sort out your soil

8/13/2019 Sort Out Your Soil

1/21

A practical guideto Green Manures

By Anton Rosenfeld & Francis RaynsEdited by Ian Wilkinson & Isabel Milner

SORTOUT

YOURSOIL


2/21

CONTENTS

WHAT IS A GREEN MANURE? 5What is a cover crop?

WHY USE GREEN MANURES? 6Nitrogen management

Soil improvement

Ensuring the nitrogen needs of the nextcrop are met

Weed, pest and disease control

Forage for livestock

WILL GREEN MANURES 10SUIT YOU?

Why grow a green manure crop when a cashcrop could be grown instead?

Will a green manure create extra work?

Wont it be too late to sow a green manureafter harvest?

Will green manure management clash withwork on cash crops?

Does the cost of seed justify the benet?

Organic seeds

MANAGING GREEN 12MANURE CROPS

When to sowWhat to grow over winter

How to sow and establish

Legumes and inoculation

Mowing

Incorporation

Undersowing

CHOOSING A GREEN 14MANURE CROP

Soil Type

SINGLE SPECIES OR MIXTURE? 16

Long term mixes

Winter mixes

Summer mixes

GREEN MANURE PLANTS 17

LEGUMES

Crimson Clover 17

Fenugreek 18

Lucerne / Alfafa 19

Persian Clover 20

Red Clover 21

Sainfoin 22

Sweet Clover 23

Vetch 24

White Clover 25

Yellow Trefoil / Black Medick 26

NON-LEGUMES

Buckwheat 27

Chicory 28

Cocksfoot 29

Grazing Rye 30

Italian Ryegrass 31

Mustard 32

Perennial Ryegrass 33

Phacelia 34

Westerwolds Ryegrass 35

GROWTH HEIGHTS 3637

AUTHORS 38


3/21

A green the soil. prot, into benethey are shortly b

With risian ever-ian enviromanuresto cut inpthe soil.

There is to choosmustardsas clovernitrogenbenets and weed

WGR

Greenbecomto cut

Left: Grazing rye and vetch

Below: Harvesting wheat


4/21


5/21


6/21


7/21


8/21

All green manures will add organic matter

CHOOSING A GREENMANURE CROP

AIM: AIM:Improve soil structure Fix N Improve soil & fix N

1-12months

1Yrplus

Overwinter Summer

CocksfootRed cloverChicorySweet cloverSainfoinLucerne

VetchGrazing rye

Westerwoldsryegrass

MustardSweet clover

VetchRed cloverPersian clover

Vetch Sweet clover VetchRed clover

Yellow trefoilCrimson cloverBuckwheatFenugreek

Red cloverSainfoinLucerneSweet clover

White clover

Red clovSainfoinSweet clLucerne

Grazing rye/ vetch mix

Red clover VetchSweet clover

1-12months

1Yrplus

1-12months

1Yplus

The first stage in deciding whichspecies or mixture to grow is todetermine your aims. These will

then help you make the right choice.Sowing a mixture of plants willcombine the benefits each offers.

SOIL TYPEThe soil type willinfluence the choice ofgreen manure as some

species are bettersuited to certain soils.

All green manures w

Overwinter Summer Overwinter Summer

CHOOSING A GREEN MANURE CROP


9/21


10/21


11/21


12/21


13/21


14/21


15/21


16/21


17/21


18/21


19/21

B u c k w h e a t

C h i c o r y

G r a z i n g R y e

P h a c e

l i a

GROWTH HEIG

C r i m s o n

C l o v e r

F e n u g r e e

k

L u c e r n e

/ A l f a

f a

P e r s i a n

C l o v e r

R e

d C l o v e r

S a i n f o i n

S w e e

t C l o

v e r

V e t c h

W h i t e

C l o v e r

Legumes

1m

50cm

20cm

70cm

80cm

90cm

60cm

30cm

40cm

Y e l l o w

T r e f o i l

C l e

T r

Buckwheat

This will reacha height of upto 90cm.

Chicory

After leaf developmentat around 60cm, theplant quickly bolts toproduce a oweringhead at 100 150cm.This is unsightly,although the owersattract many insects.

C

To

Grazing Rye

This will attaina height of atleast 1m.

P

Ra8totoatoin

Phacelia

This grows to around40 50cm.

Crimson clover

This can reach a

height of 70cm ifnot cut.

Fenugreek

This willgrow to a heightof around 1m.

Lucerne

The crop will attain

a height of at least1m if not mown,but should be cutbefore this to avoidan abundance ofwoody material.

Red clover

This will reach a height

of at least 60cm if leftunchecked. Allowingthe crop to producetoo much plantmaterial runs the riskof smothering the cropif cut and mulched.

Sainfoin

This will grow to aheight of around 1m.

Sweet clover

This can grow to a

height of over 2mif left uncontrolled,although at this stageit will have becomewoody and difcultto incorporate.

White clover

This will reach a

height of 20 30cm,depending on leafsize. Allowing the cropto produce too muchplant material runsthe risk of smotheringthe crop if cut andmulched.

Yellow trefoil

This will reach aheight of 20 30cmif not mown.

Vetch

This will grow to aheight of around 50cm,or higher if grown inconjunction with a cereal(eg grazing rye or oats)to provide support.

Persian clover

This will reach aheight of at least60 70cm if leftunchecked. It isnormally mownat this point.


20/21

AUTHORS

Francis Rayns BSc PhDFrancis is currently Horticulture Research Manager at GardenOrganic (formerly known as HDRA). He has been involved in alarge number of projects (funded by Defra, HDC, WRAP, the EU andprivate companies) concerned with fertility management, particularlyin organic eld vegetable systems. This has included studies of theeffects of a range of green manures, composts, animal manuresand other soil amendments. He has worked to develop computermodels for rotational planning and has been responsible for longterm experiments to compare the effects of different rotations onsoil quality and crop performance.

Anton Rosenfeld BA MSc PhD Anton is currently Research Ofcer at Garden Organic. He hasworked in a number of projects concerned with sustainablestrategies for vegetable production and also projects focusing onuses of green manures and composts to build soil fertility fundedby Defra, HDC and WRAP. He has worked closely with growers bothin the UK and overseas and is currently coordinating a project todevelop a resource of knowledge and varieties for growing exoticvegetables. He also delivers training on a range of horticulturaltopics including soil fertility.

Ian WilkinsonIan is the Managing Director of Cotswold Seeds where he hasworked for over 25 years. He has a particular interest in legumesand their application in modern farming systems and is associatedwith the promotion of red clover in the UK. He trained in Farm andGrassland Management at Berkshire College of Agriculture.

Isabel MilnerIsabel works at Cotswold Seeds, advising farmers and growerson grass and forage crops and coordinating communications forthe company. She graduated with a First from the Royal Agricultural

Colleges Graduate Diploma in Agriculture in 2010 after a 15 yearcareer in the media, mainly working at the Guardian andObserver newspapers.

EDITORS

Acknowledgements

We wish to acknowledge Defra and HDC who funded much of thework over the last 15 years that formed the basis of this booklet.We would like also to acknowledge input from Stephen Briggs(Abacus Organic Associates), Peter Knight (Vegetable ConsultancyServices) and Roger Hitchings (Organic Research Centre). Thanksshould also go to Duchy College, IBERS, Warwick HRI and the manyfarmers who participated in trials. Thanks to NIAB for supplyingsome of the photographs in this publication.


21/21

Cotswold SeedsCotswold Seeds was founded in 1974 and deals with over8,000 farmers throughout the UK. The company has a specialistinterest in grass and legumes and offers advice on growing andmanaging these crops to those working in the livestock, arableand horticultural sectors. The company is also involved in a widerange of research projects across the EU.

www.cotswoldseeds.com

Garden OrganicGarden Organic, the UKs leading organic growing charity, hasbeen at the forefront of the organic horticulture movement for50 years and is dedicated to researching and promoting organicgardening, farming and food.

www.gardenorganic.org.uk

sort out your soil

Documents