Green manure is the enrichment of soil with the help of plants. Nitrogen balance under legumes Green fertilizers for cucumbers

Based on the duration of the growing season, green manure crops can be divided into three groups:

with a short growing season (45-60 days) - phacelia, white mustard, oilseed radish;

with an average growing season (60-80 days) - peas, angustifolia lupine, seradella, sunflower, etc.;

with a long growing season (more than 80 days) - yellow lupine, broad beans and the like.

Just recently they didn’t even know such a word, but now large farms sow green manure on thousands of hectares, and gardeners on several hundred square meters. And they are doing the right thing - how can you not sow them if they are so beneficial?

First, let’s define what exactly is called “green manure.” This is any plant that is not grown for the purpose of producing a crop. The most famous green manure crops are mustard, oilseed radish, rapeseed, vetch, lupine, peas, clover, alfalfa, phacelia, buckwheat, barley, oats, rye (rhyto).

By the way, traditionally rye is very popular among gardeners, but it is hardly possible to find a more inconvenient green manure.

Why grow green manure?

Green manure crops are excellent fertilizers. Surprisingly, the organic mass that is formed from the combination of sunlight, air and water is much more effective than manure. In addition, green manure accumulates nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium and many other macro- and microelements - and it costs you practically nothing!

The root system of plants deeply loosens the soil, providing excellent water and air exchange. If one day you hear the word “bioplow”, know that it’s about green manure.

Many green manures are excellent honey plants. In addition, root secretions, for example, mustard, repel the larva of the cockchafer, wireworm, and mole cricket. In general, the phytosanitary properties of green manure deserve a separate large article.

It is generally accepted that green manure should be sown in the fall. This is correct, but it is much wiser to sow any free patch of land with green manure from early spring - this way there is less weeding, and mulch is always at hand. If you have harvested radishes or onions, immediately sow phacelia or oats. They dug up early potatoes and immediately put mustard in their place.

The biggest and saddest mistake gardeners make is when they plow or dig up green manure in the fall. We can assume that in this case 80% of the green manure benefit is lost.

Let them remain until spring - when the snow melts, you are unlikely to find them, and the soil will be so loose that plowing is not needed.

So know: a modern garden from a good owner goes green under the snow! Sow green manure - and you will have excellent harvests!

Growing green manure is the best way to increase soil fertility!

Any plant improves the condition of the soil. In its underground parts it creates a system of root tubules and supplies food to soil inhabitants. The aboveground part shades the soil and protects it from erosion and blowing away, and, dying, turns into a source of useful compounds.

Based on these properties, many plants can be used to restore soil fertility. Such plants are classified into a special group: green manure.

The growth and development of plants depends on the presence of 16 elements in the soil.

Carbon, hydrogen and oxygen are the main components of healthy soil.

In the second tier, of necessity, there are macroelements - nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium; sulfur, calcium and magnesium are slightly less important.

Microelements needed in smaller quantities, but also affecting normal development, are iron, zinc, manganese, copper, boron, chlorine and molybdenum.

Adding animal fertilizers, blood and bone meal, lime, algae and kelp can compensate for the lack of essential elements and improve the pH balance of the soil, which affects the life of microorganisms.

One of the best ways to add nutrients and organic matter to the soil is by cultivating green manure plants.

Green manures are plants grown as organic fertilizer. Green manure can be considered any annual plants that are grown to restore soil fertility.

Green manures structure the soil: loose sandy soil is strengthened and made more cohesive, while heavy, clay soil, on the contrary, is loosened, facilitating the access of air and moisture.

They reduce the acidity of the soil, increase the activity of beneficial microflora, enrich the soil with organic matter, shading the surface of the earth, and prevent it from cracking under the rays of the sun.

They are sown in the spring before planting garden crops, in the summer instead of garden crops and in the fall after harvesting.

There are two ways to sow green manure.

In the first option, before sowing, the soil is loosened with a hoe or cultivator to a depth of 5-7 cm, then furrows are made and green manure seeds are sown, and the furrows are covered with soil using a hoe. This is usually done in spring and summer.

The second, autumn sowing method involves scattering the seeds and sprinkling them with a layer of compost (in this case it acts as autumn mulch).

TYPES OF GREEN PLANTS

They are quite diverse, but most of them are legumes and cereals.

Cereals contribute to the accumulation of humic substances in the soil and improve its structure. Nowadays you can find special green manure mixtures and monoculture kits on sale.

Vegetable peas enriches the soil with nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matter, therefore it is used not only in individual plantings, but also as a ground cover plant under tall herbaceous crops and fruit trees.

Broad beans– a rich source of nitrogen, one of the best green manures for heavy clay and peaty-boggy soils. Beans reduce soil acidity. Since they are quite frost-resistant, in areas with mild winters they can be sown before winter. For spring and summer planting, you can use beans mixed with vetch and field peas.

Horned frog grows even on very heavy and poor soil, loosens the soil to a depth of 1.5 m and enriches it with nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, calcium, magnesium. Lyadvenets is an excellent forage grass, often used for landscaping because it is resistant to trampling. In spring and summer sowings, it is better to mix it with clover, alfalfa and other legumes.

Alfalfa has an exceptionally powerful root system (up to 3 m deep), enriches the soil with nitrogen, phosphorus and organic matter. Alfalfa produces a large green mass (3 cuttings per season), therefore it is most often used as a forage plant.

Characterized by significant winter hardiness and drought resistance sweet clover, grows well in both sandy and clay soils. However, sweet clover does not like acidic and very wet soils. Therefore, its use in the north-west of European Russia is limited.

Clover Suitable for areas with good moisture. It is frost-resistant and is a good honey plant. You can use clover in the inter-rows of garden crops, where it grows without sowing for 2-3 years.

Suitable for developing poor sandy and podzolic soils with high acidity annual lupine, which accumulates nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium in the soil. This type of green manure is considered the best predecessor for strawberries.

An effective green manure is the popular vetch-oat mixture– legume-cereal. It enriches the soil with phosphorus and nitrogen, suppresses the growth of weeds, and loosens the soil well. It is also grown for the preparation of composts, liquid fertilizer, fertilizing, mulching the soil and protecting cultivated plants from pests and diseases. The vetch-oat mixture is sown in late April - early May, often even under fruit trees.

White mustard- also a good green manure. In addition to enriching the soil and suppressing the growth of weeds, it protects the area from wireworms, a potato pest. Mustard quickly forms a powerful root system more than 1 m long, and after cutting, the roots rot in 1.5-2 weeks, forming a network of channels for the movement of air and moisture to great depths. Mustard is sown in the fall (after harvesting) or in the spring (1 month before planting potatoes and vegetables). You can also sow mustard as a ground cover crop in the inter-rows of perennial fruit and berry crops to prevent weed growth and create channels.

Buckwheat Suitable for enriching soil with organic matter, phosphorus and potassium. It is especially recommended for poor, heavy soils, since its deep branched root system (up to 2 meters) significantly improves the soil structure. This is the best green manure for fruit crops and also an excellent honey plant. Buckwheat is suitable for both spring and summer planting.

Spring rape quickly forms a powerful root system more than 1 m deep, due to which it loosens dense soils well. It has fungicidal and bactericidal properties, enriches the soil with organic matter, phosphorus and sulfur.

Phacelia annual Suitable for almost all soils and wide climatic conditions. An excellent raising agent, it is a good precursor for most vegetable crops. The green mass of phacelia is an excellent food for animals. Due to the short growing season, phacelia can be sown several times during the season, accumulating a large mass of organic matter. And one of the unique properties of phacelia is that its nectar attracts many entomophages that destroy codling moths, leaf rollers, apple blossom beetles and other pests of garden and vegetable crops. The proximity of phacelia kills locusts, soil nematodes that attack potatoes and root crops, and wireworms disappear.

APPLICATION OF LEADERATES
The green mass of green manure plants is rich in nitrogen, proteins, starch, sugars, and microelements, so they are often traditionally used to plow the soil - as green fertilizer. In many agronomic manuals you can find the following recommendations: “Shortly before sowing the main crop, the grown green manure is plowed into the soil, thereby returning nutrients to it and thus enriching the soil with nitrogen-fixing bacteria.”

But is this use of green manure correct?

Firstly, nitrogen-fixing bacteria, living in symbiosis with higher plants, cannot exist freely in the soil and therefore immediately go into the cyst stage - that is, a dormant period, no longer enriching the soil with nitrogen. In this case there is no longer any particular benefit from them.

Secondly, green manure is grown for its root system: after mowing the tops, the roots of green manure rot and enrich the soil with humus, and a porous structure is created in the soil. Therefore, green manure cannot be dug up, as the channels in the soil will be destroyed.

Thirdly, if green manure has not been mowed for a long time, the coarsened stems rot poorly in the soil and can become a source of viral and fungal diseases for subsequent plantings.

And finally, fourthly, when green mass is plowed into the soil, the nitrogen content can become so high that the next crop in succession simply begins to “burn.”

Therefore, modern technology for using green manure includes the following rules.

When choosing a green manure plant, you need to consider what you want to get as a result of sowing it. Therefore, before sowing, it is necessary to carefully familiarize yourself with the technical characteristics of green manure.

In mixed plantings, green manure is planted in place of vegetables immediately after they are harvested. To prevent green manure from allowing weeds to grow, it is sown not in rows, but scattered and then covered with a rake.

Two weeks before planting the main crop, green manure should be cut off. This is determined by the fact that green manure, like any other plants, secrete poisons (colins) to suppress the growth of other plants. Two weeks before planting, the colins will have time to wash into the deep layers of the soil and disintegrate there.

After cutting, green manure tops are left on the soil surface. It decomposes and also forms humus in the soil and replenishes it with mineral elements.

If seedlings are to be planted in the beds, then the green manure is not cut off there, but the seedlings are planted directly in the green manure. Large holes (20-30 liters) are made in the garden bed and seedlings are planted, sprinkled with compost. Green manures smooth out temperature changes in the soil layer, thanks to which the seedlings take root better. Then the green manure is cut off and the soil in the same bed is mulched with it.

You cannot sow crops belonging to the same family right after each other. For example, cabbage or beets, after rapeseed or mustard was grown in this area, since they all belong to the cruciferous family and can transmit to their followers diseases inherent in their family.

Alternate green manure crops without letting the soil become empty. In one season, several generations of green manure can be grown on a free plot, as a result of which the soil will quickly restore fertility.

Green manure can be grown both before planting vegetables and after harvesting them. For example, after harvesting crops that greatly deplete the soil (cabbage, cucumbers, zucchini, pumpkin), you can sow lupine, phacelia or rapeseed.

Do not allow green manure to become seeded, otherwise they will turn into weeds. They need to be cut off during budding before flowering, before a hard stem has formed. In addition, young plants decompose faster and release nitrogen.

Cut green manure with a flat cutter, cultivator or scythe, but you cannot dig up the root system, otherwise the point of sowing green manure (restoring humus and the porous structure of the soil) is lost.

Here is additional information about green manure:

The best restorers of poor soil fertility are legumes that accumulate a lot of nitrogen. In the Non-Black Earth Region this is one-year-old angustifolia lupine and two-year-old clover.

NARROW-LEAFED LUPINE grows 45-50 t/ha of greenery and the same number of roots in just 55-60 days from sowing. In this mass it is capable of accumulating up to 600 kg/ha of NPK: 200-360 kg of nitrogen, 180-240 kg of potassium and 50-60 kg of phosphorus. At the same time, lupine nitrogen is 70-80% fixed from the air, and in terms of digestibility it is twice as effective as manure nitrogen.

CLOVER two years old for two mowings it produces 70-80 t/ha of greenery and accumulates 25-35 t/ha of roots and waste (= up to 8 t/ha of dry organic matter). The entire biomass of the second mowing, embedded in the soil, is equal in organic matter to 30-35 t/ha of fresh litter manure, and surpasses manure in terms of the sum of its fertile effects.

The clover of the second year fixes 300-350 kg/ha of nitrogen, which is then released 1/3 per year. Only with post-mow residues, 100 kg/ha of nitrogen, 30 kg of phosphorus and 65 kg of potassium enter the soil.

In circulation is “clover 2 g.p. – barley – oats with clover undersowing”: average yield without fertilizers – 38 c/ha c.e., profitability – 180-190%, energy efficiency – up to 6.5-7.0.

TWO-YEAR-OLD MELOLITER– the main legume soil improver in the Black Earth Region and the Southern Federal District. Its powerful taproots are the main biomass and “biological plow”. Having broken through the plow sole, they go 2-2.5 m into the soil - twice as deep as clover and sainfoin. From there, sweet clover pulls out a lot of potassium and phosphorus.

Having increased to 25 tons of dry biomass, it accumulates up to 500-600 kg/ha of nitrogen, 200 kg of phosphorus and 400 kg of potassium - twice as much as clover. This food, with the addition of straw, is enough for three years of deficit-free balance.

ALFALFALFA in the Southern Federal District it is more efficient than clover, fixing 30-60% more nitrogen. Even mowed, it leaves up to 19 t/ha of biomass in the soil. The roots are almost the same “bioplow” as those of sweet clover.

In stubble crops, early ripening oilseed radish, white mustard, rapeseed, and tansy phacelia are effective.

Feed organic resources are inexhaustible. New, particularly effective forage grasses have been studied and introduced into cultivation - safflower and woad; perennials – eastern galega (goat's rue), comfrey, oriental sverbiga.

In 1988, in St. Petersburg, the hogweed variety “Otradnoe BIN-1”, which does not burn the skin, was created but never mastered.

ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS. All green manures, and especially biennial ones, improve the environment in many ways.

They increase the biological activity and nitrogen fixation of the soil by 2-3 times.

They create a channel structure, improve permeability and porosity.

Shade, cover the soil with mulch and reduce unproductive moisture loss by half.

They reduce contamination by 40-50% and reduce the incidence of disease.

They accumulate 300-600 kg/ha of NPK, which is 2-5 times cheaper than mineral fertilizers and is absorbed within 2-3 years.

Together with straw, erosion and loss of humus are stopped.

It is simply impossible to take into account all the soil-forming effects of plants.

In 2012, the wonderful book “Manna from Heaven to the Garden” was published. Almighty sideration." Authors: Boris Andreevich Bublik and Vitaly Trofimovich Gridchin.

This book is easy to find on the Internet: it is available on request SIDERATS.
I strongly recommend that you find and read it to forget about chemicals and digging up the soil forever.

At the end of the book there is a useful table with the characteristics of some green manures.

In order not to weaken Siderata too much when mowing, they need to be mowed at a height of at least 10 cm - then the mown Siderata mulch can be used usefully, and the remains of the plant will continue to grow and develop.

Lawn grass is usually mowed well below 10 cm, but the main purpose of Lawns is to decorate the site, and not to restore and enrich the soil.

I invite everyone to speak out in

In order to improve the chemical and physical properties of the soil and increase its fertility, they resort to phytomelioration.

Thanks to the use of phytomeliorant plants, the soil can be cleared of diseases and pests, the number of weeds can be reduced, pollution can be reduced, etc.

Phytomeliorants include green manure plants and hub plants.

Green manure is grown as green manure. This is one of the most effective ways to restore soil fertility.

Legumes and other plants or mixtures thereof are used as green fertilizer. Legumes enrich the soil with nitrogen. Fodder peas, broad beans, angustifolia lupine, beans, phacelia, seradella, vetch, clover, yellow and white sweet clover are most often used as green fertilizer.

Green fertilizer can heal the soil. In this regard, the most suitable plants are the plants of the Cruciferous family - radish, rapeseed, mustard, and rapeseed. They suppress the growth of weeds due to their rapid development. In addition, mustard is not liked by pests such as wireworms, and marigolds and spring rape can destroy several types of nematodes.

Also, planting cruciferous vegetables prevents the leaching of mineral elements from the soil, and mustard helps plants obtain poorly soluble phosphates.

If the soil is light, then phytomeliorants will increase its moisture capacity, and on heavy soil they will improve the water regime.

Concentrator plants absorb certain elements in large quantities, i.e. are phytoremedians. They are planted to cleanse the soil of heavy metals. If you use these plants every year, the level of heavy elements in the soil will decrease significantly.

➣ Legumes are capable of accumulating 6 times more radioactive elements than cereals.

To cleanse the soil of radioactive elements, it is necessary to plant barley, alfalfa, mustard, sunflower, dwarf or downy birch.

Plants that are used as green fertilizer are crushed and then embedded in the soil. They are added dropwise during budding and at the beginning of flowering, because it is at this time that they contain a large amount of biologically active substances. On light soils, plants are planted to a depth of 12-15 cm, on heavy soils - to a depth of 6-8 cm.

Green manure

Green manure ( green manure) - plants that quickly form green mass and are a source of organic matter and nitrogen for other plants.

Green manure is sown to enrich the soil with nitrogen and organic substances, potassium, calcium, phosphorus, improve the structure of the soil and its physical and physicochemical properties, increase the activity of beneficial microflora, protect the soil from erosion and blowing away, and suppress the growth of weeds. Green manure has a phytosanitary effect, attracts beneficial insects due to its bright colors, etc.

Green manure is plowed into the soil until seeds form. This prevents them from self-seeding and turning into weeds, while at the same time the soil receives a supply of certain nutrients.

The most commonly planted green manures are: legumes - lupine, beans, soybeans, lentils, seradella, clover, sainfoin, broad beans, field and field peas, alfalfa, sweet clover, spring and winter vetch, wildflower, etc.; cruciferous vegetables - mustard, rapeseed, rapeseed, oilseed radish; buckwheat - buckwheat; hydrophiles - phacelia; Compositae - sunflower; cereals - rye, oats, wheat, barley.

Principles of sowing green manure

Green manure is sown in spring and autumn, before and after planting the main crop. In spring they sow thickly, in autumn - less often.

If they sow in early spring, then select early-ripening cold-resistant plants - oats, mustard, fodder peas.

Green manure is plowed in 1-2 weeks before planting the main crop.

The effectiveness of green fertilizer depends on the age of the plants. Young plants are rich in nitrogen, so after they are planted, the main crop can be planted in 2-4 weeks. It is important to remember that you should not plant too much green mass.

Soil preparation

The soil for green manure crops should be well prepared.

Every year at the beginning of May it is necessary to sow early-ripening crops such as peas, dill, early potatoes, radishes, kohlrabi, lettuce, and cauliflower in different areas.

After harvesting, plant residues need to be incorporated into the soil, level the surface and sow green fertilizer, after adding 1 bucket of nitroammophoska per 1 sq.m. If the soils are acidic, then add 0.3-0.5 kg of lime per 1 m2 to a depth of 5-7 cm. The seeds are sown scattered, covered with a rake, and sprinkled with earth.

Some green manure

Lupine- a genus of plants in the legume family, grown for green manure. Lupine is capable of accumulating up to 200 kg of nitrogen per hectare in the soil.

Lupine grows well in poor acidic soils. The plant is sown at the end of July - mid-August after harvesting potatoes, cabbage, and greens.

After lupine, almost all crops can be grown.

Seradella sativa- a genus of plants in the legume family. Moisture-loving, grows well on light, slightly acidic soils.

Seradella is usually sown in early spring as an independent crop or sown with cereals (oats, rye).

Sweet clover, Burkun- a genus of biennial, sometimes annual plants of the legume family.

It is sown in spring, summer or autumn. In crop rotation, they are often sown under the cover of grain crops. Grows well in neutral soil.

White mustard is an annual oilseed plant of the Cruciferous family. Grows on almost any soil.

The green mass of the plant is mowed when the leaves are fresh and juicy. After planting mustard, the incidence of plant diseases such as late blight, rhizoctonia, tuber scab, etc. is reduced. Also, mustard crops reduce the number of wireworms.

➣ Green manures of the Cruciferous family cannot be alternated with cruciferous vegetable crops, such as radishes, turnips, mustard, cabbage, etc. These plants have common diseases and pests.

Oilseed radish- an annual plant of the Cruciferous family, 1.5-2 m high. Radish can be sown from early spring to late autumn. A packet of seeds is mixed with one glass of dry sand and scattered over the area, then harrowed.

The plant has phytosanitary properties - it destroys pathogens and suppresses nematodes.

Annual or oilseed sunflower is an annual plant of the Asteraceae family with a deep root system.

The plant produces a lot of compost mass. Grows in any soil with a pH ranging from very acidic (pH4) to alkaline (pH8).

Buckwheat- a plant of the Buckwheat family, characterized by rapid growth, enriches the soil with organic matter, phosphorus and potassium, and absorbs organic phosphates well. Buckwheat is the best green manure for fruit trees and bushes. It is recommended to grow in poor, heavy, acidic soils.

Predecessor plants

Good predecessors are beneficial for all crops.

So, cucumber, pepper, cabbage and onion, if grown in one place for 3-4 years, will reduce the yield by 30-50%.

When choosing a predecessor, it is important to consider the timing of harvesting. For example, late cabbage is harvested in October. At this time, it is no longer possible to prepare the soil for carrots, early greens and other crops. The volume of products grown also plays a big role.

For example, potatoes take up more space than all vegetables combined, and parsley takes up less space than tomatoes or cucumbers. This is why it is necessary to group vegetables for crop rotation so that they occupy approximately the same area.

After potatoes, you can plant potatoes and other vegetables, except pepper, tomato and eggplant. Potatoes can be grown after any crop.

Tomato, pepper and eggplant (nightshade) should not grow in one place for more than 2 years in a row. They can be grown after any vegetable crops except cucumber, and cucumber cannot be grown after nightshades.

Pumpkin plants (pumpkin, zucchini, squash, melon) are good predecessors for all crops except cucumber. You can grow pumpkins after any crops.

Cucumber is a plant that is demanding of its predecessor. It can only be grown in one place for a year. It is not advisable to sow cucumber after pumpkin, melon, cabbage, rutabaga and tomato. In turn, the listed plants are not recommended to be planted after the cucumber.

Root vegetables (carrots, beets, rutabaga, parsnips, parsley, celery, etc.), like cucumbers, should not be planted in the same place in the 2nd year. They grow well after nightshade crops, cabbage and cucumber.

After root crops, you can plant any crops. The only exception is spinach, which should not be planted after beets.

Brassicas (white cabbage, red cabbage, cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, etc.), as well as radishes and radishes, grow poorly after corn, cucumber and cabbage. Beans, peas, beans and soybeans are good precursors for all vegetables. They, in turn, can also be planted after other crops.

It is better not to plant onions in one place for 2 years, although they are undemanding to their predecessors. After garlic, onions, shallots, any vegetable crops can be planted.

Lettuce, dill, artichoke, chicory and other greens can grow after any predecessors.

December 12, 2014

In late autumn, when all the work in the garden has already been completed, the beds have been cleaned and dug up, all the fertilizers that need to be applied at this time have been applied, the perennials in the flower beds are pruned, the roses and clematis are covered, and the cannas, dahlias and gladioli are put away for storage, you might think about how to enrich the soil to get a good harvest next year. Green manure plants will help with this.

VETCH OR SPRING VETCH (Vicia sativa)

A wild relative of cultivated plants, a herbaceous annual. It enriches the soil with nitrogen, and also improves its structure, perfectly loosens, prevents the leaching of humus and suppresses the spread of nematodes. Vetch is used before planting crops such as tomatoes, eggplants, peppers and cabbage. When combined with cereals, this plant enriches the soil with the macroelements necessary for plants - nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.

PEAS (Pisum sativum)

Valued for its early maturity, it can be grown between sowings of main crops. Another advantage of the plant is that it is used both for food and as a green fertilizer. In autumn, the above-ground part of the peas is chopped with a shovel and mixed with dug up soil. After decomposition, the soil is enriched with organic matter and becomes light, like fluff. And during the growth of peas, thanks to nitrogen-fixing bacteria located on its roots, the nitrogen content in the soil increases.

RED CLOVER (Trifolium pretense)

- perennial crop. The plant is used in areas that can be left vacant for 2-4 years. Clover prepares the soil for planting other crops. From the second year after sowing, it forms a dense green carpet, which gradually displaces weeds. A well-developed root system of the red plant improves the structure of the soil, enriches it with potassium and nitrogen, and also increases water and air permeability. The mowed ground part is embedded in the soil and is also used for mulching and making compost.

OATS (Avena sativa)

- an undemanding, cold-resistant plant that grows well in any soil - from light sandy to heavy clay.

It heals the soil, enriching it with potassium and nitrogen, improving its structure, water and air permeability. Everything that oats take from the soil during growth is returned to it after planting. This is a good precursor for those crops that need nitrogen for development. Also Fr. sowing can be used before planting potatoes.

Phacelia tanacetifolia

- an unpretentious annual plant that can withstand frost well. Loosens the soil, improving its structure. Fights wireworms and also suppresses nematodes. Phacepy nectar attracts beneficial insects, which, in turn, fight various pests, in particular moths and piston moths.

It can be sown before any crop. If phacelia is sown simultaneously with legume peas, a sharp increase in the number of aphids is observed.

WHITE MUSTARD (Sinapis alba)

It is capable of releasing sparingly soluble phosphates and actively gains green mass during the growing season, for which it is valued. Plow the mustard before mass flowering begins, after mowing and chopping it.

This green mass is 2 (!) times more effective than manure. In addition, it has bactericidal and fungicidal properties. It is used before planting tomatoes and root crops.

With the help of mustard, you can loosen the lower layers of the soil, in addition, it suppresses the growth of weeds.

OIL RADISH (Raphanus sativus var. oleifera)

- annual, cold-resistant, unpretentious, shade-tolerant plant.

It is sown between potato rows and plowed in during hilling. It takes a little more than a month from emergence to flowering, so 2-3 crop rotations can be carried out during the season. Radish well suppresses pathogens of various diseases (for example, root rot), and also destroys it. It improves the structure of the soil and turns hard-to-reach nutrients into easily digestible ones.

LUPIN (Lupinus polyphyllus)

- a perennial, fast-growing and unpretentious crop. Nitrogen-fixing bacteria are located on its roots, which process atmospheric nitrogen into the soil in the form in which it is absorbed by plants. Can be sown before any crops. The fleshy rhizome loosens and drains heavy soil well, and the above-ground part quickly decomposes when planted, enriching the soil with a complex of microelements and nutrients.

WINTER RYE (Secale cereale)

Enriches the soil with organic fertilizers, gets rid of wireworms and such harmful weeds as wheatgrass, bindweed, and sow thistle. Thanks to its powerful fibrous root system, it improves the soil structure. Rye seeds are sown in August - September and buried in the soil in the spring. When decomposing, the above-ground part of the plant enriches the soil with potassium and nitrogen. This crop perfectly heals the soil after potatoes. But there is “a fly in the ointment”: p. sowing can suppress the growth of other plants, therefore, before planting the main crops, the soil must be drenched with a solution of the EM preparation “Shine-1”.

YELLOW MELILOTOR (Melilotus officinalis)

- a two-petal plant that is sown in March - April. Flowering occurs in July–September. Excellent drainage of the soil, making it lighter and increasing water and breathability. If the stems are not mowed after the first year of growing season, they retain snow and reduce soil freezing and its ability to accumulate moisture. In addition, sweet clover, no worse than lupine, enriches the soil with organic matter and nitrogen due to the bacteria that develop on its roots.

BENEFITS OF GREEN FERTILIZERS

Green manure significantly reduces the amount of nitrogen, potassium and magnesium that is washed out of the soil in winter.
Improves soil structure thanks to a well-developed root system.
They enrich the soil with nitrogen, one of the most important nutrients.
Suppress various pests and pathogens.
They preserve humus in the soil and increase the content of various organic substances in it.
I restrain the growth of other weeds: thanks to the dense ground cover, there is simply no room left for weeds to develop.

See also in this section:

Newly established trees usually require additional support: it is necessary not only to support the thin trunk that has not yet become strong, but also to ensure that it is formed correctly - straight and vertical.

Weeping forms are usually sold as standard grafted trees. They begin pruning the next year after planting. In this case, it is necessary to remove the shoots that appeared below the grafting site, those sticking up, as well as root shoots.

I always dreamed of having a wood-burning stove in my dacha. And now the dream has come true. But for such a stove you need to chop wood, which is difficult for me, a pensioner. I decided to mechanize the process - to make a wood splitter based on a jack.

How to get an early harvest, and how to plant a cherry orchard? How to grow sea buckthorn and why does the tree need spare flowers? On what soils do plums grow and how to plant onion sets? Why does the aster not want to grow and how to store garden tools? How to preserve a pond in winter and why is picking necessary?

Selecting plants that improve soil

In order to improve the chemical and physical properties of the soil and increase its fertility, they resort to phytomelioration.

Thanks to the use of phytomeliorant plants, the soil can be cleared of diseases and pests, the number of weeds can be reduced, pollution can be reduced, etc.

Phytomeliorants include green manure plants and hub plants.

Green manure (green manure)– plants that quickly form green mass and are a source of organic matter and nitrogen for other plants.

Green manure is plowed into the soil until seeds form. This prevents them from self-seeding and turning into weeds, while at the same time the soil receives a supply of certain nutrients.

The most commonly planted green manures:

– legumes – lupine, beans, soybeans, lentils, seradella, clover, sainfoin, broad beans, field and field peas, alfalfa, sweet clover, spring and winter vetch, wildflower, etc.;

– cruciferous vegetables – mustard, rapeseed, rapeseed, oilseed radish;

– buckwheat – buckwheat; hydrophiles – phacelia;

– Compositae – sunflower;

– cereals – rye, oats, wheat, barley.

Green manure is sown in spring and autumn, before and after planting the main crop. In spring they sow thickly, in autumn - less often.

If they sow in early spring, then select early-ripening cold-resistant plants - oats, mustard, fodder peas.

Green manure is plowed in 1–2 weeks before planting the main crop.

Also important is the preparation of soil for green manure crops. Every year at the beginning of May it is necessary to sow early-ripening crops such as peas, dill, early potatoes, radishes, kohlrabi, lettuce, and cauliflower in different areas. After harvesting, plant residues need to be incorporated into the soil, level the surface and sow green fertilizer, after adding 1 bucket of nitroammophoska per 1 sq.m. If the soils are acidic, then add 0.3–0.5 kg of lime per 1 m2 to a depth of 5–7 cm. The seeds are sown scattered, covered with a rake, and sprinkled with earth.

Let us dwell in more detail on some green manures.

Lupine- a genus of plants in the legume family, grown for green manure. Lupine is capable of accumulating up to 200 kg of nitrogen per hectare in the soil.

Lupine grows well in poor acidic soils. The plant is sown in late July - mid-August after harvesting potatoes, cabbage, and greens. After lupine, almost all crops can be grown.

Seradella sativa- a genus of plants in the legume family. Moisture-loving, grows well on light, slightly acidic soils.

Seradella is usually sown in early spring as an independent crop or sown with cereals (oats, rye).

Sweet clover, Burkun- a genus of biennial, sometimes annual plants of the legume family.

It is sown in spring, summer or autumn. In crop rotation, they are often sown under the cover of grain crops. Grows well in neutral soil.

White mustard is an annual oilseed plant of the Cruciferous family. Grows on almost any soil.

The green mass of the plant is mowed when the leaves are fresh and juicy. After planting mustard, the incidence of plant diseases such as late blight, rhizoctonia, tuber scab, etc., decreases.

Also, mustard crops reduce the number of wireworms.

Oilseed radish– an annual plant of the Cruciferous family, 1.5–2 m high. Radish can be sown from early spring to late autumn. A packet of seeds is mixed with one glass of dry sand and scattered over the area, then harrowed.

The plant has phytosanitary properties - it destroys pathogens and suppresses nematodes.

Annual or oilseed sunflower is an annual plant of the Asteraceae family with a deep root system.

The plant produces a lot of compost mass. Grows in any soil with a pH ranging from very acidic (pH4) to alkaline (pH8).

Buckwheat– a plant of the Buckwheat family, characterized by rapid growth, enriches the soil with organic matter, phosphorus and potassium, and absorbs organic phosphates well. Buckwheat is the best green manure for fruit trees and bushes. It is recommended to grow in poor, heavy, acidic soils.

Hub plants absorb certain elements in large quantities, i.e. are phytoremediants. They are planted to cleanse the soil of heavy metals. If you use these plants every year, the level of heavy elements in the soil will decrease significantly.

Green manures of the Cruciferous family cannot be alternated with cruciferous vegetable crops, such as radishes, turnips, mustard, cabbage, etc. These plants have common diseases and pests.

To cleanse the soil of radioactive elements, it is necessary to plant barley, alfalfa, mustard, sunflower, dwarf or downy birch.

It is worth saying a few words separately about predecessor plants.

Good predecessor plants useful for all crops. Thus, cucumber, pepper, cabbage and onion, if grown in one place for 3–4 years, will reduce the yield by 30–50%.

Legumes are capable of accumulating 6 times more radioactive elements than cereals.

The volume of products grown also plays a big role. For example, potatoes take up more space than all vegetables combined, and parsley takes up less space than tomatoes or cucumbers. This is why it is necessary to group vegetables for crop rotation so that they occupy approximately the same area.

After potatoes, you can plant potatoes and other vegetables, except pepper, tomato and eggplant. Potatoes can be grown after any crop.

Pumpkin plants (pumpkin, zucchini, squash, melon) are good predecessors for all crops except cucumber. You can grow pumpkins after any crops.

Cucumber is a plant that is demanding of its predecessor. It can only be grown in one place for a year. It is not advisable to sow cucumber after pumpkin, melon, cabbage, rutabaga and tomato.

In turn, the listed plants are not recommended to be planted after the cucumber.

After root crops, you can plant any crops. The only exception is spinach, which should not be planted after beets.

It is better not to plant onions in one place for 2 years, although they are undemanding to their predecessors. After garlic, onions, shallots, you can plant any vegetable crops.

Lettuce, dill, artichoke, chicory and other greens can grow after any predecessors.

From the book Garden without pests author Fatyanov Vladislav Ivanovich

Adding sawdust to the soil Fresh sawdust is very poor in nutrients, but adding sawdust waste to the soil reduces water transpiration, crust formation, and improves the physical properties of the soil, which has a lot of clay. The soil becomes looser, better

From the book Tips for a Gardener author Melnikov Ilya

HOW THE SOIL IS CULTIVATED AND TREATED High-quality soil cultivation is the key to plant health and a good harvest. For vegetable crops that are characterized by increased demands on moisture and nutrients, it is necessary to create a deep (35-40 cm)

From the book 300 tips for an amateur winegrower author Savelyev V.F.

How to prepare the soil for grapes In the conditions of Donbass, where due to little snow and cold winters the soil freezes strongly and dries out in the summer, deep planting of grapes is necessary. On heavy soils, its depth should be up to 60 cm, on light soils - up to 70 cm. In such conditions,

From the book Miracle Harvest. Great encyclopedia of gardening author Polyakova Galina Viktorovna

From the book Modern Greenhouses and Greenhouses author Nazarova Valentina Ivanovna

From the book The Healing Properties of Fruits and Vegetables author Khramova Elena Yurievna

Refreshing and complexion-improving products Recipe No. 1 Ingredients: 1–2 slices of watermelon. Method of preparation: squeeze out the juice and moisten 5–6 layers of gauze with it. Directions for use: apply the mask to a cleansed face for 15–20 minutes. Then rinse it with warm water and lubricate it with cream. Note:

From the book Ploskorez Fokina! Dig, weed, loosen and mow in 20 minutes author Gerasimova Natalya

Don't leave the soil bare Let's continue our careful observations of the soil in natural conditions - in a forest or in a field. And for clarity, let’s compare our bed with, say, garden strawberries and a clearing with wild strawberries. Your plants are clearly visible, because the bed is weeded and

From the book 1001 answers to important questions for gardeners and gardeners author

Do plants infect the soil? Diseases, like pests, are tied to specific host crops. Everyone knows this, which is why a more or less experienced gardener will never plant potatoes after tomatoes - both plants belong to the Solanaceae genus and are affected by the same

From the book Generous Greenhouses. Guide to growing indoors on a personal plot author Kizima Galina Alexandrovna

How to disinfect the soil? This is easy to do when you are preparing the soil for seedlings. The best way is to heat it in a frying pan or iron sheets, stirring all the time. Lately I’ve been disinfecting the soil in the microwave: I put it on full power for 1 minute, then

From the book Great Encyclopedia of a Summer Resident author Evening Elena Yurievna

Is it necessary to loosen the soil under sea buckthorn? Sea buckthorn roots are located in the surface layer of soil, at a depth of only 12–15 cm, so no loosening or digging under sea buckthorn plantings is allowed. Weeds growing under plants should not be weeded, but only mowed. the ground under

From the author's book

How to improve the soil on the site? At the end of summer, sow winter rye or white mustard, and in late autumn dig up the above-ground part of the mustard and rye seedlings along with the roots. The rye can be left until spring, but then it will first have to be mowed and then dug up. Part

From the author's book

How to prepare soil for lilies? Mix peat, sand and rotted compost in equal volumes and for each bucket of the mixture add 1 liter of ash and 3 tablespoons of azofoska or any other complex fertilizer (instead of mineral fertilizer, you can add 3-4 fertilizer granules

From the author's book

How else can you improve the soil? You can improve soil fertility with the help of lupine. Lupine has a powerful root system that perfectly loosens the soil. In addition, nodule bacteria live on its roots, converting nitrogen from the air into soil nitrogen, which is excellent

From the author's book

How to deoxidize the soil? Acidic soils need to be deoxidized; lime can be used for this. It is required in different amounts for soils of different mechanical composition and different acidity (Table 2). Table.2. Application of lime depending on the soil Clays are rich

Green manures are plants that quickly gain green mass, which are mowed and embedded in the soil, or left on the surface as a soil protective layer, and the plant roots remaining in the ground rot, enriching it and forming air channels. At the same time, they will only decorate your site, since most of them are beautiful-looking plants.

They enrich the soil with nitrogen - after the root system and above-ground parts of the plant die, organic substances containing nitrogen pass into the soil.

They loosen the soil and improve its structure - overgrown roots leave numerous tubules, thereby improving the water and air regime of the soil.

Protect the soil from erosion - green manure, as if stitching the soil from the inside with roots and at the same time covering it with a dense leaf cover on the surface;

They enrich the soil with nutrients - nutrition is extracted from the lower layers, inaccessible to many cultivated plants, thanks to a deeply penetrating powerful root system.

Suppress the growth of weeds - due to thickened plantings, as well as specific root secretions.

With continuous sowing, green manure plants do not allow the soil to overheat in hot summer, keeping it moist and cool.

They suppress the proliferation of pests and diseases - again thanks to specific secretions from the roots.

Shade the soil - after cutting or dying, the green mass serves as a natural mulch.

They enrich the soil with organic matter - under the influence of microorganisms and worms, plant residues turn into humus.

Reproduction of earthworms and soil-forming microorganisms - this is facilitated by a sufficient amount of nutrition and the absence of disturbance from constant mechanical and chemical tillage of the soil.

Getting rid of soil fatigue - microorganisms, multiplying well in a favorable environment, manage to process all root exudates, including inhibitors.

If soil fertility is at medium and high levels, then green fertilizers can be sown before or after the main crop, or in mixed plantings - both the main crop and green manure are grown in one area at the same time (combined in one bed, bed after bed).

As green manure in garden plots, annual plants are mainly used, less often perennial plants, most often from the legume family and plants that produce powerful green mass and have phytosanitary properties.

To select a green fertilizer preceding the main crop, it is necessary to take into account that plants of the same family often consume the same nutrients from the soil, have common diseases and pests, therefore it is desirable that the green manure and the main crop are not from the same family.

Who can be green manure from plants?

The following plants belong to the legume family: beans, beans, peas, soybeans, lupine, sainfoin, alfalfa, sweet clover, seradella, vetch, clover and others

To the cruciferous family: mustard, radish, rapeseed, rapeseed.

Cereals: rye, oats, wheat and barley.

Buckwheat belongs to the buckwheat family, phacelia belongs to the hydrophiles, and sunflower belongs to the Asteraceae.

Green manure can be divided into groups according to the functions they perform.

Accumulation of nitrogen from the atmosphere - legumes;

Conversion of phosphates into digestible forms - legumes, mustard and buckwheat;

Assimilation of nitrogen from the soil, protection against soil mineralization and leaching of nutrients into the subsoil - cruciferous crops, cereals;

Deep loosening of the soil - mustard, radish, lupine, sainfoin, buckwheat;

Protection against nematodes - legumes, sunflower, phacelia, ryegrass.

Approximate sowing dates for some green manure crops

Any terms - sweet clover, mustard, phacelia.

In early spring - spring - lupine, buckwheat, oats, alfalfa.

Beginning of summer - summer - mustard, phacelia, clover, alfalfa, vetch, peas, clover, rapeseed.

In autumn - clover, winter rye, winter oats, oilseed radish.

If you liked this material, then we offer you a selection of the best materials on our site according to our readers. You can find a selection - TOP about existing eco-villages, family estates, their history of creation and everything about eco-houses where it is most convenient for you