Cover crops are grasses, legumes or small grains grown to protect and benefit the soil. Tilling, weeding, harvesting and foot traffic can all destroy your soil structure. Once cover crops are planted, they are left to grow, not harvest. Allowing them to grow will help revitalize soil structure. The benefits cover crops provide are often taking place when your soil is otherwise in a “dead” state. Most cover crops are planted during the non–growing season. Different plants provide different benefits to the soil.
Benefits of Cover Crops
· Reduce soil erosion and compaction
· Increase water infiltration
· Hold nutrients and minerals in the soil that are otherwise lost during the winter
· Suppress weed growth
· Improve air and water movement in soil
· Support microbial life in the soil which helps soil quality
· Improve soil health
Managing your cover crops is a very important step. Traditionally cover crops are plowed under, crushed, cut or pulled and used as mulch or compost. The advantage of rolling, crushing or using winter kill varieties is to leave the soil surface covered and mostly undisturbed, which will prevent weeds from growing. Depending which variety you chose to plant will depend on the management that is required. If you chose a winter kill variety, this will be easier to manage as long we get a killing frost. Should you chose a grass, you will need to make sure that you get it killed before it goes to seed or be prepared to deal with it once it has gone to seed. Also know that what you plant could have an effect on what you are going to plant into it, some need time to decompose into the soil before you can plant into them. For example, sudex (a fast-growing sorghum-Sudan grass hybrid) produces gargantuan amounts of biomass (leaf, stem and roots), but fresh sudex residue in the soil inhibits the growth of tomatoes, lettuce and broccoli. Oats, wheat and other cover crop plants also produce allelopathic substances that can temporarily hinder the germination and growth of other plants, too, but not in quantities sufficient to cause serious disturbances in the garden. If you chop in fresh cover crop residues, just plan to wait two to three weeks before sowing crop seeds. Tilling or pulling the cover crop is not recommended as it will destroy root and earthworm paths and also reduce the beneficial microorganism population.
On The Farm
According to Alan Sundermeier, OSU Extension agent, recent environmental and ecological awareness has started a resurgence in cover crop use. Although cover crops have been used for centuries, today's modern farmer has grown up in a generation which has replaced the use of cover crops with widespread use of fertilizers and herbicides. Now as some farmers are trying to use cover crops, they lack the information and experience to be successful. University and private researchers are going back to the basics and are experimenting with beneficial plants to determine how they can best be used in modern farming practices to supplement or replace purchased inputs. Cover crops have an important role in successful sustainable farming systems.
To find out more on cover crops come to our workshop:
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