To obtain a plentiful crop and protect the land from diseases and pests, it is important to know the basic rules of soil management, including what crop rotation is in the field and in garden beds.
The soil should rest. Just as a person needs hard rest after hard monotonous work, so does the land on which the same culture is grown year after year, is physically exhausted and tired. The best rest for a person is a change of activity. The best rest for the soil is a change of crops.
Crop rotation as a method of farming
Soil rotation is a systematic alternation of annual crops. This technique allows you to avoid soil depletion and from year to year to get a rich harvest on the same beds, without leaving them empty for rest.
Alternation should be carefully planned so that previous plants help to grow a rich crop of those crops that will be planted next year. This method of farming is part of organic farming, natural, close to the natural option.
Why do we need crop rotation?
For the proper organization of the planned rotation of crops, it is important to understand not only what crop rotation is, but also what it is for.
Thanks to the rotation of annual vegetable and berry plants, it is possible to maintain the optimal ratio of nutrients and microelements in the soil. For successful development, different cultures need their own natural elements inherent in them:
- nitrogen - for leaf species;
- phosphorus - for root crops;
- potassium - for fruit plants.
If you plant the same type of crop every year, there is a deficit of the element that was most in demand. Avoid this helps the planned rotation of plant groups. Thanks to alternation, it is possible to maintain a balance of nutrients: soil properties are used systematically, the deficit of elements is replenished with subsequent crops.
In addition, nearby plants related by botanical characteristics can be affected by the same pests or diseases. Insect larvae, pathogens accumulate in the soil and in the new season are capable of quickly destroying the entire plantation of crops. Timely relocation of plants to a new place deprives pests of the opportunity to cause damage to future plantings.
There is an additional plus to crop rotation and the concomitant grouping of garden crops in accordance with their needs - this planting principle facilitates the work of the gardener, since the same conditions for watering, mulching, lighting are created within the same planting area.
Crop rotation system
Different principles, schemes, systems of crop rotation have been formed over the centuries, resembling verification by weather conditions, soil composition, and pests. The general principle of rotation is that in the same place the same plants cannot grow twice in a row.
A more complex crop rotation system includes plant alternation schemes in one place for 3, 5 and 10 years. The minimum period is 3 years. The most common 2 traditional landing rotation patterns are:
- within families;
- within the groups: leafy, berry crops, root crops.
For alternation, it is convenient to use green manure, that is, plants grown as green fertilizer. If you include green manure in the crop rotation system, you should adhere to this principle of planting:
- in front of leaf crops - legumes;
- in front of root crops - sowing rye, which loosens the soil, makes it water- and breathable.
In addition to the botanical proximity, it is also necessary to take into account how well-disposed plants from one family or group are, or, conversely, are unfriendly to the neighborhood of their “relatives”.
Types of crop rotation
What is crop rotation? The concept also includes an idea of the types of alternation associated with the practical purpose of crops:
- field - at least ½ of the entire cultivated area is given for cereals, industrial crops, vegetables, including potatoes;
- fodder - the predominant area is occupied by fodder crops. These are vegetables (including sugar beets), cereals, herbs going to feed;
- special - on ½ of the plowed area 1-2 types of culture are grown - melons, rice, certain groups of vegetables.
The type of crop rotation is selected taking into account the basic needs of the economy.
Field crop rotation
Agricultural complexes and large farms necessarily observe this type of crop rotation, which allows not only to protect the soil, but also to enrich it thanks to many years of plans for placing crops on large areas.
Large farms, as a rule, have from 5 to 10 fields used in crop rotation.
In the system of ten crop rotations, early potatoes with winter crops, potatoes with barley, winter crops with clover, flax with winter crops and spring cereals can alternate.
Another variant of a 10-field crop rotation involves alternating leguminous mixtures with winter crops, potatoes with legumes and corn, spring and grain crops with herbs, and then with flax, winter crops with spring grain.
There are various options for rotation of field crops. The most effective type of crop rotation for each particular farm is selected on the basis of comparative estimates, which are made taking into account the output of field products from each hectare of used area.
Crop rotation in livestock farms
Farms specializing in livestock production practice fodder crop rotation, which is divided into 2 varieties:
- Grassland - grasses are grown for hay or grazing, which can be annual or perennial. This type of crop rotation prevails in compactly located farms with lands with similar fertility.
- Prefermsky - near farms in the fields, grasses, silage crops or root crops of forage are grown.
Fodder products are difficult to transport due to their large volumes. For crops, a large amount of organic matter (manure) is needed. Therefore, the near-farm type of crop rotation is practiced in those cases when the economy is large, and located near the land allow you to occupy the land fodder crops.
Examples
Depending on climatic conditions, examples of crop rotation may vary. Here is one of the options:
- 1 year - corn for silage or grass (annual);
- from 2 to 4 years - alfalfa (especially on forest gray lands);
- 5 and 6 years - grain corn;
- 7 year - herbs (annuals);
- 8 year - fodder root crops;
- 9 years - gourds (for food).
In the Non-Black Earth Region, crop rotation may be different:
- 1 year - annual grasses that are harvested early on silage + perennial seeding;
- 2-3 years - perennial herbs;
- 4 year - crops going to the silo;
- 5 year - spring cereals + sowing of ryegrass;
- 6 year - root crops intended for livestock feed.
For near-farm crop rotations in the Non-Chernozem region, herbs, rutabaga and fodder beets, turnips are used, in the southern and central zone - silage corn, beets for fodder. Silage mixtures are sunflower, oats, peas, corn, rape. Rutabaga, fodder and sugar beets, turnip rutabaga are planted as fodder root crops.
What fertilizers are used
An important component in crop rotation is fertilizers. For salad, cabbage, and other leaf crops, a high nitrogen content is required, for fruit crops - potassium, root crops prefer phosphorus, spring barley - acid soil reaction, spring crops - full mineral fertilizer.
Saturation of gray forest soils with nitrogen guarantees high yield increases.
Adhering to the crop rotation, apply a system of organic and mineral fertilizers, given:
- size of the planned yield;
- soil properties - type, composition, reaction, amount of nutrients;
- agricultural technology and the duration of the work;
- balance of mineral and organic fertilizers,
- fertilizer incorporation methods;
- type of crop rotation;
- what culture was previous.
Important is not only the schedule of fertilizer application this year for cultivated crops, but also the systematic improvement of the soil to increase yield next year, preservation of soil fertility.
So, for example, clover, responds best to organic fertilizers that were introduced under the culture preceding it. Feeding herbs is more effective in the early spring or after mowing.
Tillage
When crop rotations are applied, soil cultivation is an important element of agricultural technology related to resting soil under steam. There are such varieties of crop rotation:
- cereal - distributed in areas prone to drought;
- grain-cultivating - ½ part of cereals with row crops and steam alternate, land under the steam is not left;
- grain grass - cereal and perennial grasses are sown in strips without leaving lands under steam;
- row-crop cultivation - is applied on lands with artificial irrigation or in areas of humid climate;
- grass-cultivating - used on soils that are artificially irrigated or located in floodplains;
- sideral - distributed on sandy soils.
Varieties of crop rotation are taken into account when processing the soil, which can be superficial (up to 8 cm) or shallow (10-12 cm), if carried out after late predecessors, or deep - when plowing a month before sowing subsequent crops.
Crop rotation in the garden
It is also important for gardeners and gardeners to understand what crop rotation is. The systematic use of the personal plot allows you to save several hundred square meters of land from depletion, to increase the productivity of monocultures.
The natural balance is fully restored during the alternation of plants with a frequency of at least once every 3-4 years. To do this, you need to divide the entire site into 3 zones:
- a place for growing plants demanding nutrients. This is spinach, zucchini, potatoes, cabbage, pumpkin;
- a plot for crops less demanding on soil fertility - cucumber, beets, tomatoes, melons, eggplant;
- a place for planting crops, unpretentious to soil fertility - onions, green peas, beans, spicy aromatic perennial herbs.
After a year, the plants of each group replace each other. At the same time, mineral fertilizers are introduced into the soil for root crops, and organics are used for cabbage, zucchini, pumpkin.
If you translate the crop rotation scheme into a simplified version, then you need to annually change “tops” (tomatoes, cucumbers, cabbage) and “roots” (carrots, beets) on the beds.
Onions and garlic are replaced by any crop. Potatoes and tomatoes are replaced by cabbage, cucumbers, pumpkin, beans, peas, dill. Replacing cucumbers with squash, zucchini - radishes, cabbage, beets, peas, potatoes.
Thanks to this simple scheme, you can not only maintain the natural balance of trace elements, but also increase productivity.