Why Grow Clover As Living Mulch Between Cash Crops?

Clover can provide multiple advantages when planted between cash crops as living mulch, including suppressing weeds, fixing nitrogen deficiencies and preventing soil erosion. Previous research has confirmed this finding.

Wild and Dutch white clover cultivars (Trifolium repens) make the ideal small clover cultivars for vegetable living mulch, being shade-tolerant as well as resistant to field traffic.

1. Reduce Soil Erosion

Clover’s rapid establishment and rapid growth make it a proven solution to soil erosion, while its nitrogen-fixing abilities help improve soil health while decreasing chemical fertilizer needs.

Plantain can withstand a wide variety of soil types and environments, making it easy to incorporate into any crop rotation plan. Its roots penetrate deeply into the ground to improve tilth and water infiltration. Unfortunately it can become vulnerable to pests such as potato leafhopper and meadow spittlebug; however mowing and hand pulling will alleviate this issue.

Clover should be planted early in the growing season to quickly eliminate weeds before seeding or transplanting cash crops, making it an excellent way of protecting cool-season vegetables such as carrots, radishes and peas from competition from grasses that compete for water and nutrients. It can also reduce grasses from competing with your crops for water.

2. Suppress Weeds

Clover clumps when used as living mulch can effectively control annual weeds and perennial competitors while trapping or breaking up their roots to help control them. Furthermore, this plant boasts the unique ability of turning atmospheric nitrogen into soil organic nitrogen thereby improving soil fertility and contributing towards increased soil health.

Clover’s extensive root system not only breaks up compacted soil but also improves soil tilth and increases water infiltration; moreover, its allelochemicals (plant-produced substances that affect nearby plant growth) may reduce weeds; though its effectiveness in wetter years may differ significantly. Lincoln recommends direct sowing or transplanting vegetables in late spring after it has slowed its rate of growth so as to avoid damaging young crops’ roots during freeze-thaw cycles in fall freeze-thaw cycles. Many studies have documented annual declines in annual weed populations in fields planted with clover for at least a single year compared with fields planted without clover.

3. Increase Soil Nutrients

Clover thrives in many soil conditions. Its resilience makes it a prime candidate for living mulch systems in vegetable, orchard and vineyard production areas, where its ability to withstand grazing, field traffic and minor tillage make it ideal. Lower growing clovers which remain at or near ground level help prevent weed growth more effectively while intermediate-sized varieties are ideal as they can tolerate higher field traffic while being cut at heights that still allow cash crop plants to emerge above.

Lincoln suggests mowing clover immediately prior to transplanting and again two weeks after. This prevents clover from competing with your cash crops for moisture, light and nutrients during their early growth stages.

4. Suppress Weeds During Seeding

Clover acts as a living mulch that suppresses weeds during the critical seedling stage of vegetable crops, improving soil health while limiting water loss from surface soil layers.

Low growing varieties like New Zealand white clover and French lavender make excellent vegetable garden plants as they respond well to close mowing, tolerate field traffic and are less attractive to grazing animals than intermediate or taller ladino types. Both can also be utilized effectively as cover in orchards and vineyards.

Clover is an efficient nitrogen fixer, producing 80 to 130 pounds per acre when killed within one year of establishment. However, in a New York trial uninhibited white Dutch clover established at asparagus planting reduced yield compared to clean-cultivated controls. Partial rotary tilling followed by second mowing two weeks later was effective in suppressing this species of clover in this research study.

5. Reduce Soil Moisture Loss

Clover is an ideal living mulch choice, especially in irrigated environments like row crops, fruit bushes and trees. As a perennial nitrogen producer it tolerates frequent mowing, shade exposure and field traffic without suffering damage or needing replacing prematurely.

Studies by researchers revealed that clover cover crops effectively reduced weeds and soil erosion in vegetable production fields while at the same time suppressing weeds, while simultaneously competing for moisture with cash crop plants – leading to lower crop yields and yields. Therefore, care must be taken when managing clover to avoid competition for moisture during mowing or plant growth; for instance, irrigation must only replenish soil just below clover roots while mowing rates must not kill off the clover (84). In such circumstances it may require special equipment capable of moving between close-spaced rows when mowing is used (85).

6. Increase Soil Water Holding Capacity

Clover boasts long taproots that draw nutrients out of deep soil layers, creating dense mulch which can help decrease synthetic fertilizer use. Legumes produce nitrogen via their root nodules by creating symbiotic relationships with bacteria which “fix” (fix) nitrogen for grasses and other crops by creating nodules that form relationships with these microbes; this fixed nitrogen then helps replenish nutrient-poor soil with valuable nutrients.

Clover can be managed using both mechanical mowing and manual hand weeding between rows of irrigated vegetables, fruit bushes and trees. White clover and ladino varieties, popular among graziers, produce high biomass. However, research shows that mowing alone cannot suppress living mulch sufficiently to compete for soil moisture with cash crops in 16-inch row spacings during dry years; pepper yield was reduced during one living mulch experiment conducted over one season compared with year one without living mulch; yield drag may differ depending on crop/season/year combination; therefore farmers considering living mulch should consider their goals, planting equipment requirements as well as accept potential yield loss before taking action against it.

7. Increase Soil Organic Matter

Clover can add substantial organic matter to the soil. Though its plants may die back during colder climates, many farmers combine it with rye in an overwintering system in order to avoid soil erosion and provide a nutritious groundcover – this also benefits future soybean or dry bean crops by increasing nitrogen-fixation.

Intermediate and short-stemmed white clover cultivars make excellent living mulch systems due to their low profile, ability to tolerate repeated mowings, and resistance to field traffic. Their low-profile characteristics also make them suitable for no-till systems in vegetable, orchard and vineyard crops; their naturally high nitrogen content and balanced carbon/nitrogen ratios facilitate composting quickly for fertile, humus-rich organic matter that improves soil structure while increasing water retention capacity – this system may reduce supplemental fertilizer needs as well.

8. Increase Soil Biodiversity

Clover cultivates beneficial soil microorganisms that support healthy plant growth and natural pest control. It attracts pollinators that pollinate diverse flowers. Furthermore, its unique ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen reduces chemical fertilizer use significantly.

Clover varieties suitable for living mulch systems depend on climate and soil conditions. Low-growing species like wild white, Dutch and New Zealand white varieties are shade-tolerant and tolerate field traffic well; providing an effective cover that protects bare soil from erosion and moisture loss.

One-year pepper experiments showed that using wild-type or hybrid clover as a living mulch decreased yield compared to planting pepper seeds directly into bare ground, but improved quality while suppressing weeds. Lincoln advises mowing clover just prior to transplanting tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and cucumbers so as to minimize competition among them – this should ideally be done using a rotary mower rather than tillage harrow for best results in order to avoid fouling tines with too many clumps of clover!

9. Reduce Soil Weeds

Clover boasts a dense mat that effectively suppresses weed growth. Furthermore, its less susceptible to damage from cultivation, mowing or herbicide use than cool season grasses; its spreading stolons help protect more soil surface while the crop’s perennial nature reduces labor, fuel and depreciation costs in fieldwork.

Research in 2023 will compare weed height and biomass in whole plot oat, clover and bare ground treatments with timed weeding events, as well as compare crimson clover reseeding between mowing and tilling, pepper yield data will help assess whether living mulch reduces or increases cash crop yields and what adjustments might be needed for future years to optimize this system. Furthermore, clover fixes nitrogen into the soil reducing fertilizer expenses significantly.

10. Increase Soil Water Holding Capacity

Clover can increase soil water holding capacity by increasing organic matter content in the soil, which improves soil structure and increases pore space for increased infiltration of water into the system, thus increasing soil water holding capacity and decreasing irrigation needs.

Clovers also produce nitrogen for grasses to use and decrease artificial fertilizer needs, adding organic matter beneficial to soil health and enriching microbial communities that aid plants.

Clover can withstand both traffic and grazing, providing better conditions for heavy machinery while decreasing compaction. Mowing close to the ground before planting can reduce compaction while its seeds reseed between rows of cash crops to provide mulch between rows – New Zealand white clover is an excellent choice in this system because it resists potato leafhopper, meadow spittlebug, alfalfa weevil infestation as well as being hardy enough for use even during drought years.