Catch Crops
A catch crop is a quick growing crop, grown in between main crops, as a green manure or as a feed for livestock.
These crops can have many benefits that include improving soil structure and quality, prevent soil erosion due to their long root system and also provide cover for both farmland and game birds.
Green Manure
Green Manure crops are fast growing plants with deep roots, sown in fields that have recently harvested their crops. Green manures are hardy plants that will grow through winter without needing much sunlight, ideal for covering bare soil out of season, and can be left for 1-2 years if desired.
Green Manure plants perform many benefits, with their deep roots drawing up nutrients from the soil, nodules on the roots “fixing” nitrogen from the air and others breaking up claggy clay. The foliage of the crops smothers weeds to prevent them growing, and the roots prevent soil and important nutrients being washed away by winter rain. When ready to plant crops again, cut down the green manure plants and then either dig in the remains or leave them to rot in to the soil, further releasing nutrients back in to the soil.
Green Manures will replenish the nutrients in your soil, as well as suppressing weeds and providing vital shelter for beneficial insects. Instead of leaving a field fallow or using harmful chemical products, Green Manures are an organic method of restoring nitrogen and other nutrients to the earth to allow for replanting of other crops in the Spring that have the potential to then produce an increased, organic yield.
For more information on Green Manure, please view our Technical Guide HERE
Standard Green Manure Mixtures
Rye and Vetch Mix
70% Forage Rye
30% Vetch
Sowing Rate – 75Kg per acre
Westerwolds and Vetch Mix
30% Westerwolds
70% Vetch
Sowing Rate – 25Kg per acre
Black Oats and Vetch Mix
70% Black Oats
30% Vetch
Sowing Rate – 12Kg per acre
Fodder Radish and Tillage Radish Mix
40% Fodder Radish
30% Fodder Radish
30% Tillage Radish
Sowing Rate – 5Kg per acre
Black Oats, Radish and Mustard Mix
80% Black Oats
15% Fodder Radish
5% Mustard
Sowing Rate – 10Kg per acre
Nematode Resistant Radish and Mustard Mix
50% Fodder Radish – Farmer
50% Mustard – Rumba
Sowing Rate – 10Kg per acre
Forage Rye and Mustard Mix
80% Forage Rye
20% Mustard
Sowing Rate – 20Kg per acre
Green Manure Clovers
Balansa Clover
Trifolium michelicinum
A winter hardy annual that tolerates a variety of soil types. It produces deep tap roots which helps with water infiltration and drainage.
Sowing Rate – 4Kg/acre 10Kg/ha
Berseem Clover
(Egyptian Clover)
Trifolium alexandrinum
A clover useful in nearly all crop rotations and is a non host plant for beet cyst nematodes.
Sowing Rate – 6Kg/acre 15Kg/ha
Crimson Clover
Trifolium incarnatum
A fast growing, bulky annual clover used in short breaks to rapidly improve soil fertility.
Sowing Rate – 6Kg/acre 15Kg/ha
Persian Clover
Trifolium resupinatum
An annual clover suited to most soil types and used in situations where a short term nitrogen fix is needed.
Sowing Rate – 4Kg/acre 10Kg/ha
Radishes
Mustards
Fodder Radish
(Oil Radish)
Raphanus sativa
A non tuberous type of radish that is fast to establish and has an efficient soil covering capacity. Fodder Radish will aid soil structure and fertility and certain varieties can reduce cyst nematodes in a number of crops including sugar beet and potatoes.
Sowing Rate – 5Kg/acre 12.5Kg/ha
Tillage Radish
Raphanus sativus
This crop germinates and grows quickly and produces deep, thick forming radishes that are great at destroying soil compaction. It holds and releases vital nutrients and represses nematodes.
Sowing Rate – 3Kg/acre 7.5Kg/ha
White Mustard
Conventional/Late Flowering/Nematode Resistant
Sinapsis alba
Cruciferous plant effectively used as a break crop to improve soil structure and fertility. Mustard is fast establishing and drought tolerant. In rotations with beets, a nematode resistant variety is preferable.
Sowing Rate – 6Kg/acre 15Kg/ha
Brown Mustard
Brassica juncea
Quick to establish, brown mustard gives effective weed suppression and improves soil structure. It is a good nitrogen catcher when ploughed back in and also helps to reduce potato cyst nematodes.
Sowing Rate – 2Kg/acre 5Kg/ha
Miscellaneous
Phacelia
Phacelia tancetifolia
Phacelia is especially useful of sugar beet growing farms as it is nematode neutral and can therefore break a nematode breeding cycle. It is not winter hardy so it is therefore ideally sown in spring or summer to break down over the winter period, leaving fertile ground for spring crops.
Sowing Rate – 4Kg/acre 10Kg/ha
Black Oats
Avena strigosa
A crop that has high capacity to reduce free living nematodes (Pratylenchus spp). Quick to establish and will out compete weeds.
Sowing Rate – 20-30Kg/acre 50-75Kg/ha
Biofumigation
Biofumigation is the incorporation of fresh plant material into the soil, which then releases several beneficial substances to suppress soil-borne pests and pathogens. These substances include glucosinates – a chemical agent that makes certain members of the Brassica family hot and spicy – which are at their highest concentration when the plant is flowering. When the plants are finely chopped (chaffed) and worked into the soil, the glucosinates are converted enzymatically into MITC (methyl isothyocianates) which are the actual active ingredients and are highly toxic to pests and pathogens. Plants from the Cruciferae family (Brassicaceae) release large amounts of these toxic compounds in the soil and are considered the best species to use for biofumigation, as they target pests such as fungal mycelia, mobile nematodes and germinated weeds. Biofumigation is an effective method of disinfecting soil and increases the uptake of nutrients by plants, as with soil solarization. It is also a similar process to green manuring, as biofumigation incorporates nitrogen back into the soil, increasing the yield of the cash crops that follow. Biofumigation is an effective, all-natural alternative to chemical insecticides and herbicides, helping to keep toxic chemical run-off out of the water supply and protecting the health of growers and consumers. To read more about Biofumigation, click HERE
Sustainable Farming Incentive Scheme
Find out more HERE