Rye As A Cover Crop
Categories:
OTHER LEGUMES AND CEREAL CATCH CROPS
As has been stated elsewhere, the plant that
stores nitrogen in its organic matter is most desirable, but the
greater part of the soil's stock of humus did not come through legumes.
Among the good cover crops is rye, both on account of its ability to
grow under adverse conditions and because it produces a large amount of
material for the soil. When seeded in the early fall, its roots fill
the soil the following spring,
and the tops furnish all the material
that can be plowed down with safety. In northern latitudes it is the
most dependable of all winter cover crops, making some growth in poorly
prepared seed-beds and on thin land. The most value is obtained from
early seedings, thus securing a good fall growth. Two bushels of seed
are sufficient in good ground seeded ten weeks before winter begins,
but two or three pecks should be added to this amount if the rye can be
given only a few weeks of growth before frost locks up the soil. Rye
can grow in warm spells of winter, and starts early in the spring. It
uses up some available fertility that might otherwise be lost, and
releases it when it rots in the ground.