Using green manure crops to improve soil in the greenhouse

Advantages and role of green manures

To grow healthy plants, they must be fed correctly: pests and diseases most often attack weakened specimens. If you do not have the opportunity to purchase high-quality organic fertilizers, remember that they can be successfully replaced by green manures (siderates). In the era of fascination with mineral fertilizers, from the last century until recently, green manures faded into the background and were hardly used anywhere. Now, however, with the revival of organic farming, they are once again gaining importance.

In order to get a good harvest in a greenhouse or hotbed, take care of improving the soil composition. When planning your plot, perform the following actions:

• determine the location for the future structure;
• in autumn or early spring, a few weeks before planting transplants, sow the area with a plant that you will use as a green manure.

Green manures are a powerful source of organic matter. The main purpose of green manures is to enrich the soil with organic substances and complete nitrogen, which, unlike mineral nitrogen, is easily absorbed by plants. The root system of many plants is capable of extracting nutrients (phosphoric acid, calcium, magnesium, etc.) from deep soil layers. After ploughing in the plants, these elements become available to the crops. Under the influence of microorganisms, the plant residues of green crops decompose and turn into humus.

Biological effects and protective functions

Green manures, especially legume-cereal mixtures, are not inferior to manure in their ability to saturate the soil with humus and nitrogen, but are slightly less effective at enriching it with certain nutrients. This is easy to explain: plants return to the soil exactly as much and in what quantity of mineral elements they have taken from it. Nitrogen and humus are an exception, as their quantity increases due to the plants' ability to use nitrogen and carbon from the air.

The next important effect of green manures is the improvement of the soil's water and air regime. The root system of green manure plants, especially cereals, has a widely branched, fibrous root system that breaks the soil into small clumps, i.e., it loosens and structures it. Such action is especially useful on heavy, compacted soils into which water penetrates poorly. Green manures help to restore soil fertility.

From the point of view of ensuring plant protection against diseases, green manures occupy a special place: they perform an important sanitary role. Their key tasks include:

• suppressing weed growth;
• contributing to the cleaning of the soil from pests and diseases.

For example, dense sowing of mustard or rye significantly reduces the wireworm population. The alkaloids of perennial lupin are toxic to the Colorado potato beetle, so it does not overwinter in a lupin field. If you plant potatoes in such a field, then for the first two months there is practically no trace of this pest. Later on, the Colorado potato beetle flies in from surrounding fields, but no longer causes significant damage.

Green manures improve the consumer quality of fruits, contribute to the accumulation of organic acids and vitamin C in them, and enhance their taste qualities.

Rules for effective application of green manure crops

To get the maximum benefit from green manures and avoid mistakes when growing them, one must understand how they work. Green manures will be effective only if they grow well and develop a sufficient amount of green mass. Therefore, they require good tillage: under no circumstances should legume-cereal mixtures be sown in unploughed or crudely ploughed soil.

It is recommended to incorporate green manures during the budding period before flowering begins, when the plants are not yet very coarse. They are incorporated shallowly, because if buried too deep, they do not decompose but turn into a peat-like mass:

If transplants are to be planted in certain beds, the green manures are not cut: the transplants can be planted among the green crops. Holes are made in the bed and the crops (tomatoes, peppers, etc.) are planted, covered with compost. For a few days, the green manures and transplants will grow together. A few days after planting the transplants, the green manures are cut and used to mulch the soil in the same beds.

Green manure crops can be sown:

• early in spring before planting transplants;
• in autumn after harvesting the main vegetable and flower crops.

Green fertilizers can be applied in the form of cover crops. You can also use composts prepared from various plant residues and the aerial parts of grain legumes grown as green manure. The technology for preparing such composts is simple:

1. Spread peat, forest litter, or shredded straw over the plot.
2. Apply a second layer consisting of shredded green manure mass (lupine, pea, etc.).
3. Alternate layers until the height reaches 1–1.5 m.
4. Add ash and phosphate rock to the compost.
5. The compost can be used after 6 months.

Characteristics of plants for green fertilizer

Here are the characteristics of plants recommended as green manure.

Fodder beans are a rich source of nitrogen. They grow better than other legumes on heavy soils and tolerate sub-zero temperatures well. Therefore, they are suitable for late-autumn sowing in regions with mild winters. They can be grown in a mixture with vetch and field peas.

Winter vetch enriches the soil with nitrogen and organic matter. It is sown in autumn after harvesting the main crop, often in a mixture with a cereal component (winter rye or wheat), which serves as a support for the weak stems of the vetch.

Spring vetch is grown for green fertilizer in regions with harsh winters, where winter vetch freezes out.

Field peas (pelushka) grow quickly and rapidly develop a large green mass. It is a cold-tolerant plant recommended for northern regions in a mixture WITH VETCH AND OATS.

Mustard is a very popular and most widely used plant for green manure. It germinates quickly and rapidly accumulates green mass, enriching the soil with organic matter, phosphorus, and sulfur. It can be sown at any time when the soil is free: before, after sowing, and between main crops. The optimal growing time is 8–10 weeks. Sowing mustard is a good remedy for wireworms.

Buckwheat is characterized by rapid growth and enriches the soil with organic matter, phosphorus, and potassium. It is especially recommended for heavy soils. Buckwheat is sown in spring and incorporated into the soil in late autumn.

Popular green manure crops and their application

Lupines. Annual species of lupine are used in gardens and vegetable plots: blue (narrow-leaved), yellow, and white. Lupines are successfully used on loams, but they do not like heavy clay soils. Microorganisms that are capable of converting insoluble phosphates into a form accessible to plants live on their roots. Green fertilizer from lupine is close to manure in nutritional value.

Alfalfa is a perennial legume that enriches the soil with organic matter, nitrogen, and phosphorus. The spring sowing is incorporated into the soil or mowed before flowering.

Oats enrich the soil with organic matter and potassium. They are usually used in a mixture with vetch or peas. The seed is sown in spring, and the plants are incorporated into the soil before flowering.

Rapeseed, like mustard, belongs to the cabbage family. It enriches the soil with organic matter, phosphorus, and sulfur. It grows poorly on poorly cultivated, humus-poor soils with an acidic reaction, and does not like sandy or heavy wet soils. Solid sowing of rapeseed on soils rich in nitrogen content contributes to nitrogen immobilization and reduces its leaching into groundwater.

• Spring rapeseed is sown in July–August and incorporated before flowering.
• Winter rapeseed can be sown in autumn and left for the winter as a soil protective cover (it dies during harsh winters).

Peculiarities of growing radish, rye, and phacelia

Oilseed radish easily adapts to various climatic conditions and any soil. It grows quickly and develops a large amount of root and leaf mass, which makes it possible to reduce the dose of organic and nitrogen fertilizer. Oilseed radish actively suppresses nematodes.

Sowing is possible from the beginning of June to the beginning of September, and until mid-September in the southern regions. The green mass is incorporated in late autumn after being shredded with a shovel. If the plants are overgrown and have developed woody stems, it is better to use them for compost.

Winter rye is best suited for late-autumn sowing; it is incorporated in spring when the stems reach a height of about 60 cm. Young and tender plants decompose quickly and enrich the soil with organic matter, nitrogen, and potassium. Rye is a very good plant for improving the physical properties of the soil, but its disadvantage is a strong dehydrating effect on the soil, so it is better to use it under conditions of sufficient moisture.

Phacelia grows very quickly, forming a large green mass. The plant's tender leaves and stems decompose rapidly and serve as a good nitrogen fertilizer.

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