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Soil Seed is a term we use to describe seed that's planted with the specific goal of improving the soil by plowing, tilling or digging the crop back into the earth. Soil crops create a better environment for subsequent vegetable, grain and flower crops by:
Each crop has some special characteristics that make it well-suited to accomplishing a specific purpose. Those purposes can be divided into several broad categories which are discussed below and referenced in the soil seed information chart.
Allelopathic properties Weeds can be controlled by planting crops whose roots produce natural toxins which inhibit the germination and growth of weed seeds. Winter rye, a commonly used plant with allelopathic characteristics, must be allowed to decompose for several weeks before planting the following crop. Sunflowers, oats and wheat are other examples. The allelopathic effect diminishes fairly rapidly for most plants once they are incorporated into the soil.
Beneficial insect habitat Beneficial insects flock to a garden with a broad diversity of plants. Some insects seek nectar to get through a period when their preferred food source is scarce. For example, clover blossoms produce nectar that attracts hungry lacewings, honey bees, lady bugs, and wasps. Often, beneficial insects will be lured in to prey on the pest of a soil crop but then remain to control other pests on your vegetable crop.
Break crop Different plants harbor different populations of insect pests. If populations build to harmful levels in one crop, a different crop that does not harbor those pests or actually diminishes their population may be planted to interrupt the pest's life cycle. After the break crop has done its work, the rotation may include the vulnerable crop once again. Reducing pest populations is one of the best reasons to rotate crops in the garden and on the farm.
Catch crop (aka trap crop) Plants with a particularly strong ability to capture, store, and slowly release nutrients are called catch crops. They are traditionally planted in late summer or early fall to trap nutrients from freshly spread manures, previously turned under legumes or decomposing vegetation. They also protect the soil from winter erosion and nutrient losses. Crops such as annual ryegrass, have heavy, fibrous root systems that capture nutrients and protect the land. Catch crops should be planted when there are 4-6 weeks of 55° days remaining before last frost, i.e., early September in the Northeast.
Cover crops Land exposed to the weather over a fallow season without a protective mantle of plants (dead or alive) can lose both topsoil and nutrients and suffer erosion damage. Any cover is better than no cover. If you need to get on the soil quickly in the spring or have limited tillage equipment, you may want to plant something that will winter-kill like oats or a non-hardy vetch. If early access to the land is not a priority, a winter hardy crop like winter rye does a good job of holding everything in place. If the soil will be fallow the next season and does not have lots of available nutrients, a late summer legume (vetch/rye mix) provides protection from weather and will return an added bonus of nitrogen to those crops that follow.
Erosion control Some plants grow especially well in areas vulnerable to erosion and hold soil in place even under adverse conditions. Annual ryegrass and brome grass produce huge amounts of root mass. Subterranean clover not only provides a dense mat of vegetation to control water runoff, but also produces seed on peduncles that bury themselves deep into the soil where they avoid foragers and washout from heavy rains.
Intercropping Planting a crop between rows of actively growing row crops is also referred to as intercropping. Benefits include prevention of soil compaction by machinery, loss of soil from heavy rains or winds, and an established, protective cover for the soil after the row crop is harvested. Many of the soil seeds work well in this capacity.
Nitrogen fixers Leguminous plants, such as clover and soybeans, can form a symbiotic relationship with certain soil bacteria called rhizobia. If these bacteria are present in the root zone of the plant, they will set up housekeeping in "nodules" on the roots. There they extract nitrogen from the air and change it into a form plants can use. Many of these plant/bacteria combinations fix so much nitrogen that they eliminate the need for any further nitrogen inputs on the part of the grower.
It is common practice to coat seeds with the particular species of rhizobia that the legume prefers just prior to planting. This process is called inoculation. Most of our legume seed is raw, meaning it's not already inoculated. We sell inoculant for all of the common legumes; varieties which require an uncommon inoculant, are sold in a pre-inoculated (aka - rhizocoated) form. Inoculants have a limited shelf life. Therefore, it's best to buy fresh inoculant each season. Well inoculated legumes get 70-80% of their nitrogen from the rhizobia and very little from the soil. In fact, soils with excessively high nitrogen can retard the nitrogen fixing ability of legumes. All plants liberate some nitrogen when they decompose, but legumes such as alfalfa, cowpeas, field peas, soybeans and all the vetches create a net gain in soil nitrogen.
Nurse crops A nurse crop assists the development of a slower maturing crop. For example, oats can be planted with clover to provide the clover with shelter from the wind, rain and sun. The oats germinate first, out compete weeds for available resources and can be mowed when clover starts to emerge. Other crops are more productive if they have a support to climb. Vetch and field peas, for example, do better when they can twist themselves around a stiff-stalked nurse crop such as oats or rye.
Scavenger crops Topsoil that has been heavily cropped with shallow-rooted plants such as corn becomes deficient in certain nutrients. In order to restore these removed nutrients the grower must add them or use a plant that is adept at reaching deep into the subsoil to bring minerals to the surface. Scavenger crops such as alfalfa, red clover and sweet clover also break up compacted soils. When the deep-rooted plants die, their decaying roots leave holes in the soil. These holes provide a pathway for roots of less aggressive plants to follow and for water to drain from the surface.
Smother crops such as buckwheat, Japanese millet and sorghum-Sudan grass control weeds with a thick canopy that excludes the sun and a fibrous, shallow root system that out competes weeds for water and nutrients. Smother crops usually grow quite tall at a fast rate or quickly produce broad leaves that shade out the lower growing weeds. Growing different crops in a single season is the most effective strategy. If the weed problem is severe, it may take more than one season to reach the desired level of control. An effective and common sequence of smother crops is oats in spring, buckwheat in mid-summer and winter rye in the fall.
For more information The soil seed section of the catalog has expanded greatly this year. We've provided much more cultural information than before, but if you are new to soil-cropping or want more details, we suggest you refer to Feed the Soil and the Northeast Cover Crop Handbook. If you have access to the Internet, we suggest you visit the cover crop website at the University of California: http://www.sarep.ucdavis.edu/sarep/ccrop. This website has an extraordinary amount of in-depth information.
Disclaimer We assume purchasers of our soil seed do not intend to use it for forage purposes. Although we have tried to list generally known cautions associated with using these crops as animal forage, we assume no responsibility for such usage and strongly urge you to consult with your local extension agent prior to feeding any of these crops to animals. The wide range of cultural practices and local climate conditions introduces so many variables that talking to a local expert is the prudent thing to do.
Clovers are effective builders of soil because they 1) improve soil aeration; 2) enhance soil microbial life; 3) increase soil water-holding capacity and permeability; 4) reduce wind and water erosion of light soils and the baking of heavy soils.
Ideally, clover should be seeded with an alfalfa drill. Most folks don't have one and will need to prepare a seed bed, broadcast the seed and use a roller or some type of drag to cover the seed. Soil cover reduces depredations by birds and rodents, provides better moisture conditions for seedling development, and reduces exposure to heat and sunlight which ensures better survival of the Rhizobia with which the seed should have been inoculated. In the Northeast, seeding directly into a late spring snow or onto a field that is heaving and cracking from late spring frosts can often establish a stand in an existing field with little or no tillage effort. This practice is called frost seeding and can be very effective.
Prior use of smother crops like Sorghum-Sudan grass, oats, rye or buckwheat can reduce competition from weeds and provide a firm seed bed for the clover. Clover should be seeded no more than a half-inch deep or seedlings will be unable to reach the soil surface. Smooth, firm seedbeds will assure uniformly shallow seeding. The first year following seeding is critical for a clover stand. The stand must produce abundant seed to ensure its renewal. Ample potassium and phosphorus reserves are necessary as is sulfur. Have your soil tested and if soil phosphorus levels are below 20 ppm, amendments are in order.
Grazing or mowing keeps faster-growing weeds and grasses from overtopping the clover. Ideally, a new field should be kept grazed or mowed to about 3 inches until seed heads appear on any annual grasses. Thereafter, livestock feed selectively on clover and should be removed from the range until clover seeds have matured. Clover growth is generally best in the soil pH range of 6-7.
Many clovers produce a certain percentage of seed that won't germinate in the first year, but will germinate in following years. This type of seed is called hard seed and is a characteristic of legumes (particularly alfalfa, clover and vetch) that ensures their survival. In a year with adverse conditions, the hard seed that didn't previously germinate will be ready to perpetuate the stand the following year.
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