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  • From: rosnide3 AT vt.edu
  • To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Hairy vetch & Corn
  • Date: Fri, 15 Feb 2008 10:06:15 -0500

Steve is right that hairy vetch is cool season while corn is hot weather.
There
are many other legumes that could be tried. For instance, an old southern way
is to plant velvet beans in corn. Then perhaps you would turn the hogs into
the
corn field to eat the velvet beans. I would worry a bit about moisture.
Anything
you plant is going to take moisture away from the corn.

Robert

> >Can Hairy vetch be planted along with corn to supply the corn with
> >nitrogen?
> >
> >Andy King
> >Sunflower King's Farm
> >http://www.sunflowerkingsfarm.com/
> >PA Zone 6
>
>
> Normally it doesn't work that way; i.e., interplanting legume "with"
> the cereal crop to get transfer of biologically- fixed N between
> roots. Hairy vetch and related cool-season leguminous cover crops
> are typically sown in the fall as winter annuals. When they are
> ploughed down the following spring the nitrogen is release during
> decomposition.
>
> The good thing is that the mineralization / N-release rate and crop
> takeup / fertility-needs are fairly well matched. So it a sustainable
> practice and it supplies N in organic farming.
>
> In pastures -- which are a mix of perennial and annual grasses, legumes,
> and broadleaves -- you can get transfer of Rhizobium-legume nitrogen
> to grass roots via mycorrhizal fungi "during" the growing season; i.e.,
> active transfer between living organisms. We facilitate this kind of
> ecosystem functioning in Texas using soil biology management practices.
>
> In typical legume/grain crop rotations there is a lot of tillage and
> use of ag chemicals. These practices drastically reduce mycorrhizal
> colonization and related pieces and functions of the soil foodweb.
>
> There are practical ways to increase mycorrhizal colonization and
> soil foodweb functioning that can result in active N transfer.
> You can verify what the situation is using lab-based soil tests
> and on-farm microscopes and soil health test kits. It's do-able.
> I can think of a few well established organic farms that use
> ecosystem approaches where you may find this happening.
>
> At the same time, it's not that you are getting active
> N transfer from mycorhhizal-rhizobial interactions alone,
> as if that is the linear effect that produces the corn crop.
>
> It is the cummulative ecological effect of managing cover crops,
> proper tillage, mulched surfaces, active biology, organo-mineral
> complexation, soil aggregation, and related soil-building practices
> that result in a robust soil foodweb that functions on all levels.
>
> Foliar application of N-fixing bacteria such as azotobacter
> can also result in N supply to the growing corn crop.
>
> Steve Diver
> Texas, Zone 8
>
>
>
>
>
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