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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.



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