Oats are a grain crop that people learned about and began to cultivate long before wheat. It was this plant that they began to use as a green fertilizer, discovering the still unknown properties of oats.
There is more protein in oat grains than in wheat kernels; they are enriched with a set of vitamins. Oats are grown as cereals, but it is much more beneficial to sow oats as green manure.
What are the benefits of oats as siderate?
Decaying in the ground, young green shoots of oats saturate the soil with organic and mineral substances, potassium, phosphorus. Oats are compared with rotted manure by the ability to fertilize the soil.
One autumn crop of sown oats is equal to 500 kg of manure, on an area of ββ2.5 acres. If there is a need to saturate the earth with nitrogen, then oats or legumes - vetch-oat mixtures are sown as siderate.
The fibrous root system of oats contributes to loosening, strengthening the upper fertile soil layer during crop growth. Therefore, it is possible to sow oats on heavy soil, which it loosens, structures and contributes to the filling of moisture, nitrogen and oxygen. On light soils, oat cover will strengthen the upper fertile layer, protecting the site from natural weathering and leaching. Enriched with organic matter by growing oats on them, soils become more water-intensive.
Oats as siderates are a great way to get rid of weeds. In this regard, not only oats are good, but all cereals in general. Dense crops of crops contribute to damping weed growth, covering the ground with a dense green "carpet".
On the site where oats were grown last year, you can plant any garden crop during the fruiting season, expecting a selective crop, with the exception of cereal crops.
When planning to sow oats in the country, know that cereals are attractive for wireworms who like to feast on potatoes. Therefore, oats sowing before potatoes is not recommended, but after that it is welcomed, because, like other crops grown on the site, oats have a preventive effect in the fight against potato scab, nematodes, fungal diseases, root rot.
The advantages of cultivating oats include the unpretentiousness of the crop, which sprouts on almost all types of soils: chernozems, peat bogs, acidic podzols, clay and sandy soils, loams.
Oats - an indispensable cereal
Both annual and perennial species of oats grow in nature, although the latter are much less common than the former. This representative of cereals, at the beginning of the growing season forms a loose bush with leafy stems with an average height of 50-120 cm. Oat is an early crop, it feels great in a temperate climate, therefore it is grown everywhere. It is grown for the purpose of cultivation, as a grain crop, as a green fertilizer - green manure. It is insensitive to low positive temperatures, which makes it possible to sow cereal in early spring, as soon as the soil reaches physiological ripeness.
Oats are a moisture-loving plant, therefore, when germinating seeds, it is important to take this fact into account and provide the cereal with favorable conditions. Agronomists record the production of sprouted seedlings when grown in dry conditions and the further absence of the formation of a dense vegetative mass. Oats are a sun-loving culture. Although it is not demanding on the type of soil, on a βpoorβ soil the coefficient of tillering and stem growth is lower than usual. Therefore, if you intend to sow oats on fresh soil, it is recommended to multiply the seeding rate, especially if oats are grown as fertilizer.
When is it best to sow oats?
Dates of sowing oats are flexible. In central Russia, most people who cultivate oats start sowing as soon as the snow has melted and you can get into the garden. Although farmers recommend that you wait until the soil warms up and becomes "warmer" closer to mid-April.
If the spring sowing did not work, then such a grain crop as oats can be sown until mid-September, even in autumn. Since cereals like moisture, get ready for the fact that in dry weather you will have to provide crops with proper water nutrition.
Features of seed dressing
Before you sow oats manually, do not forget to disinfect and pickle oats with potassium permanganate. This will help protect them from diseases and pests, provide resistance to adverse weather conditions. Oat seeds are incubated for 20 minutes in a 1% solution and washed with running cold water.
Oat Seed Technology
Siderat is sown in bulk in large plots or in rows in small summer cottages. The soil is previously loosened and cleaned of weeds. Seed consumption rates for sowing:
- in bulk - 16-22 grams per m 2 ; 165-205 grams - per 1 hundred square meters of land;
- in rows - 10-11 grams per m 2 ; 1000 grams - per 1 hundred square meters of land.
After sowing the grain, they close up to a depth of 2.5-3.5 cm by plowing the plot with a rake. Now you know how to sow oats in a summer cottage or garden with your own hands and without the use of agricultural machinery.
Fertilizers for oat crops
To ensure good seedlings and further growth and bushiness of oats, use:
- granular fat and fertilizer mixtures regardless of NPK composition;
- granular potassium chloride;
- granules or crystals of ammonium sulfate;
- fertilizers (βCaligmatβ in granules is suitable).
How and when does oat mowing occur?
Early spring sowing cereals provide early crop yields. At the same time, the mowing dates directly depend on the goals of growing crops.
You can start harvesting in 40 days if you decide to plant green manure oats early. When the shoots reach a height of about 17-23 cm, you can begin to work.
Starting to mow, focus on the timing of planting garden crops. If in the spring you are going to plant vegetables on the site after oats, then mowing and planting greens in the ground (as well as other green manure) is carried out no later than 14 days before planting vegetables.
Having mowed and patched up seedlings in the soil, it is possible to provide a systematic watering of the site. This helps to speed up the decomposition of oat greens. To avoid siderate acidification, it is covered with a thin layer. The remaining greenery fertilizers are often sent to a compost pit, used for mulch or fed to pet food. In any case, the greens will not be lost.
Oats are not only a useful grain crop, but also, as it turned out, high-quality fertilizer of natural origin - green manure. Now you know how to fertilize the earth without using chemical compounds to get a healthy and rich harvest for the fall. The subtleties of growing and cultivating oat greens, described in the article, will help to understand the subtleties of the process of fertilizing the soil and grow high-quality oats regardless of how you plan to use it in the future.