When and How to Terminate Cover Crops Without Tilling Your Soil

Cover crops are an integral component of no-till gardening and play an essential role in building soil fertility, suppressing weeds and relieving soil compaction. To receive all their benefits, however, gardeners should ensure their cover crop has been terminated properly prior to planting their seedlings.

Tilling can disrupt soil structure and negatively impact soil organisms like earthworms that provide pore space in the ground. There are other effective means to kill cover crops without having to till.

Smothering

There are various cover crop species suitable for home vegetable gardens, each offering their own set of benefits such as soil protection, nutrient production or building organic matter.

Grains like rye and wheat build biomass that suppresses annual weeds while improving water infiltration. Legumes such as peas and beans capture nitrogen from the air or soil and make it available to subsequent cash crops.

One of the easiest and simplest ways to end a cover crop is by covering it with mulch such as hay, wood chips or compost and covering it up with layers of mulch like this one – from hay to wood chips or compost – before using soil microbes to decompose its contents, readying it for new plantings. While this method can be quick and straightforward, obstructing water and air movement into soil negatively affects its microbiology and food web. To avoid this potential complication in Fall smother the cover crop before it goes to seed! To take preventive steps smother it before it goes to seed – which ensures decomposing from soil microbes in turn release resources from its roots! To take preventive steps start early when possible so smother it before going to seeding! To take action in fall so you have time before it goes to seed!

Mowing

Smothering grass-based cover crops such as annual ryegrass or crimson clover with hay can be an effective method for terminating them, leaving their green matter to decompose into organic material that will contribute to soil health.

Tilling should not be recommended for home vegetable gardens because it disrupts too much of the complex soil structure and nutrients found therein, as well as using up valuable nitrogen that would otherwise benefit microbes that break down cover crops for decomposition purposes.

Roller crimpers or similar tools are an effective way to terminate cover crops such as buckwheat and oats that have not yet produced seeds, although this method requires additional labor. Herbicides may also work well; just read their labels carefully first so as not to misuse any. Depending on which herbicide type it is used on, additional protocols such as waiting an extended amount of time might apply before planting your vegetable garden.

Herbicides

Not only must farmers face the physical challenge of applying herbicide, they must also keep in mind that newly introduced organic matter takes time to decompose, which necessitates decomposers eating up nitrogen from vegetable crops in this process. This results in symptoms of nitrogen deficiency.

Home gardeners looking to avoid these symptoms can spray their cover crop with nonselective herbicide to kill it and use its remains either as mulch or till them into their garden bed – always follow label instructions, including wait periods.

Farmer members in our network recommend spraying only on sunny days and with daytime temperatures above 60F to limit herbicide carryover and avoid damage to subsequent cover crop stands, and selecting winter-kill cover crops that are less sensitive to herbicides – such as tillage radish, Austrian winter pea, hairy vetch, or annual ryegrass – in order to minimize herbicide carryover risk. Research from the University of Missouri revealed that pre-emergence corn and soybean herbicides negatively impacted stand development of these less sensitive varieties.

Tilling

Many home vegetable gardeners are disappointed with the state of their garden soil. Even after regularly adding organic matter, many still struggle with muddy or clay-like conditions which make gardening challenging and have trouble holding a good seed bed. Cover crops designed to winter kill may provide a solution.

Some species of cover crop can be terminated through mowing, which works well for most small-scale systems and is particularly effective during spring when plants have entered their anthesis phase, post flowering but before seeds have set. Larger scale growers use implements like roller crimpers for this task.

Non-selective herbicides can also be used to terminate cover crops. This method requires less labor-intensive than mowing or rolling, yet should still be applied sufficiently early so as to allow for any waiting periods prescribed on the pesticide label. Once dead cover crop has been tilled or left in place as mulch it helps reduce weed pressure while potentially helping prevent nitrogen-deficiency symptoms among newly planted vegetables.