Cover Crop In Hop Yard
Categories:
Grains and Forage Crops
Will you please give information concerning cow peas or the most
suitable crop to sow in a hop field for winter growth, to be plowed
under as a fertilizer in the spring? Also, would it injure the vines to
be cut down before they die, so as to sow the mulch crop soon as
possible after the hops are gathered?
Cow peas would not do for the use which you propose, because they would
be speedily killed by frost on low lands, usually chosen for hops, and
would give you no growth during the frosty season. Probably there is
nothing better than burr clover for such a winter growth. Hop vines
should be allowed to grow as long as they maintain the thrifty green
color, because the growth of the leaves strengthens the root. But when
they begin to become weakened and yellow they can be removed without
injury. It is not necessary to wait for them to become fully dead.