Recommend a organic fertility building crop.

[miniconnect]

Looking for a recommendation for a fertility building crop for a no livestock low input organic arable rotation.

Proposed rotation is sp barley - sp oats - spring sown fertility building crop

What would work? Ideally something that could be sown with a power harrow drill into stubble. We tried sowing after combining but harvest is too late for that up here, the mustard didn't survive the geese or wet.

 

[Warp Land Farmer]

Grass?

 

[Raynard]

Undersown red clover.

Mulch

 

[Bury the Trash]

if fbc was after sb theres nowt to lose but to undersow something.
That's no tappropriate in the oats tho as they are smotherers and pretty much try to poison everything around themselves

 

[juke]

White clover works nicely in spring oats

 

[miniconnect]

if fbc was after sb theres nowt to lose but to undersow something.
That's no tappropriate in the oats tho as they are smotherers and pretty much try to poison everything around themselves

Fbc?

 

[miniconnect]

Undersown red clover.

Mulch

My worry would be oats would just smother it out, or would it lie almost dormant like it often seems to in grass, not showing until the 2nd year?

Although undersowing with something could be an option, just take the heads off the crop and leave the straw to rot too.

 

[Raynard]

Don’t worry about that.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Fbc?

fertility building crop

 

[Bury the Trash]

this is posted in the groundswell thread bit long but its interesting how he drills into an established crop.
needs to be open or wide drill spacing with what he does though and is a bit specialist kit wise
well I thought it was interesting anyway,

 

[Bury the Trash]

Phacelia can be impressive...

I don't know about them bledy geese tho …..

 

[Bury the Trash]

White clover works nicely in spring oats

medium height ones are more impressive I guess if they lasted without being smothered until what might be a pretty late harvest. but even then there isn't so much biomass in wc as even in rc

 

[juke]

medium height ones are more impressive I guess if they lasted without being smothered until what might be a pretty late harvest. but even then there isn't so much biomass in wc as even in rc

Your quite right, we used white clover and it doesn't bring as much as red clover , possibly more easily managed than red clover is..

 

[miniconnect]

Phacelia can be impressive...

I don't know about them bledy geese tho …..

Googled phacelia, and found greenmanure.co.uk I assume bit more expensive as an Agri seed dealer, but a lot of interesting reading in there. Thanks!

 

[neilo]

Why so averse to incorporating livestock, which must be the very best ‘fbc’? They don’t need to be yours, if you really are averse to them, but an agreement with an orgasmic grazier or share farmer perhaps?

 

[Brisel]

What the hell have you been teaching your auto correct? Orgasmic instead of organic???

 

[e3120]

Iirc, the clients have some sort of 'problem' with animals.

Welcome to the future.

 

[Brisel]

If you have potential for clean grazing, why not consider livestock? I'm not aware of any successful stockless organic units. It's a synergistic relationship.

 

[miniconnect]

Iirc, the clients have some sort of 'problem' with animals.

Welcome to the future.

You do remember correctly! Some memory you've got.
(Long story, but livestock is out of the question, apart from a few Hogg winterers)

It's not my land or my crop, I don't make the rules, I'm just trying to grow a half decent crop for my customers.

 

[neilo]

What the hell have you been teaching your auto correct? Orgasmic instead of organic???

Aren’t all organic farmers in a perpetual state of euphoria? I thought that was the idea?