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How to Kill Cover Crops without Tillage or Chemicals (Hint: You have options)
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- Опубликовано: 8 июн 2020
- Killing cover crops on a small scale is one of the bigger question marks in no-till gardening, so I update you in this video on some of my thoughts and how our various trials are going. Because knowing how to terminate cover crop can help to keep that cover crop from becoming a weed.
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We do carton and than wood chipping or chopped oak leaves.. after 3yrs, 90% of the weeds are gone. We do completely no till. Make our own compost. Central Italy
So pleased to hear this ... most no till use chemicals and they do not seem to understand that we are eating the chemicals, let alone it hurts birds (no insects) and kills the monarch. Thank god for those who think differently.
Cheers from Texas
forza italia
@@sawlovesyou52 and gives farmers the Parkinson disease on top.
@@johnfitbyfaithnethuzzah
My 10,000 s.f. garden is in Wenham, MA and my favorite way to kill cover crops like rye and vetch together is with a straight shaft 4 cycle brush cutter tool that has a 10" round blade with 60 teeth. My tool is a Honda 315S and it has all the power needed to cut a thick growth right at the soil level. The rye and vetch fall on the bed and I plant transplants right through the biomass and into the root mat. I've tried a hedge cutter, a scythe, a weed whacker, a machete, and a hedge cutter mounted low on a wheel hoe, but the straight gas powered 10" round brush cutter is the fastest, least work and does a complete job of termination. I stopped tilling in 2004 when my tiller broke and I have been utilizing no-till and cover crops ever since to reduce weeds, reduce watering, reduced use of fertilizers, less time, money and labor spent and better crops.
good info ill try to find me a brush cutter at the flea market, I have been doin tarps but want to get away from it. if i can just cut it a few times during the week a few days in a row and kill the crop then good.
Great idea, we have loved the brush cutter everyday. Love how it allows us to mulch everything down and leave in place. How do you plant after the brush cutter, any wait period ?
Is the brush cutter Honda 35S as opposed to 315S because when I google the latter a motorcycle comes up!?
Try trifolium repens (Dutch white clover) as a permanent perennial cover crop that doesn’t need mowing. It grows 2-3 inches tall max. You don’t have to kill it and you can plant into it. It roots 3-5m deep too which helps soil massively!
Yes, it's aweome. I haven't tried planting crops into it but love it for the aisles - keeps the soil covered and looks pretty. In our wet climate it grows a little taller so I have to mow it a few times a season.
Don’t you think it would rob nutrients and water if you planted directly into it? (Apart from the nitrogen fixation of the clover, im talking other nutrients )
@@darianbentley3125 looks like it really depends on the root system of the cover crop and the vegetable crop. So far that is how they do with wheat or corn at least
@@darianbentley3125 well, since the clover isn't going anywhere and is a relatively small plant, it will only lock a small amount of nutrients and constantly recycle them in place. I also assume it will even preserver water, because it shades the ground.
Prety idea...do you have some experience or traces on it?
Thank you for the jazz in the beginning! Nothing I love more than a little bit of jazz and gardening.
It's great that you mentioned the negatives to plastics
Jesse you're the best, I love you, and you've changed my life in ways that you probably can't even imagine.
I can totally imagine because I know how you feel. Jesse has my 20 years of growing experience excelling like it has never before. Crushing my previous concepts of healthy soil.
Thanks for another excellent video. What I'm testing is letting rye go to full maturity, flattening it onto the ground, and only the next season I transplant salads & squash into the straw. I've heard from several sources that high carbon ratio of straw and rye roots that stay in the ground are excellent for soil life. Big downside: the parts of the garden where I place rye it takes most of my season to grow just straw. I'm going for it anyway as I believe my soil will thank me in the future.
I hear ya. One of the big limitations for small growers with cover crops is definitely space--rye can take it up for several months. The soil health benefits are important, but perhaps if it becomes hard to justify financially (or just for food in your backyard), finding ways to incorporate winter killed cover crops could be a better option. So you sow those in the late summer, they grow up and die in freezes, then you have a much for the spring.
I grew cover crops in 3 3x8 beds and am getting ready to kill them off. I had to look up "milk stage." Some of the vetch has started to flower, so I'm going to go ahead and mow them down now since last frost is in about 3 weeks. Since it's such a small area, I'll be using a string trimmer, then some straw to cover/mulch my plants. Hopefully since what I'm doing is much more small scale, that will work. Either way, thanks so much for the video! I see a lot of articles about using cover crops, but not enough about how to kill/incorporate them into your soil! Since I'm trying to adopt no till, let's hope this "chop and drop" method works!
We have bindweed in the Southwest. It grows in COILS under plastic tarps. I'm trying to figure out how to permanently eradicate it. Thus far I'm hand weeding it, and it IS diminishing. I'm converting to no-till but it takes some mental adjustments!
Goat herder and minimum till gardener here. I use mobile electric netting and my goats to destroy the crop, then tarp to terminate. Something like 1 goat/ 50-100 square feet for 12-24 hours. Nothing converts plant matter faster than a rumen, and goat or sheep pellets are quickly and easily consumed by the soil.
Do you think there is a way to do it just with a ruminant (no plastics involved)?
@@A_Box if you let the crop fully mature it should terminate from the grazing. The smother helps to germinate and kill weeds too.
In my big back yard I planted 50# of potatoes this year. I had to scatter them and plant in various places, including just little 2" diameter garden spots surrounded by grass and forbes. I noticed those near the grass were the strongest and healthiest.
How can you get lots of potatoes without loose soil?
@@RJSoftware2000 is it clay? You could try planting them with a little gypsum to break it up. Just a thought.
I've always just mulched my cover crops with a zero turn mower. Thx for all the great videos!
From my experience of terminating cover crops over the past 20 years as a organic grain farmer, we actually plant into the cover crops at milk stage, let the crops emerge and get to v-1, then terminate the cover crop. But that might not translate as well to market gardening. Our termination equipment is big and heavy.
Excellent podcast Jessy. I like the "cripping" idea. I have decided to not use any plastic on the farm at all and hope to see more growers go there because we need to get the plastic out of this business. There is WAY to much plastic that is being promoted by our market garden super stars and that is NOT sustainable or regenerative. We have to figure this out together and talk about other methods, we have to start by starting and sharing our successes and failures. It's more work, I know but it has to be done and in the future there will be certifications that will promote this.
So the question is does mowing kill the cover crop as well as crimping, and does using a flail mower like the BCS leave a residue that is easier to plant through in the spring when you transplant your seedlings ?
*crimping.
It was a joke, Robert.
Agreed about plastic. It's not just the phthalates but the micro plastics as well. Needs to be more research on their soil health effects. Our current plan is to not buy another large sheet of black plastic ever. The tunnels are tougher, but we are hoping to switch to a longer lasting skin like solawrap (20 years or more in use) when we can afford to.
I just took over the garden from my husband as I've been pregnant or BF through the last 4 seasons and I'm trying hard to come out swinging. Organic, companion planting, beneficial bugs, no mow, no till, ect. The no plastic has been the friggin hardest. Everything comes in plastic and I can't find a good labeling system. That being said good for you! Bravo to anyone who can do it and I totally agree that the big organic gardeners need to stop promoting so much plastic
@@mamamj19 This year I have moved away from labeling all my crops in the garden. What I do instead is keep a clipboard and document everything I put in my beds in the order that I plant them. It's a bit of work but I have tried aluminum labels and don't like them because they are impossible to erase even when using a pencil. So now the simplest solution is ... no more labeling the garden. In the greenhouse I use post-it's and if they fall off us use a touch of adhesive to keep it on the trays. Hope this helps.
I've been using cover crops and learning how to terminate mostly winter rye for many years. By far the most effective method on my 1/4 acre home garden is to use a 4 stroke straight shaft brush cutter with a harness and a 10" round 60 tooth carbide tipped brush blade. I have an old John Deere S-1400, but there are other similar power tools on the market. The beauty of the 4 stroke straight gas brush cutter is that it has enough power to cut the rye at ground level (leaving no stub) and not slow down. I can cleanly cut a 2' by 32' bed in 7 minutes. This method results in 99% termination, and the bed is immediately ready to receive transplants.
The one straw revolution is a great book, he would just cut the weeds, seed the crop he wanted by encasing the seed in clay first then scattering them in the freshly cut area. I believe a second cutting happened to keep the weeds down below the level of the crop. Once the crop took, the weeds were also allowed to grow below the crop.
Then there is also Ruth Stout with all of her leaves and hay for mulch too. It would be great to ditch the plastic
Exactly.That book is a gem.
people say there is really no problem leaving grasses in the veggies...as long as they are shorter than the crop....i grow winter squash, which climbs over everything, just by digging a hole in the weeds, and planting....works good if you keep your eye on them....
That book changed my life. No kidding! The simplest approach is always the best. The book had a nice philosophical quality to it. Might read it again.
I have found you can improve the black plastic method by placing a soaker hose underneath the plastic keeping it moist
I have 12 raised beds 4x8. I planted annual rye in the fall thinking it would winter kill. Ha! I live in zone 7a. I cut it down to the ground and it came right back. I just finished using my hand clippers to cut it down underneath and left the roots in the soil for the beneficials. Then I left the cuttings on the soil and they are decomposing. I will be covering them with mushroom compost do to the soil having sunk down in the bed and needing to be topped up. Here’s too having a great garden this year as last year it wasn’t and I raise my food for the food bank since I live alone.
I hope @No-Till Growers will see this... There is a type of "foil" (i dont know if thats the correct word in this context) that is used for building houses here in germany. This type of foil is "open for diffusion", which means it is waterproof but lets gases (also water can evaporate, but at a much slowef rate) pass through. Maybe that solves the mold issue because the foil will obviously let oxygen pass through it.
And you can get the material with different rates of diffiusion, which leaves you with more expermenting :D
I leave plantago, dandelion, clover, and purslane when they pop up. They don’t take over in my yard, and they’re easy to manage if they were to get out of hand.
Minimal issue with out of control weeds.
While I am not a no till garden, and I am only one acre so far, I have had good luck using a sickle bar mower and cardboard. I have enough people that give me the stuff that I can use the rolls without any print. But also I am trying to look in the "free" areas on Market Place and Craig's list for old windows. I hope soon I will have enough to make a green house.
The only plastic I use is my old oxygen tubing off my concentrator to make lines for my pole beans, and vines, and the water lines.
Thank you for making these videos, I know it takes a lot of time and effort.
Smiles!
You asked if anyone had ideas about no till potatoes. I just watched a video where they placed the seed potatoes directly on the cover crop and covered it with 4 different types of mulch. Leaf mould was by far the best, and had excellent yield.
So pleased to hear this ... most no till use chemicals and they do not seem to understand that we are eating the chemicals, let alone it hurts birds (no insects) and kills the monarch. Thank god for those who think different.
For clearing land, the Black trap will not kill some perennials weeds. However it seems to work cover crops. Clear plastic is the way I kill all weeds,
mainly perennial weeds. I not worked about the micros, because a good compost will bring them back. After mowing you could plant, & mulch with shred leaves & straw to cover any cover crop or weeds that come up.
This is one of the most useful videos I've seen in a long time! Thank you! I always trip on all the plastic. Thank you! Also, that shirt!!! So rad! 😬
I use the mower set as low as it goes then let stand a day then cover with plastic ,, works great after doing this method a few times there's no unwanted weeds or grass
In pakistan no till farming is happening on barren lands and it is such a successful experience.
We terminate our winter cover crop (in N CA) by cutting down w weed eater similar to your method. Then we dry it out for a week. Then cover in thick layer of mushroom mulch. For walking paths we use cardboard (w tape & stickers removed and no shiny cardboard)- then cover in chip bark. It is highly effective. We water the mushroom mulch for 2-3 weeks and then plant!
From Yogyakarta Indonesia...
Inspiring brother... I will do... Tks
Would you talk more about planting corn, peas and beans in no-till growing? Thanks, your information is very helpful
The down side to tarping for me is the length of time it takes to destroy weeds. Honestly, I'm not full time gardening/farming so I have to turn over everything quickly. I've reduced herbicide use so that's encouraging. But I'd encourage anyone to tarp. It works n the ground looks amazing without grass✌🏽
Cardboard instead of plastic is a great option because as it decomposes, feeds the soil as well as kiling weeds.
Not a bad idea, tho I have been moving away from cardboard recently due to some of the chemicals (supposedly) being used in their production.
Wood chips , piled heavy 24” .
Worked for a prairie restoration company and we cut cover crops either using weed whips or lawn mowers
Thoroughly entertaining, painless transfer of information! That hat is dirtying up nicely! I think the dogs stomped only weeds! I like the "cripping". Thanks for the great videos!
Thanks, Tolba!
@@notillgrowers people say there is really no problem leaving grasses in the veggies...as long as they are shorter than the crop....i grow winter squash, which climbs over everything, just by digging a hole in the weeds, and planting....works good if you keep your eye on them....
I live in rural Michigan. The field behind where I live must be in a resting phase because it's a mosaic of amazing and beautiful plants, many of which I can't even identify. There are small sunflowers, and another mysterious yellow flowers, some kind of purple flowering pea, a corn-like stalk, lambs quarter, a type of amaranth, etc. The colors and textures are amazing!
Yes I mow deeply to avoid seeds. Then when the season ends will sheet mulch . Thank you 🙏
Great advice. I need to get my cover crop education. I hear it can work wonders for soil quality.
I like mowing down the cover crops down
I have a old mower I use only for that
and I use the worn down blades from my lawnmower
I personally mow the cover crops at least 3 times with one week between every mowing before planting the bad
The third time mowing is mostly mixing of the already mown down stuff and everything that sprouted
I will try sheet mulching after the growing season by covering it up with compost materials and cardboard). Avoiding perrenial crops like vetch
Just a little idea you may find usefulness from what I do around my garden, I use my pocket knife to sever the tap root of dandelions etc etc, quick and effective 🤙🏼
Long flat head screwdrivers work wonders for harvesting dandelions for teas and salads. Poke it next to the taproot and pull it up.
@@stephenleaf3848 dandelion tea 😍
Why do you kill them? They are beneficial.
@@two-sense they are too effective at reproducing, they would soon fill my greenhouse and I wouldn't be able to grow other plants 😂
Cut Wheat & Rye high then press the straw down as cover for next crop...
I like the idea of using Grass as a cover crop and mowing it very low before planting crop so it grows with it but slowed down by the mulch on the ground.. by time you harvest wheat or rye which is a bit taller than grass you cut it high just above the grass to capture the grains then after harvesting the field a mower comes and mows it all down and tedders it out.. can be mixed silage.. Crop is larger plant than grass so it won't have to compete too much for water, especially with deeper roots and grass cut very low @ start of sowing cycle..
Very satisfying beginning. Love your Channel Jesse!
I just have little garden bed and this video was very helpful. Thank you!
Hello, do you have experience with seeding cover crops in the october? for example rye, how tall does it grow till March? and when you mow it and cover with tarp in spring, does it decompose so good to plant there potatoes, peas or corn? and how long it takes cover crops under tarp to be indistinguishable from soil?
i am from Slovakia, middle Europe
thank you very much if any answer will come
What happens if you mow and then solarize for just 1 week... Quick turnaround.
Such an exciting way to grow, using dead biology to grow live biology without tilling... Imagine every large scale commercial grain farmer did that type of thing without herbicides and GMO’s, all those acres in production would create so much health in our environment, hopefully soon...
@@Vscustomprinting respectively I have to disagree…. The Great Plains built FEET of topsoil because of the buffalo and deer and other herbivores ate grass and rotation grazed through the system…. Maybe initially they didn’t start the soil, but they built it after that. Will Harris says he can build organic matter from 1% to 5% in twenty years with no compost through rotation grazing, that is astounding soil regeneration! Now forest soils are more plant, leaf, wood and fungi based, there is a time and place for all regenerative agriculture methods….
You sound upset? I could tell you were a radical vegan because YOU my friend started with the politics! My first post above states nothing about the proven methods of rotation grazing that has been happening for millions of years, it was about field grain crops. Then YOU jumped on and started up…. I’m sorry science and data bothers your ideology, but I’m more after results and the truth for healthier people and the environment.
My position is I support a wide array of regenerative agriculture of all types, plant and animal and mixed systems like aquaponics, and I’m sorry that offends you, but I don’t care! You are also free to think what you like! I’m done…
@@Vscustomprinting To be honest bro you seem like an OK guy, and I completely understand your position…. I used to be a vegan, sprouted grains, beans, nuts, flax oil, algae, etc. and I went from 175lbs of muscle to 117lbs and my hair was greying at 19. I met a master healer who without knowing tested me and said I needed a pound of steak and 6 eggs I was so low on nutrition and my health came back. NOT tofu. Veganism is very unhealthy for most body types…
I now eat mostly plant based, with some animal foods. I totally get your point of thinking, I just don’t agree with it, and I think veganism is a radical unbalanced ideology that can brainwash people. But I understand why you believe what you do and it is for good reasons. There is death in life unfortunately, but we should definitely abolish factory farms,. There were native healers who were very spiritual and were also hunters, life is a complex system. Best Joe.
@@Vscustomprinting The ego is projection on your part my friend, I’ve hit you with truth from many angles and you can’t see it, as you’ve invested so much in your ideology…. I’ve gone down multiple paths, and seen the error of yours. I try and be respectful and you throw poison, proof you’ve sunk into unhealthy extremism and are unbalanced.
Depriving a person or an animal of full nutrition in order to thrive is in fact abuse, so your constant negative energy and guilt is actually harmful to people and abusive…. I understand your point of view, but it’s wrong. Humans are omnivores.
Militant negative vegans turn people off unfortunately, but that is your life, not mine so good luck.
@@Vscustomprinting wow I bet you are fun at parties 🎉 🎈
I have been using a scythe on even smaller patches.
Honestly it looks like a scythe would be faster for this patch too as a properly adjusted and fitted scythe would sweep out a 10-15 foot swathe each path and lay it all out in a nice row. I guess you have to factor in whetting it every 15 or 20 minutes and peening after you're done but still.
I am dealing with a carpet of purple dead nettle interspersed with oats that didn't winter kill. I'm planning on weed whacking (didn't think about doing it twice!), then mulching with a couple of inches of shredded leaves from last fall. (I have a quackgrass situation that has me wanting to keep as many roots in the ground as possible, so the purple deadnettle is actually a welcome bonus cover crop.) Thanks for the confirmation that this might just work!
@despitemyself7 You could put down some cardboard after weed whacking and before the mulch for extra protection at keeping out weeds. Just a thought. :)
After mowing, maybe letting some chickens go to work to clean up any remnants/weeds?
Add leafs and straw mow it all in, then tarp it with 2 ground leafs and then burn it. Add fresh compost and mulch on top and ready to plant!
Always awesome! Farmer Jesse is the best!
I'm chop & dropping 3 ft pasture grass going to top with steer manure, water and then cover with cardboard and if i can swing it, a tarp.
I had dreams about doing it with bales of alfalfa & manure, but I have the pasture grass, no animals on it in 10 years.
I want to convert hard clay soil for planting next year.
Which of these do you think would be best for about 1 foot high beds? A weed trimmer could act as a mower, probably.
Hi Jesse, thanks for these options. We are doing an experiment where we sown covercrops (oats, vetch, alexandrian clover) in rows and want to sow between these rows, either with a new batch of covercrops or a random vegetable. And directly after sowing this crop, crimp the covercrop, which will act as a mulch. What are your thoughts about this aproach? Thanks
My opinion is tilling that cover crop into the soil is the best method. I just can’t imagine how no till would be more effective.
Always enjoy your videos. You have a good contact. God bless you and yours.
Will deep mulch kill the cover crop after mowing?
Hol up. Are those morel mushrooms!?That shirt is dope af, mang.lol
We mow or weed wack the winter rye at ground level in our raised beds and potato field and then use the straw for mulch here in zone 3. Not much issue with re growth.
Did not give the weed whacker any love in this video but it's a great tool for that!
@@notillgrowers Don't like weed whackers that shed bits of plastic as they mow. Only permanent string versions avoid this pitfall.
Have you tried brushcutter style blades on a weedwhacker to approximate the effect of a flail mower? The blades make it possible to cut slightly below the surface of the soil and they don't shed plastic. But they require just as much respect if not more than a weedwhacker loaded with string.
Glad to see I'm not the only one that does this. My push mower and weed whacker are great tools. Yup right down to the soil surface. Have tried this in several spots with good success. I have done this same method just letting my native grasses grow, choke out weeds, then chop it all down in fall. Mulch and plant right in it in spring.
QUESTION: Going into my 3rd season 2023. What I'm doing instead of cover crops is covering my beds with 2-3 inches of shredded leaves. Is this just as affective??? I have unlimited access to leaves and I use them all season to balance my compost bins as I add greens. Thank You.
Leaves are amazing!
I also currently use shredded leaves over fresh compost for fall. Personally thinking of a fall cover crop I can chop and drop, add compost over, then shredded leaves on top. We get freezing temps in winter; so spring would allow that overwintering period to break all down with a clear tarp over them. Come spring, use a broad fork to open a little bit, then plant.
Agree?
@@roberttillotson6861 Good plan! Maybe try an experiment where you broad fork one bed but not another, then plant them the same and see if there's any difference. Might have to do it over 2 - 3 years to know.
Clear tarp in hot summer will heat to 130 plus. Make sure you water before plastic. It will kill weeds. Weeds will struggle for 3-4 years. Personally, I still like the mow method. Adding short muloch after plant emerges will eliminate weed growth.
I heard on a podcast that perennials like comfrey can be terminated by making a ferment (mulching fine, put in water, inoculate, and aerate for ~week) then filter and apply to the recently crimped cover. I think the idea is that you generate or prime bacterial and/or fungi that like to 'eat' the damaged cover crop. I have not been able to find any more information
Following
You're such a hard worker
Would you consider the 40% Vinegar Concentrate or Citric Acid(USDA Certified Organic Herbicide) to be herbicides? It is the preferred way of terminating cover crops on large Organic No-Till operations while meeting Organic Standards.
Wish gardening vlogs included zone and state so I could know if the information is applicable to me.
He’s in Kentucky, he has said (somewhere) that his last frost is like May 5 or 10, if that helps
Farmer J! My dude! Thanks for this. We are currently in the cover kill phase at BCF and trying to determine the best move. After watching this viddy, I think we will go with the BCS 853 with the low flail. Keep up the great educating!
Some ideas that came to me when I read your comment.
What about flail mower the cover crop down, power Harrow to mix in some of the crop residue and open up the soil a little for oxygen & loosen some of the cover crop roots.
(Could flail mow a second time after if needed to cut and smash up the cover crop roots and stalks).
Spray humates (humic acid) over the patch...
This will add a carbon source to the bulk nitrogen source (the cover crop) to help break down quicker & at the same time feed and stimulate the microbes.
Just some ideas. Haven't tried it myself and don't have access to equipment or land to right now.
Bidwell- awesome. I genuinely love my 749 and Flail mower. It's basically the only tool I use.
Brett - think it would work. However, you may lose some of the mulch effect and the microbes would likely consume some of the carbon sequestered by the rye. The harrow may also bring up weed seed. But if you account for the nitrogen loss from incorporation than it's possible, for sure
nice tips
Mowing reminds me of the one straw revolution philosophy. Maybe mowing + adding a little bit of extra mulch if the cover crop itself doesn't produce enough plant material to cover the soil?
Your a gangster!!! I mean that people don’t know what you do.. love brother!!!
one day my son brought home a couple of industrial roll-out rubber carpets that his employer was discarding - about 3 feet wide and 24 feet long. I have used them to kill patches of Canada Thistle. It lies heavily on the ground and therefore kills faster. It can be repurposed. When not in use, just roll it up and set it aside. It will last for years and years, maybe decades. It is impenetrable and thick - to damage one you'd have to do something like run a tiller over it. Of course, this option is extremely expensive initially (unless you can get businesses to give you their old ones, or maybe given the quantity you could work out a super deal with a carpet wholesaler. And speaking of carpets, when I bought my homet here was this old plain gray high-traffic rubber-backed carpet in the garage.I dragged it out of there onto my unpaved driveway. That was 17 years ago, and it is still on my driveway having been driven over thousands of times. Nothing can grow underneath of that even though water can pass thru. Old carpets are free from carpetlayers.
Never used a cover crop. Looking into it as my property in Eastern NC, has a lot of issues from hard clay soil to interesting things like Wisteria killing the trees and spreading out everywhere along with inumerable weeds and vines. Last person herewas into "Native Plants". He would go out, dig up some weed he thought was 'Special' then plant it. He also [[bcause he did not bother cleaning the roots and brough in buckets of tese weeds Soil-brought in all kinds of fast growing things that spread evetywhere even into my raised beds. He did a lot of Terraforming, Brick walks and edging then left it to go so now I get surprised by a piece of rebar or a brick the mower hits. I'm thinking Neitron Bomb for the place.
I seeded about an acre of rye last fall for a cover crop. Right about the milk stage I weed whacked it all down, pretty close to the ground, and covered it with plastic tarps - some clear plastic reused from a couple hoop houses and one a large silage tarp. I left the tarps on for a long time, maybe 6 weeks, because it didn't get very hot and I wanted to make sure it was totally dead. I've been slowly peeling the tarps back and the cover crop is thoroughly dead and on its way to being fully decomposed. I'm no expert on this matter but from what I've read you have to compensate for the amount of nitrogen that gets tied up with decomposing rye by adding another nitrogen source (in my case, chicken fertilizer). After taking off the tarps I'm broadforking, adding fertilizer and compost, then planting into that.
I think it's important to note that when using tarps (clear or not) you have to make sure you get a good seal along the edges and in the pathways. Not just for the wind factor but also to keep the heat in. Also, if you get lots of winter/spring rain then water pooling in the pathways can make moving the tarps extremely hard. Me and my wife spent two hours moving tarps last night and it was a crap ton of work. This fall I am going to cover more area in plastic mulch (for earlier spring planting) and try a cover crop that will winter kill and provide a mulch over the winter. I don't see myself seeding rye again. Excellent video Jesse.
Great note note on the tarps. They do have to be locked down and free of large holes. Also the weed whacker can definitely be an option for laying the mulch down. My understanding is the nitrogen is only tied up if you turn the cover crop in through tillage. I will have to dig deeper into that though. Thanks for the comment!
@@notillgrowers Here in Germany we have many cover crops especially from the Fabaceae family which just freeze in winter. Personally I use Serradella (Ornithopus sativus) which is beautiful, has a deep roor, attracts beneficial insects and can also be used as animal food. It can already be harvested as animal food when the plant height is 15 cm. Some people allow wild deer to eat it up in the end. Let me know if Serradella is known in your place.
I use fava as cover crop. Easy to deal with.
I have heard that it is possible to plant the main crop only 2-3 weeks after the сover сrops are killed. They say this is due to the fact that during the primary processing of organic matter, soil microorganisms use nitrogen in the soil, which can stop the development of seedlings.
In addition, some types of сover сrops release substances toxic to other plants into the soil.
My season is short, I can't afford to wait 3 weeks, but I'm not ready to give up сover сrops either.
I would be very grateful if you would share your opinion on this matter. Thank you.
Can we use dried rice stalks to caver rice field?
The third thing is that tarps will degrade and be disposable.
Tiger torch. Sure it uses some propane, but very little. Far less than is needed to manufacture that plastic, and no disposal problem.
Then you’re killing so much of the useful bacteria . How’s it working for you though?
The channel "Canadian permaculure legacy" has a video on plastic types. It's something like 'an engineers take on plastics'. Turns out type 2 4 and 5 are the most stable. Avoid type 1, releases arsenic.
High tunnel plastic is not as bad as water bottles or even polycarbonate. Interesting stuff.
I was actually thinking of letting my rye go to seed, harvest the seeds and feed my future chickens with it. Then flatten it +cover or mow it and plant. It's my first time doing all this so no idea if it's a good or bad idea! (hope to find a comment that has the answer)
If you have the space!! 🥰 I sprinkled rye berries all over my yard, hoping for a cover crop, but the chickens went around and ate all the seeds. 😆
I didn't search every comment so forgive me if you answer this already. Why don't you use Cardboard instead of plastic to kill your cover crops?
i have had pretty good luck with it killing my weed/grass in the area For my garden.
We do tilling and also use rotovator as the plant and micro organisms need air or oxygen for better growth.
Many would disagree with you, but enjoy your gardening.
Hey I'm French farmer, If you can easily put English subscribe do it please 🙏. Your video is interesting and some time it's complicated to understand all that you said. Thank for your video
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I think by mistake he uploaded it with settings Vietnamese (and not English), you _can_ activate subtitles or transcript but of course if youtube is informed the original language is Vietnames the transcript will be a mess.
I am so glad I saw this
I had no idea on a few terms that were being used but great video 👏 👍
Hey. What about using grazing animals to mow down and eat the crops?
Man that morel shirt is awesome!
Great info. I absolutely love your Ky morel shirt.
Crimp bead code milk then use wood nails to put cardboard on top. Cut into cardboard transplant . Use news paper and wood chips to cover hole
Everything same day
How would you kill lawn to get it ready for planting? Mow method then maybe overseed with cover crop then mow again?
How about gather up the mowed/weedwhacked/scythed/sheared cover crops, put it in the compost piles, and add aged aerobic fungally dominant biological compost to the soil instead? Tarps and plastic covering create destructive and pathogenic anaerobic soil.
I am going to try sheet mulching with carbon materials as the cover crop is mainly nitrogen. Will cover with cardboard and place straw as mulch. Will see what happens
I'm just getting started on a small garden for us. I want to get the hang of it before going any bigger. We do have a hay field that we harvest Bermuda in the summer/fall and rye in the spring. I have some old hay bales and want to use them for two things: 1) as raised planters and 2) for killing weeds and giving back to the soil. I saw a video about someone who did a side-by-side garden test on tilling versus laying the hay down. The no-till garden with the hay had no amendments put in the soil and yet yielded better crops than the tilled garden. Do you have any experience or thoughts on using old hay for terminating vegetation?
These are excellent methods. Thank you. A combination of your 3rd method which is mowing down , and the black plastic might result in faster breaking-down of the cover crop? Makes me think that the little weed pockets in mowing method could be eliminated by block them light for a brief period
Cover crops seem really tricky to end well and quickly. I like the idea of scything them down, clearing them, and then putting compost down on top of that. You would just have to use the ones you cleared to be making more compost so you're always replenishing the supply of that. Always making compost! What do you think about weed guard plus? Instead of a plastic cover, using that as a biodegradable one and then lasagna gardening on top of it? I guess that might have some of the issues of tilling it in where it's not broken down and you've put it in the soil. The plastic, phthalates, and killing bacteria really concern me, I'm not sure if applying compost tea is enough, the quality of bacteria you kill may be more of an issue - like ones die first that take longer to establish or something.
Is all this in your new book?
@TheVigilantStewards My understanding is that you Don't clear the cover crop, you leave it on the ground. Never "bare floors" is the idea. You just push some aside to plant into it. There is even equipment that cuts through the debris, creating a furrow into the soil to plant seeds.
Farmer J out here big Crippin'
Would fire work? I assume it would cook the lower stem.
Some gardeners irrigate under black plastic to accelerate rotting.
in the process of smothering the plant life, im concern is that it does to biome of microbs that live in the soil your are trying to build. does the heat you creat kill the microbes and worms etc. i like just crimping and planting right in the cover crop. try the wood chip method of Back to Eden method too. I like your mowing method the best. try gowring crops with multi species and not the "mono crop" like rows of corn yet grow other things like squash or peas in amungst the corn you will have less weeds and plants covering the ground etc.
Very informative, thanks!
So I will still get the benefits of the cover crop once I terminated and tarpet, so I actually don’t have to till it into the soil
This has been my issue.. takes too long.. and worried about the plastic chemicals.. etc