Creating Cover Crop and Soil Building Seed Mixes Producing Food Sustainably and Naturally

Creating Cover Crop and Soil Building Seed MixesProducing Food Sustainably and Naturally Presented by Jack Spirko

What Can Cover Cropping and Swales Do?

Reasons People Create Cover Crop Seed Mixtures • Protect beds and fields during non cropping seasons • Build organic matter and improve soil • Provide support to other main crop species • Provide crops in and of themselves • Attract and encourage pollinators and other beneficial insects • To build soil and provide nutrients • To act as feed crops for livestock • To prevent and or reduce erosion • To prepare the ground (tilling with roots) • To restore balance to areas that have been monocroped • To convert your “lawn” into a low maintenance pasture

There are Four Primary Roles of Cover Crops Anything You Try to Add Fits One of These • Erosion Prevention • Biomass Accumulation • Nitrogen Fixation • Dynamic Accumulation • Some Examples of How Everything Fits the Above • Provide Livestock Feed = Bioaccumulation • Provide Nutrients = Dynamic Accumulation and/or Nitrogen Fixation • Create Polyculture Guilds = All Four • Loop Holes Don’t Matter – For instance if you say “attract beneficial insects”, I would tell you if you meet the four goals above, that occurs. What I am trying to accomplish is simplification of selection, not to be clever.

Examining the Four Primary Cover Crop Rolls Erosion Prevention – This is self evident, any good mix of root types will result in erosion control, but you do have to think about the crops lifecycle, germination rate and root structures. Dead crops do little to stop erosion once they are dead, something much success into its place. A plant that takes 20 days to germinate, won’t start preventing erosion for several weeks. Biomass Accumulation – This is simply the accumulation of organic matter, it can build soil, provide feed, provide mulch, it is all in how you manage your results. All plants generate biomass. Nitrogen Fixation – One of the most important functions of legumes in cover crops. All good mixes have at least two legumes in my opinion. Dynamic Accumulation – This simply means to “accumulate nutrients” some include manganese, calcium, cobalt, copper, iodine, boron, silica, sulfur, etc. This function is the one most often ignored in commercial applications. “Weeds” are some of the best dynamic accumulators!

Creating Seed Mixtures Questions to Ask in Making Your Own Seed Mixtures • What is your end goals? • What is your climate type? • Can I irrigate? • What is my average annual rain fall? • What is the ground like? • Can I till or disturb the soil? • Will it be harrowed (covered)? • What livestock do I wish to support? • Will I reseed annually, if so why? • What season is it? • What plants will winter or summer kill, do I want that? • How will the seed be spread? • How large is the area? • What is my budget? • Is the existing ground compacted or loose?

Some Useful Seeds for Making Mixtures • Barley • Wheat • Triticale • Rye • Alfalfa • Turnips • Birdsfoot Trefoil • Bell Beans • Millet • Winter Peas • Medics • Wildflowers and “Weeds” • Vegetables and Herbs • Oats • Cowpea • Buckwheat • Daikon Radish • Mustards • Clovers of all Types • Annual Rye Grass • Perennial Grasses • Plantain • Chicory • Vetch • Bell Beans • Dandelion

What We are Using and Why – All are Cold Hardy • Oats – bio mass accumulation • Daikon Radish – bio mass, deep roots tillage, dynamic accumulator • Mustard – biomass, deep root tillage, dynamic accumulator • White clover – nitrogen fixer, perennial succession, biomass • Brome Grass – biomass, perennial succession • Plantain – dynamic accumulator • Chicory – dynamic accumulator, perennial succession • Vetch – nitrogen fixer, biomass accumulation • Bell Beans - nitrogen fixer, biomass accumulation

What We are Using – All are Somewhat Cold Hardy • Barley - bio mass accumulation • Wheat - bio mass accumulation • Triticale - bio mass accumulation • Rye - bio mass accumulation • Alfalfa – nitrogen fixer, bio mass accumulation, perennial succession • Turnips – root tillage and bio mass accumulation • Birdsfoot Trefoil – nitrogen fixer, bio mass accumulation, perennial succession • Austrian Winter Peas - nitrogen fixer, bio mass accumulation • San Salva Medic - nitrogen fixer, bio mass accumulation, perennial succession

Creating Cover Crop and Soil Building Seed Mixes Producing Food Sustainably and Naturally