AWS Community Day CPH - Three problems of Terraform
Southern SAWG-Planning the Planting of Cover Crops and Cash Crops
1. Planning the Planting of
Cover Crops and Cash
Crops
Daniel Parson
Parson Produce
404.452.4321
www.parsonproduce.com
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6. Parson Produce
• The Farmhouse B & B is 40 acres
• 3.25 acres vegetable and cut flower
• Small Apiary
• 300 shiitake logs
• Applying for organic certification
7. Parson Produce Marketing
• 75 member Community Supported
Agriculture (CSA)
• Restaurants:
– Stella s Southern Bistro
– High Cotton Greenville
– American Grocery
• Live Oak Farm Store and Swamp
Rabbit Café and Grocery
• TD Saturday Market, Greenville
8. Why Rotations?
• Required for certified organic
• Reduce pest pressure
• Reduce weed problems
• Improve crop fertility
• Reduce crop disease
• Include cover crops in production
9. Certified Organic
The producer must manage crop
nutrients and soil fertility through
rotations, cover crops, and the
application of plant and animal
materials
10. What is a Cover Crop?
A cover crop is grown to support the
production of other crops; not for
harvest. Cover crop residue is left on
the surface in a no-till system or
incorporated into the soil in a tillage
system.
11. Pest Control
• Biodiversity
• Cover crops attract beneficials
• Break cycles of infestation
Example: soil-borne nematodes that are
plant-family specific
16. Beneficial Insects
Big-Eyed Bug Minute Pirate Bug
Newport News Master Gardeners
From University of Nebraska-
Lincoln/Photo by Jack Dykinga,
image from the USDA Agricultural
Research Service.
17. Weed Control
• Crop/weed timing
• Diverse cultivation methods
• Cover crops as smother crops
Example: cultivation of winter squash
before vines extend
19. Crop Fertility
• Certain crops deplete certain nutrients
• Some crops make nutrients more
available
• Cover crops
• Different crop fertilization strategies
20. Crop Fertility
Example: adding compost to one crop,
followed by one that needs well-
decomposed organic matter
Example: straw mulch on tomatoes
increases organic matter for
following crop
22. Disease Control
• Break the cycle of soil-borne disease
• Keep disease from building up
• Increase beneficial microorganisms
• Pathogens with limited host range
• Pathogens without airborne spores
25. What is a Good Cover Crop?
• Legumes
– Nitrogen fixation (70-200 lb/acre N)
• Grasses
– Add biomass (1-5 ton/acre dry)
– Conserve nutrients
• Other vigorous growers
26. How to Plant Cover Crops
• Minimal tillage to clean field and cover
– Fine seed on surface
– Larger seed sow before final cultivation
• Achieve full coverage
• Encourage vigorous germination
• Consider following crop
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30. How to Plow in Cover Crops
• Early bloom stage before seed sets
• Mow and shred
• Allow to dry and shrink
• Shallow tillage to incorporate
• Wait 4 weeks before direct seeding
31.
32. Warm Season Legumes
• Soybean
– Upright easy to grow
• Velvet bean (up to 200#N/acre)
– Climbing vines love heat
– Requires cultivation or companion
planting
• Cowpea (100-150#N/acre)
– Vigorous vines love heat
36. Warm Season Broadleaves
• Buckwheat (1-1.5 ton/acre dry)
– Short season
– Prolific blooms attract beneficial insects
– Cycles Calcium
• Sunflower
– Great scaffold for climbers
– Possible harvest with non-climbers
37. Cool Season Legumes
• Crimson Clover (70-130#N/acre)
– Rich in N and blooms
• Fava bean
– banner for N and biomass
• Hairy Vetch (90-200#N/acre)
• Austrian Winter Pea
41. Cool Season Grasses
• Cereal or Grain Rye
– Great height
– Winter hardiness
• Oats
– Early biomass and semi winter-hardy
• Wheat
– Smaller stature, hardy
42. Primary Mixes--Summer
• Buckwheat, Soybean, and Sudan
– Early bloom of buckwheat
– Mow when soybeans bloom
• Buckwheat alone in sequence
– Short season cover
– Constant bloom for insects
44. Primary Mixes--Winter
• Rye and hairy vetch
– More biomass formed
– Precedes later season crops
• Oats and Crimson Clover
– Precedes spring crops
– Better N source for short crops
45. How to Design a Rotation
• Measure and map your fields
• Divide into equal-sized ‘rotational
units’
• Group cash crops: family, seasonality
• Create rotational plan outline
• Fill in with cover crops
• Create detailed field plan
46. How to Design a Rotation
• Measure and map your fields
• Divide into equal-sized ‘rotational
units’
• Group cash crops: family, seasonality
• Create rotational plan outline
• Fill in with cover crops
• Create detailed field plan
48. How to Design a Rotation
• Measure and map your fields
• Divide into equal-sized ‘rotational
units’
• Group cash crops: family, seasonality
• Create rotational plan outline
• Fill in with cover crops
• Create detailed field plan
50. How to Design a Rotation
• Measure and map your fields
• Divide into equal-sized ‘rotational
units’
• Group cash crops: family, seasonality
• Create rotational plan outline
• Fill in with cover crops
• Create detailed field plan
57. How to Design a Rotation
• Measure and map your fields
• Divide into equal-sized ‘rotational
units’
• Group cash crops: family, seasonality
• Create rotational plan outline
• Fill in with cover crops
• Create detailed field plan
58. Arrange Crops
• Note-card method
• Blank grid method: column names
– Field Number
– Crops and Cover Crops
– Winter, Spring, Summer, and Fall
60. Field Rotation Plan 2012
Field Crop Season
Winter
1 Broccoli Spring
Soybeans/Buckwheat Summer
Carrots and Beets Fall
Rye Aisles Winter
2 Potatoes Spring
Sudex/Soybeans Summer
Garlic Fall
Winter
3 Spring
Late Flowers/Beans Summer
Wheat/Crimson Clover Fall
Winter
4 Spring
Okra Summer
Rye/Hairy Vetch Fall
Winter
5 Spring
Peppers/Eggplant Summer
Oats/Winter Peas Fall
Winter
6 Arugula and Lettuce Spring
Soybeans/Buckwheat Summer
Cabbage and Kale Fall
Rye/Crimson Clover Winter
7 Cucumbers/Squash Spring
Summer
Oats/Winter Peas Fall
Winter
8 Carrots and Beets Spring
Soybeans/Buckwheat Summer
Broccoli Fall
Rye/Clover Winter
9 Sweet Potatoes Spring
Oats and Clover Summer
Fall
Winter
10 Cabbage and Kale Spring
Buckwheat Summer
Arugula and Lettuce Fall
Wheat Aisles and Crimson Clover Winter
11 Spring
Early Flowers and Beans Summer
Rye and Hairy Vetch Fall
Winter
12 Spring
Melons Summer
Rye and Crimson Clover Fall
Winter
13 Tomatoes Spring
Oats and Winter Peas Summer
Fall
61. How to Design a Rotation
• Measure and map your fields
• Divide into equal-sized ‘rotational
units’
• Group cash crops: family, seasonality
• Create rotational plan outline
• Fill in with cover crops
• Create detailed field plan
66. Rotation Questions?
• Measure and map your fields
• Divide into equal-sized ‘rotational
units’
• Group cash crops: family, seasonality
• Create rotational plan outline
• Fill in with cover crops
• Create detailed field plan
67. Resources
• National Center for Appropriate
Technology www.attra.ncat.org
• Available online at www.sare.org
– Crop Rotation on Organic Farms: A
Planning Manual
– Using Cover Crops Profitably
• Adams-Briscoe Seed Company
www.abseed.com
68. Planning the Planting of
Cover Crops and Cash
Crops
Daniel Parson
Parson Produce
404.452.4321
www.parsonproduce.com