Clover as a green manure

mauser · Wed Dec 30, 2015 6:01 pm

I was wondering if any of you have used clover either red or white in raised beds while they were not in use. Is this something worth my time to do.

lakngulf · Wed Dec 30, 2015 8:48 pm

mauser wrote:I was wondering if any of you have used clover either red or white in raised beds while they were not in use. Is this something worth my time to do.

Should be a good cover crop for beds while not in use, but do you mean not in use for part of the year, or giving them a break for a year or so. Clover "fixes" nitrogen in the soil (never have understood the full concept of how that works, but it is good). Seems if you let the clover grow awhile, then turn it under, it will be very beneficial to subsequent plants.

mauser · Wed Dec 30, 2015 9:00 pm

No just planting in the fall. I don't really have enough beds to let one rest for a year though that's a good idea.

Taiji · Thu Dec 31, 2015 11:34 am

I have yellow clover on a bed or two right now, but it doesn't grow much at this time of year in this zone. It sprouts the fastest of any green crop I've grown, but grows more slowly than, say, ryegrass.

Yellow clover seed is all I can find around here. I don't know how it compares to red or white nutrient-wise, or in nitrogen fixing.

meandtk · Thu Dec 31, 2015 1:53 pm

Clover is recommended for green manures.
I'm doing it for my second year.
This year I hope to let it go to seed in a spot or two in hopes that it will reseed next year.

lakngulf · Thu Dec 31, 2015 2:59 pm

meandtk wrote:Clover is recommended for green manures.
I'm doing it for my second year.
This year I hope to let it go to seed in a spot or two in hopes that it will reseed next year.

I like to get clover going wherever I can. Got some nice food plots at my hunting land. But for the "fall/winter only" crop that I till under next spring, I plant purple top turnips or mustard greens. I have some growing in my garden now and just thru out some more seed this morning.

jal_ut · Sat Jan 02, 2016 10:29 am

The legumes, including clover, alfalfa, soybeans, lupins, have nitrogen fixing bacteria associated with root nodules. Yes they do enrich the soil. It is common farming practice to follow alfalfa with wheat. In our home gardens we can plant corn where the beans were last year. I guess growing some clover in the off season won't hurt a thing either. I don't have long enough season here to be successful with that one though, I would have to fallow a piece of ground for the season to do that .

imafan26 · Sat Jan 02, 2016 10:48 am

The nitrogen fixing legumes and cover crops in general should be tilled in at first flowering. The legumes, if inoculated, will yield the highest number of nodules in soil that is not rich in the micorrhyzzae. For the soil bacteria to associate with the roots they need to be in the rhyzosphere of the root. Flowering is when nitrogen fixation peaks. After flowering energy is transferred to the seed and some of the benefit is lost. Green manures are a fast maturing crop and by their nature they can be weedy. All legumes can fix nitrogen, but some are just better at it than others. Red clover, cowpea, hairy vetch are the most common ones. Other green manures like buckwheat, oats, winter rye, winter wheat add biomass. Some cover crops and plants are good for breaking through hard soil like daikon and fodder radish.

All cover crops can protect soil from erosion and supress weeds.

Some of the scavenger crops like mustard cabbage scavenge left over nutrients and sun hemp, India Mustard, and certain types of marigolds can reduce nematodes.

https://extension.umd.edu/sites/default ... rCrops.pdf