesting, etc.

 

Dieter Brand

Portugal

jerry walker <cubby149@vermontel.net> wrote:

IMHO you have to plant anual crops . they only grow for one year then die
problem I don't know which ones they are.
jerry
----- Original Message -----
From: "Dean"
To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing"

Sent: Thursday, October 04, 2007 2:04 PM
Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Cover crops benefit everyones soil


> How do cover crops reconcile with no till practices? We tried them one
> year
> and harvested cover crop for the next few years.
>
> Dean
>
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