Part article taken from Crop Production Magazine
By Nick Fone & Sara Studden
Helen Wilson of RAGT seeds adds “the radishes are also particularly useful in disrupting the lifecycle of the beet cyst nematode. But you need to make sure you chop these residues up well after destruction to get the best of their fumigation effect. In combination with this you’re also getting a green manure as part of the benefit.”
There’s also an increasing interest in cover crops to work towards tackling blackgrass resistance as Mark Hemmant of Agrovista explains.
“Blackgrass is mainly a problem in heavy, marshy soils and cover crops can be an excellent way of drying out these soils overwinter at depth while leaving enough moisture in the surface layer to allow for better ease of establishment in spring.”
There isn’t one perfect cover crop for everybody, he notes. “Our soil-conditioning mix that contains Berseem clover, Chlorofiltre 31, has thin but long and powerful roots that penetrate through soil layers and is ideally suited to a pH of around 6.2-6.5. It grows quickly, roots well, mops up nitrogen then dies off leaving little biomass.
“In terms of what the cover crop does for the soil structure, it works on improving the crumb of the soil, making it less blocky and allowing air and root channels to move up and down throughout the soil layers. This’ll also allow better movement of earthworms within the soil. The organic matter within the soils is improved by the roots breaking down after destruction of the plant, which leaves minimal biomass.
“On top of that, it doesn’t affect any pulses grown later in the rotation. Growing many species within the cover crop mixture can cause complications within future rotations and so including fewer species is a better solution,” he maintains.
By Nick Fone & Sara Studden
Helen Wilson of RAGT seeds adds “the radishes are also particularly useful in disrupting the lifecycle of the beet cyst nematode. But you need to make sure you chop these residues up well after destruction to get the best of their fumigation effect. In combination with this you’re also getting a green manure as part of the benefit.”
There’s also an increasing interest in cover crops to work towards tackling blackgrass resistance as Mark Hemmant of Agrovista explains.
“Blackgrass is mainly a problem in heavy, marshy soils and cover crops can be an excellent way of drying out these soils overwinter at depth while leaving enough moisture in the surface layer to allow for better ease of establishment in spring.”
There isn’t one perfect cover crop for everybody, he notes. “Our soil-conditioning mix that contains Berseem clover, Chlorofiltre 31, has thin but long and powerful roots that penetrate through soil layers and is ideally suited to a pH of around 6.2-6.5. It grows quickly, roots well, mops up nitrogen then dies off leaving little biomass.
“In terms of what the cover crop does for the soil structure, it works on improving the crumb of the soil, making it less blocky and allowing air and root channels to move up and down throughout the soil layers. This’ll also allow better movement of earthworms within the soil. The organic matter within the soils is improved by the roots breaking down after destruction of the plant, which leaves minimal biomass.
“On top of that, it doesn’t affect any pulses grown later in the rotation. Growing many species within the cover crop mixture can cause complications within future rotations and so including fewer species is a better solution,” he maintains.