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permaculture - RE: Cover crops

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Chronological Thread  
  • From: John Schinnerer <John-Schinnerer@data-dimensions.com>
  • To: 'permaculture' <permaculture@franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: RE: Cover crops
  • Date: Mon, 16 Aug 1999 13:46:14 -0700


Aloha,

-----Original Message-----
From: Guy Clark [mailto:guyclark@socket.net]
>This study found that the
>combination that was the best, and incidentally had not been included in
>the original study, was rye and hairy vetch. The study reported on nitrogen
>fixation, coverage percentage, and biomass I believe. I will look for the
>exact article and send more later.

Matches up well with Ecology Action's top winter compost crop choice, which
is a combo of winter rye and wheat, vetch, and cold-weather fava beans.
Rye (and to a lesser extent wheat) creates an amazing amount of microfine
root mass, growing more organic matter into the soil.
Vetch fixes N, covers the soil and creates a fair bit of biomass.
The favas fix N and create quite a bit of compostable biomass. They are cut
& composted before they produce seed, so the nitrogen in their root nodules
stays in the soil.

John Schinnerer




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