CROP ROTATION, TSP PART 5

CROP ROTATION FOR SOIL HEALTH

WEBSITE: DIY ORGANIC GARDENING  

Most people see or know that your average farmer will plant a year of corn in then a year or soybeans and then maybe rotate back to corm or in some years grow sorghum.  WHY?

Soil Health

The easiest way for any gardener/farmer/rancher to maintain soil health is to rotate practices.  Weather that practice means rotating crops or rotating animals into and out of pastures to maintain good healthy soil.  It is being proven through scientific studies that the healthier the soil:

• the healthier the crop
• more vitamins
• tastier
• greater amounts of beneficial organism and bugs
• less pests and disease
• less erosion
• no more dust bowls
• top soil washing into streams

Many factors play into SOIL HEALTH.  Sound conservation practices give us good soil health. 

THE KEY:  What you take out of the soil you MUST put back; and build on bringing MORE to the soil than you take.

So what do I take out when I plant one thing and what do I do to put it back?  In terms of NOP this would fall under the heading of:

§ 205.205   Crop rotation practice standard. http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi-bin/text-idx?c=ecfr&SID=d61cd233ec0207a30cc0ef08f4251018&rgn=div8&view=text&node=7:3.1.1.9.32.3.354.6&idno=7

The producer must implement a crop rotation including but not limited to sod, cover crops, green manure crops, and catch crops that provide the following functions that are applicable to the operation:
(a) Maintain or improve soil organic matter content;
(b) Provide for pest management in annual and perennial crops;
(c) Manage deficient or excess plant nutrients; and
(d) Provide erosion control.

This standard has several Guidance tools to achieve the CROP ROTATION GOALS.

We are looking at:

• Compost and vermicompost in Organic Crop Production 5021
• Processed animal manure in Organic Crop Production 5006
• Allowance of green waste in Organic Crop Production 5016

 Combined with:

§ 205.203   Soil fertility and crop nutrient management practice standard.

(a) The producer must select and implement tillage and cultivation practices that maintain or improve the physical, chemical, and biological condition of soil and minimize soil erosion.
(b) The producer must manage crop nutrients and soil fertility through rotations, cover crops, and the application of plant and animal materials.
(c) The producer must manage plant and animal materials to maintain or improve soil organic matter content in a manner that does not contribute to contamination of crops, soil, or water by plant nutrients, pathogenic organisms, heavy metals, or residues of prohibited substances. Animal and plant materials include:
(1) Raw animal manure, which must be composted unless it is:
(i) Applied to land used for a crop not intended for human consumption;
(ii) Incorporated into the soil not less than 120 days prior to the harvest of a product whose edible portion has direct contact with the soil surface or soil particles; or
(iii) Incorporated into the soil not less than 90 days prior to the harvest of a product whose edible portion does not have direct contact with the soil surface or soil particles;
(2) Composted plant and animal materials produced though a process that:
(i) Established an initial C:N ratio of between 25:1 and 40:1; and
(ii) Maintained a temperature of between 131 °F and 170 °F for 3 days using an in-vessel or static aerated pile system; or
(iii) Maintained a temperature of between 131 °F and 170 °F for 15 days using a windrow composting system, during which period, the materials must be turned a minimum of five times.
(3) Uncomposted plant materials.
(d) A producer may manage crop nutrients and soil fertility to maintain or improve soil organic matter content in a manner that does not contribute to contamination of crops, soil, or water by plant nutrients, pathogenic organisms, heavy metals, or residues of prohibited substances by applying:
(1) A crop nutrient or soil amendment included on the National List of synthetic substances allowed for use in organic crop production;
(2) A mined substance of low solubility;
(3) A mined substance of high solubility: Provided, That, the substance is used in compliance with the conditions established on the National List of nonsynthetic materials prohibited for crop production;
(4) Ash obtained from the burning of a plant or animal material, except as prohibited in paragraph (e) of this section: Provided, That, the material burned has not been treated or combined with a prohibited substance or the ash is not included on the National List of nonsynthetic substances prohibited for use in organic crop production; and
(5) A plant or animal material that has been chemically altered by a manufacturing process: Provided, That, the material is included on the National List of synthetic substances allowed for use in organic crop production established in § 205.601.
(e) The producer must not use:
(1) Any fertilizer or composted plant and animal material that contains a synthetic substance not included on the National List of synthetic substances allowed for use in organic crop production;
(2) Sewage sludge (biosolids) as defined in 40 CFR part 503; and (3) Burning as a means of disposal for crop residues produced on the operation: Except, That, burning may be used to suppress the spread of disease or to stimulate seed germination.

Basically both of these are saying that YOU the gardener/farmer have to know your own soil, do your own soil tests and continually test and document that testing as well as document the processes you take.

The way to do this is to know your soil and know what you are putting in and taking out of your soil.  All plants need NPK, Nitrogen, Phosphorus and potassium

Enough research has been done on COVER CROPS   to determine the values of NPK that these crops add to your soil.

Nutrient content of crops crop calculator you can check off the crop you are planting and gain insight into how much NPK will be removed at harvest. 

As an example: corn is a heavy feeder of Nitrogen so rotating in a crop after the harvest of legumes that supplies heavy nitrogen is recommended.

For most small gardeners rotating in a variety at different time will start to give you a balance of NPK and other trace nutrients. 

I have recreated a Chartpage that directs you to the chart you need.

I set up a tables to help with that planning.  See next blog for additional examples and table for rotating crops

Helpful websites

Growing vegetable with cover crop mulch