Mustard is turning green like green manure - an excellent harvest will ripen

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Siderat is good because it performs several useful functions at once. It retains nutrients within the soil layer penetrated by the roots, preventing them from being washed out. The long roots of green manure, reaching deep soil horizons, play the role of a pump, pumping nutrients upward. This contributes to the accumulation of humus in the soil and improves its properties. Needless to say, how great is the role of humus in enriching the soil with beneficial microflora. To this we add that the green mass, through its organic residues, introduces nitrogen and other nutrients into the soil, decomposing faster than other organic fertilizers based on fiber.

What good is white mustard

All the above characteristics are fully possessed by mustard as green manure, more precisely, white mustard. She is good for her fast growth. Its vegetation period is short: 45-60 days pass before the start of mass flowering of the plant, untilfull ripening of white mustard seeds - 80-90 days. If the development of the plant occurs at +29 … +35 degrees, then it can be mowed already 37-40 days after germination. As soon as the temperature rises above zero by one or two degrees, the seeds are ready to sprout. White mustard as green manure is insensitive to late frosts down to -5 degrees; autumn +3 … +4 - also not an obstacle to the development of the plant. Therefore, the time period for sowing white mustard is so wide (end of March - mid-September).

Another thing is the soil for sowing it: it must be cultivated. The best option is sod-podzolic soil, previously fertilized with organic matter. Sandy and peaty cultivated soils are a little worse for sowing white mustard. Regardless of the temperature regime, the plant needs abundant watering in the phases of seed germination and budding.

Preparation and sowing

Before sowing mustard as green manure in the spring, you need to calculate the time so that a month remains before planting vegetables. When the time comes for potatoes and other root crops, the mustard green mass is cut off and left in place. In the summer, white mustard in the aisles will "work" as a phytosanitary, scaring off pests of vegetable crops. The main thing is that the green mass of mustard does not interfere with the development of the latter. It brings the greatest benefit if it is sown after harvest, before August 10. The seeding rate of mustard for green manure is 120-150 g pera hundred. But this is if it is sown in furrows with row spacing, the width of which is 15 cm. If you plan in bulk, then seed consumption will increase to 300-400 g. All of them should be covered with a layer of soil 2-3 cm.

Both in the field and on the table

In its green mass, mustard as green manure contains a storehouse of useful trace elements, including 22% organic matter and 0.71% nitrogen. Of course, it accumulates the last element worse than plants of the legume family, but it still needs to be looked for in the "conversion" of sparingly soluble nutrients into easily accessible equals. Up to 400 kg of green mass of white mustard can be removed from one hundred square meters. This is equivalent to applying almost the same weight of manure to the soil.

Essential volatile oils contained in all parts of the plant lead to a decrease in the populations of wireworm, slugs, codling moth, nematodes, and prevent the development of fungal infections. Sown in cultivated soil, mustard as green manure suppresses weeds. However, before and after plants of the cabbage family, to which white mustard belongs, it cannot be planted: as a precaution, so as not to make it a distributor of cabbage keel. To complete the "eulogy" of white mustard, it must be mentioned that it is excellent honey plant, medicinal plant, and its young leaves are used in cooking.