Mustard as green manure: important recommendations for autumn sowing and further use. Pros and Cons of Planting Mustard in the Fall

Sideration is the most effective method restoration of soil resources.

Even fertilizing with manure does not have such a long-term result as sowing white mustard in the fall.

This plant is able to release soil phosphates and accumulate them.

Leaves, roots, stems contain nitrogen in large quantities, which provides excellent sideration.

Benefits or why sow mustard in the fall?

This green manure is available to any gardener, easy to grow and effective. Its main purpose as a fertilizer is to enrich the soil with phosphorus and nitrogen. The green mass, dug into the ground, transmits these important elements subsequent plants, stimulating the process of their growth and development. In addition, mustard has the following useful features:

Fast germination and high yields. Green mass is a complete fertilizer in composition.

High cold resistance. The sprouts can withstand temperatures down to -5 C. After a significant cooling, the plants cover the soil from freezing and help retain moisture in it until spring.

Lack of seed preparation. They are placed in the soil, covered with a small amount of earth, sand, or covered with a rake.

Strong root system. Reaches 0.5 meters and loosens the ground to this depth. It can assimilate elements that are poorly soluble in water and inaccessible for this reason to other plants.

Increasing the air permeability of the earth. It is achieved by increasing the number of earthworms after sowing mustard in the fall.

erosion prevention. Dense sowing is used where there is a risk of soil erosion, wind damage. The stems of plants planted in early autumn will be able to perform the function of snow retention by frost.

Cons of autumn sowing mustard as green manure

The disadvantages of gardeners include:

1. Going to weed. If you do not mow mustard until the last, then it will coarsen, bloom. The cut off seed plants, most likely, will fall into the ground and germinate. This garden weed is difficult to remove from the soil.

2. Limited use. White mustard should not be grown in autumn where other cruciferous plants, such as radishes, turnips, cabbage, will have to be planted next season. These crops are subject to the same diseases and pests as mustard. Before them, it is better to plant cereals, legumes.

When exactly is mustard planted in the fall?

Sowing time depends on the weather conditions in the region and the gardener's wishes regarding the expected germination and green manure period. Autumn planting of fertilizer is carried out in the following periods:

1. Late summer, early autumn. Sowing is done in moist soil, after harvest. Siderat grows well in large areas where there were previously potatoes, strawberries, cereal crops. Usually there is enough time from the moment of sowing to the beginning of flowering to get the right amount of green mass. So, when applying seeds immediately after harvesting, from 1 weave you can get about 400 kg of fertilizer, which must be mowed and applied for its intended purpose.

2. At the end of September. When planted late, the grown stems do not mow, they die from frost and save the soil from the cold in winter. The roots, being in the ground, rot, nourishing, loosening the soil.

3. Before winter. Sowing mustard in late autumn is carried out so that the fertilizer rises in the spring. To do this, the seeds are placed in dug cold ground, left to winter there. So that the mustard does not freeze, does not wash melt waters with the soil layer, you need to increase the depth of embedding.

How to sow mustard in the fall

To create high-quality fertilizer, the cultivation of green manure must obey the following algorithm of actions:

1. The beds should be cleared of the remnants of vegetables and weeds after harvest.

2. It is desirable to fertilize them with humus at the rate of 1 bucket per 1 sq. m.

3. The earth needs to be dug up, leveled with a rake, poured with water.

4. Next, you should start planting mustard in a row. The seeds are similar in size to small beans and are easy to grab and place in the soil. The distance between them should be at least 15 cm, between rows about 20 cm, as the plants grow.

5. About 250 g of seeds are planted on a hundred square meters of land. They should not be placed too far into the soil, this will slow down germination, the optimal depth should not exceed 1–1.5 cm. If there is not enough time, mustard can not be sown in rows, but scattered randomly on the ground. The result will be worse than in the case of uniform application, but still noticeable.

6. After planting mustard in the fall, the seeds are added dropwise or harrowed with an ordinary rake.

Plants sprout approximately 4 days after sowing, after a month their height is 15 cm. For full growth, development, mustard should be watered abundantly, it does not need additional feeding. It is desirable to have time to cut the siderat shoots before flowering for the following reasons:

The stems and petioles of the leaves coarsen with the appearance of flowers, which slows down the processing of green mass, the formation of fertilizer;

Plant nutrients are spent on flowering, which contributes to the loss of green manure function;

Seed mustard will begin to multiply and can quickly become a hard to get rid of weed.

How to use mustard as a fertilizer?

You can mow the green mass with a flat cutter, chopper, oblique. After that, it must be embedded in the soil with a shovel to a depth of about 5 cm.

So mineral, organic elements get into the earth, thereby restoring its structure. If for some reason it is not possible to bury the greens, then you can leave it in the garden in the winter. The aerial part will rot, and the roots, decomposed, will loosen the soil.

Gardeners are trying to speed up the process of biohumus formation with the help of Baikal EM-1. It contributes to the formation of a favorable environment for the reproduction of bacteria in the soil, which heals it and makes it more fertile. This product is really effective, but neither he nor green manure can completely replace organic fertilizers, such as compost, humus.

As for the sandy clay soil, then planting mustard in the fall will not have a positive effect on the structure of the soil. A layer of humus will slowly form, seasonal vegetable growing will destroy it again. Therefore, unprepared lands are not suitable for sowing mustard in the fall for digging. They must first be improved, and then crop rotation should be applied in order to increase yields.

Using green manure for healing, soil nutrition, you need to keep in mind that plants consume, and then give the followers a set of useful substances, trace elements. So, it is quite difficult to ensure the balance of the nutrient medium only with the help of white mustard. For high-quality soil fertilization, it is necessary to grow different types green manure crops and do not forget about organic matter, an integrated approach will give the best results.

If you want the soil in your garden to be loose and oily, sow mustard after harvesting from the beds. In autumn, before frost, the mustard will have time to sprout and, after the sprouts reach 20-40 cm, they dig it up. But they do it shallowly, since the organic part of the plant, its greenery, serves as fertilizer.

It is then mowed down before digging up or simply dug up so that the top layer of soil is mixed with green manure, which is green mustard. It is important not to bring the maturity of the plant to the formation of seeds. To fertilize the soil on the site, only the green part of the plant is needed.

You can not dig up in the fall, but do it in the spring, when forming beds, flower beds and places for berries. It is more convenient and many gardeners do just that. Sown in August-early September, it will give abundant inputs and will remain green until frost. It will freeze only when the frost is below 5 degrees. This is the most valuable mineral fertilizer for your garden, for which everything was started.

You can sow mustard both in the dug up earth, and simply by scattering the seeds on the surface. Birds from the ground do not peck mustard seeds, so you can not bury it for germination. White mustard is used for sowing. It sprouts faster and more greenery. And that means more fertilizer.

Mustard is considered an earth improver, a weed suppressor. In addition, it also destroys pathogenic fungi in the soil. What is also important for getting a future good harvest vegetables and other cultivated plants.

If you want to spend less time weeding, sow mustard. It suppresses the growth of weeds of all kinds, which means you will have to pore over the beds less.

In addition, the earth will not dry out and retain life-giving moisture. Many earthworms will appear, which will break through their passages in the earth and make it soft and loose like fluff. You will see that there will be much more earthworms in your garden.

In addition, the mustard roots themselves are about half a meter. It is to this depth that the soil in your gardens will be loosened. In the spring, it remains to form beds and plant vegetables, berries or flowers.

• It is worth considering that it is best to sow mustard where you intend to plant tubers and seedlings in the spring, as vegetable and flower seeds will need denser soil.
• In addition, you should not plant mustard where you will plant radishes, cabbages and other cruciferous plants, as they have the same diseases and instead of a rich harvest, for example, cabbages, you can get additional problems.

There are few cons, so plant mustard in your garden after the fall harvest. An excellent natural fertilizer that will only be useful to the earth, enrich it and help your future harvest become generous.

More about green manure in the video from agricultural experts.

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As you know, after harvesting, the soil is similar in composition to a squeezed lemon. That is, all useful minerals and organic matter have been "eaten" by those crops that you usually prefer to plant on your land plot. Therefore, in order to replenish the nutrient content in the garden, it should be periodically (as a rule, this is done either before winter or immediately upon planting) returned to the ground. a large number of organics.

Surely, you have heard about a similar method of fertilizing the soil by sowing a vegetable garden with various crops, for example, oats or wheat, when plowing is carried out without waiting for the pasture of the ears.

Mustard, as a fertilizer, works in a similar way. The benefits are obvious:

• Firstly, the mustard stems and leaves themselves are that sufficient biomass that is easily digested and, after decomposition, turns into nutritious organic matter and humus.
• Secondly, this event contributes to the overall health of your favorite garden. The stems and leaves of the plant contain a large amount of essential oils, which negatively affect the "garden flora and fauna", that is, pests, including wireworm, and microorganisms that cause diseases of cultivated plants.

It is noteworthy that essential oils do not harm earthworms and beneficial microflora, but, on the contrary, stimulate their reproduction.

The culture itself is characterized by rapid germination, quickly gaining weight and therefore is the best suited for use as a green manure. When sowing mustard, the growth of those plants that are not desirable on any cultivated plot of soil, in other words, weeds, is suppressed.

Sowing mustard in your area, you will receive at least 400 kilograms of green mass per 1 hundred square meters. The composition of the biomass contains up to 22% of pure organic matter, the share of phosphorus is about 0.92%, and nitrogen and potassium are 0.71% and 0.43% each, respectively. A well-developed root system of the plant reduces soil weathering in autumn-winter period.

Knowledgeable summer residents mustard, as a fertilizer for the garden, is sown immediately after harvesting potatoes to minimize moisture loss. The sowing technology is ancient - seeds are introduced into the open soil by the usual "movement of the sower" into shallow grooves, the distance between which is not more than 15 centimeters, followed by harrowing with a simple rake. Consumption of seed material is about 140 grams per one hundred square meters of land.

When is mustard harvested for fertilizer in the fall? It is necessary to mow the green mass after it gains strength., after about a month and a half after sowing. During this time, the height of the plant reaches about 15-20 centimeters. The processing of green mass into fertilizer is carried out either by a cultivator or a special flat cutter. It is not necessary to bury the stems deep - it is enough to slightly cover the mass with earth, a few centimeters, so that in spring all plants can easily get nutrients.

Never throw organic waste in the trash, dig compost pit and dump all the cleaning and residues from the plants there. You can do, from sleeping tea, garden and houseplants. Everything is useful for business!

To accelerate fermentation, that is, the transformation of green mass into a full-fledged fertilizer, it is best to use EM preparations. You also need to make sure that the soil is sufficiently moist. Therefore, if the autumn turned out to be without rain, additional irrigation should be applied.

Mustard is a fairly high-quality green manure, which has a beneficial effect on the fertile soil layer. It is planted in between the cultivation of the main crops. Experts tell you how to do it right to get maximum benefit and minimize possible harm from the plant.

Description and characteristics of green manure

Mustard has long been successfully used to improve and nourish the soil on the Balkan Peninsula. For a long time it was believed that in the climate of the Russian Federation it is difficult for a plant to take root and reveal its green manure potential. However, practice has shown that mustard grows everywhere except the far north. And in some places it even shows the manners of weed culture.

Botanical classification refers mustard to the cruciferous family. She is a relative of all varieties of cabbage, turnip, lettuce, radish, rapeseed, swede. This is important to keep in mind when planning your planting. Mustard is not used on the site before or after cruciferous counterparts. In this case, pick up a different green manure, otherwise the garden planting is at great risk of getting sick with ailments characteristic of this family. For example, kilo.

Not every type of crop has the properties of a natural fertilizer, but only white mustard (English) or Sarepta mustard (gray). How they look - tell a photo or video. The white variety is considered more useful for the garden. It releases from the earth and accumulates sparingly soluble forms of phosphates.

Attention! Siderat contains a large amount of nitrogen, which, when decomposed, effectively feeds the soil.

The benefits and disadvantages of mustard for the home garden

In the process of growth, the culture pulls up from the soil and accumulates valuable trace elements. Before flowering, the plant is mowed and buried in the ground right where it grew. Greens are processed naturally, saturating the top fertile layer of the garden with useful substances. Such feeding works well in the first stage after planting successor plants.

Mustard is an excellent green manure

Siderative qualities are not the only example of the benefits of mustard. She also:

• clogs and inhibits weeds;
• cleans the earth from infections and pathogens - putrefactive microorganisms, scab, phytophthora;
• fights pests - codling moth, slugs, wireworm;
• loosens and improves the structure of the soil;
• maintains a normal balance of acidity, as it delays top layer nitrogen.

Advice. When autumn planting after mowing, the crop can act as an excellent mulching material. It will protect the soil from freezing and retain as much moisture as possible in it.

Mustard will bring such benefits if it is grown as green manure. If you let it bloom, then you get a good honey plant. The plant is also planted next to beans, potatoes, fruit trees, grapes. It is able to support and accelerate the development of these crops, protect them from certain harmful insects.

Mustard has proven itself well for sowing before and after cucumbers, tomatoes, legumes, potatoes. Healthy after siderata develops garden strawberry. A plant can cause harm to other crops only if the crop rotation is not observed:

1. In addition to other cabbage, you should not plant it after oil flax, sunflower, millet and beets.
2. After the spring cultivation of this green manure, it is not advisable to plant root crops (beets, carrots, parsnips, etc.). Features of the development of the root system of the predecessor will make the forms of followers ugly.

Features of the use of green manure on the land

To experience the maximum benefit of mustard, it is not enough to observe crop rotation. It is important to grow a crop. Agrotechnology implies the following sowing options:

1. In April, as soon as the regular night frosts go away, and the daytime temperature reaches +10 °C. Seedlings will reach the required condition in 4-7 weeks. You will be just in time to plant most of the major garden crops.
2. In autumn, as the main crop is harvested, as long as the weather remains warm enough. After improving the land procedures, mow and leave the greens on the site.
3. Before winter. Seeds must be sown at great depths, in cold and loose soil. In this case, the greens should rise in early spring.

To properly remove the mustard, pour the greens with the Baikal solution before planting it in the ground. The plant must always be kept moist as it decomposes so that the process can proceed quickly. If your site has been occupied without a break for several seasons, you may not get the benefit of mustard, because there are not enough microorganisms for its processing. In this case, compost with earthworms is also introduced into the soil. In addition, experts do not advise using only mustard - it must be combined with other green manure.

Landing green manure: video

Hello dear readers! So the time has come to harvest the potatoes and send them for storage (here is an article about that). Mustard - green manure, which immediately after harvesting the potatoes I will sow for green manure.

Why do I want to do this? Firstly, after decomposition in the soil, mustard biomass becomes an easily digestible fertilizer, and the soil is replenished with organic matter and humus. Secondly, when sowing in cultivated soil, it effectively suppresses the development of weeds. Third, be active. The presence of essential oils in all parts serves as a prophylactic against the accumulation of pests (,, pea codling moth) and fungal infections (rhizoctoniosis, potato scab). Mustard as a fertilizer improves the living conditions of soil microorganisms and, when decomposed, serves as food for them. And this, in turn, leads to higher yields.

Now I turn directly to myself. So, mustard is an annual plant of the cruciferous family. Mustard is used both for fertilizer and for animal feed, and is, moreover, a honey crop.

Valued for the greatest ability to germinate quickly and build up a relatively large mass in a short cold period. The yield of green mass is over 400 kg per hundred square meters, it accumulates 22% in green mass organic matter, 0.71% nitrogen, 0.92% phosphorus, 0.43% potassium. During flowering, it attracts beneficial insects.

Although mustard is a highly digestible fertilizer after decomposition in the soil, it is still significantly inferior to bean green manure in terms of nitrogen content, therefore, as green manure, mustard will be more effective when mixed with legumes (for this, mustard and legumes are sown through a row).

This culture is able to absorb sparingly soluble nutrients that are inaccessible to other plants and convert them into readily available forms. Effectively absorbs nutrients from the treated formation, preventing their leaching into the subsoil.

Mustard well loosens, structures, drains the soil, increasing its air and moisture capacity. The tap root system of mustard penetrates deep into the soil, to a depth of 2-3 meters.

This is one of the best crops for protecting soil from water and wind erosion in spring and autumn, and if not mowed, then in winter. Detains snow, contributes to less soil freezing and, consequently, greater accumulation of moisture. In the steppe regions, it is sometimes sown for this purpose in single rows among winter crops.

In fodder crops, the quality of green mass in terms of nutritional value is close to that of mixed fodder. It is especially valued for its high protein content in autumn. The disadvantage is the absence of many vitamins and biologically active substances and the presence of toxic glycosides and mustard oil, the amount of which increases with the aging of the plant.

Therefore, green fodder and silage are mowed before flowering and given to animals in a mixture with other feeds no more than 20-30 kg per day per cow. After grinding, it is better to use the food within an hour, as the mass warms itself and the palatability decreases.

Mustard is a green manure that requires cultivated nutrient bound soils. It grows well on sod-podzolic, fertilized with organic fertilizers. It can grow on sandy loam (our garden grows just on such soil), cultivated peat soils. Does not tolerate clayey and flooding acidic soils and salt marshes.

This culture is moisture-loving, but to a lesser extent than oilseed radish, which is indispensable for heavy clay soils. Mustard in particular requires moisture during germination and budding. Light-loving, slightly drought-resistant. But this is one of the most cold-resistant green manure among cruciferous. Seeds sprout at +1-2 degrees Celsius, vegetation continues late in autumn at +3-4 degrees, and seedlings tolerate frosts down to -4 - -5 degrees.

Seeding mustard

Sow the crop in the spring a month before planting potatoes and late vegetables (do not sow cabbage as a predecessor, as they are of the same cruciferous family) or in the fall after harvest, from late April to mid-September.

We will sow next week as soon as we harvest the potatoes. Moreover, it is recommended to sow immediately after harvesting the main crop in order to prevent the loss of shadow moisture and prevent the soil from drying out. After sowing randomly, harrowing is carried out (in our case, with an ordinary rake).

Shoots appear on the 3-4th day. For green fertilizer and fodder, 120-150 g per hundred square meters are sown (row spacing is 15 cm). When sowing manually in bulk, or after August 10-20 - 300-400 g per hundred square meters. It is sown for seeds and for honey collection with a row spacing of 30-45 cm, reducing the seeding rate.

A sufficient and optimal method of cultivation is soil loosening either with a flat cutter or a cultivator, which increases soil fertility and saves the strength of the farmer. To get a better harvest, use organic fertilizers and.

When to cut mustard

1-1.5 months after sowing, mustard grows up to 15-20 cm, it is cut with a flat cutter or a cultivator or mowed (as you like), having previously spilled a solution of EM preparations, which accelerates the fermentation processes and creates favorable microbiological conditions leading to enrichment soil nutrients and trace elements.

I want to draw attention to the fact that the processes of decomposition of plant residues, humification take place only if there is moisture in the soil (and mustard is a moisture-loving culture, this was mentioned above), therefore, if you live in an arid region, then it is effective only with irrigation, but if in In your region, droughts are intermittent, so watering is required during droughts.

But watch the video, what a success the mustard was with good watering!

Well, how do you like this green fertilizer and phytosanitary? Sow - you won't regret it! If there are difficulties with the acquisition of seeds, then you - here.

High fertility and large yields! See you later!

With all respect, Andrew!