Category Archives: Soil temperature

Tarps for killing cover crops: mid-project update

UPDATE 8/24/16: Please see follow-up post on this experiment. Initially, the title of this post was “The answer is clear: solarization is outperforming occultation for killing cover crops.” At the time I originally wrote it, clear tarps were killing cover crops … Continue reading

Posted in Cover Crops, Equipment, Rye, Soil temperature, Vetch | Tagged | 1 Comment

Under Cover: Rotational No-till and Mulching Systems for Organic Vegetable Farms in Germany

It sounds like there was a great turnout for Jan’s eOrganic webinar on the cut-and-carry mulch system he and his colleagues are using for organic vegetable production in Germany. My favorite quote: “You can completely screw up the system and … Continue reading

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When cover crops die

I awoke to very frosty fields this morning, as is expected this time of year in Maine. The basil died long ago, the peppers have been limping along through light frost after light frost until they finally died last night. … Continue reading

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No-till vegetables in New England

If I had a dollar for every time someone told me no-till vegetables aren’t possible in New England, I’d be… well, I’d have about $5. Still, if I had a dollar for every time someone told me it is possible in New … Continue reading

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Two ingredient cover crop cocktails

Someone branded cover crop mixtures as “cocktails” and it has stuck. Even NRCS has adopted the “cocktail” label: Regardless of what they’re called, the new multi-species mixtures are very exciting, results are intriguing, and these cocktails are probably the cover cropping … Continue reading

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Sometimes, less is more when it comes to cover crop residue

Snow is in the forecast for tomorrow in Maryland, and fields are neither drying out nor warming up quickly. Unlike a living cover or mulch that prevent the soil from drying in spring, low-residue winterkilled cover crops can facilitate faster … Continue reading

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Cover crops change everything.

There was a nice summary of Joel Gruver’s 12 ways to manage cover crops in Farm Futures. Joel has been working on cover cropping in the Midwest at Western Illinois University, but got his start in  Maryland. One of his … Continue reading

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