Can I use these clovers as a cover crop?
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NaturalFarmer
Well-Known Member
Takes awhile to establish indoors and out. The seed is ridiculously expensive but when you see how much you get from a yardful of clover then you know why. I love how bright the crimson clover flower is and it supposedly is one of the better for green manure.
greasemonkeymann
Well-Known Member
depends on what your intentions are, they'll work just fine as a cover crop, and if you cut em down and let em compost you'll get the nitrogen in the nodules too, but they do use nutrients from your soil, but if your goal is to simply maintain a soilweb's health over the winter they'll work great for that.
but to do them to try and get that nitrogen from the atmosphere it's a lil challenging, meaning they use more than they give back in that regard.
but DAMN good at keeping the soil nice and happy
calliandra
Well-Known Member
Off the top of my head, it's the white clover that is mainly used to enrichen soils in row intercropping systems (terminology?). Rows of it are planted where a crop row was the previous year. It's used for green mulching to the left and right of it in summer, and in the next year is again planted with a crop, whilst the clover row moves over.
The principle being demonstrated here is the widely acclaimed nitrogen-fixing ability of clover. While it is growing, the nitrogen is fixed in the nodules in its root system (created by a bacterium whose name I'm too lazy to check back on right now
). This nitrogen is not available to plants in this stage. It does become available when microorganisms decompose it.Hence, my doubts as to whether it's even worth the bother to underplant our herb with clover
Just my 2c tho
calliandra
Well-Known Member
Yeah absolutely agree
greasemonkeymann
Well-Known Member
Exactly my deduction also, there's SO much that I've tinkered with over time, but when it comes down to it, nothing is even remotely as crucial as maintaining a fresh humus filled active healthy soil webThis nitrogen is not available to plants in this stage. It does become available when microorganisms decompose it.
Hence, my doubts as to whether it's even worth the bother to underplant our herb with clover
Just my 2c tho
But clover and covercrop works awesome to keep the soil web alive
but that being said, my favorite cover crop is grass
the roots don't go super deep and they encourage the mychorrizhae to stick around
NaturalFarmer
Well-Known Member
Lower left on this site, lets you scroll through all the cover crops and what they are used for.
http://covercrops.cals.cornell.edu/index.php
http://covercrops.cals.cornell.edu/index.php