Continuing to Reduce our Tillage

Continuing to Reduce our Tillage

Andrew Corbin, Director of Research, OFS

We at OFS have a complex crop rotation plan, but did you know we also rotate our cover crops and our tillage? Our vegetable production is very intense, mostly on raised beds and with that comes soil disturbance and weeds, weeds – weeds! But not all the plots (Blocks) of ground are dedicated to seasonal vegetable production every year. We use a variety of cover crops such as buckwheat, clover, oats and peas, and rye and vetch to allow the ground to rest, compete with weeds and add much needed organic matter and nutrients to our sandy soils.

Winter annual cover crops like winter rye and hairy vetch, can reduce weed density and build soil quality in organic and regenerative farming systems. Rye and vetch make good cover crop companions because the vetch will use the rye as a trellis, climbing up the rye stems to reach the sunshine. This time of year, the rye and vetch have put on literally tons of biomass and are beginning to flower. Many organic farmers at this point will work those crops into the soil and through tillage, prepare the ground for the next cash crop.

One way we are continuing to reduce our tillage is to terminate the rye and vetch with a flail mower, creating a thick mat of cover crop residue which we will transplant directly into with summer squash – and hopefully not have to weed! This rye/vetch “mulch” experiment will also demonstrate the difference between how the mulch performs on raised beds versus flat ground. Although the rye and vetch are beginning to flower, we will wait until the stand is about 90% in the reproductive stage before terminating. When the plants are mostly in this stage, they are putting all their energy into reproduction – so this helps ensure a good kill with the flail. This should be happening soon now that we’re (finally) starting to see some sunshine and receiving some much-needed heat units. Stay tuned, we will take lots of pictures throughout the process and share information on the progress of this cover crop mulch system.