The introduction of organic fertilizers into the soil favorably affects the future crop. It has long been known that green manure is the easiest, most affordable and safest way to restore soil. White mustard is a green manure that will not only prepare the soil for vegetable crops, but also protect the site from some pests and microorganisms.
Why are siderata sown?
Siderata are specially planted crops that are sown in the off-season for their further incorporation into the soil. Such cultures have a well-developed root system. Thanks to the roots, useful trace elements and minerals rise from the lower layers of the soil to the upper, and the soil is thus enriched. The greatest benefit is white mustard. Siderat converts hard-to-reach nutrients into easily digestible ones, and the roots and stems of white mustard have a powerful resistance to potato diseases such as scab, fusarium and late blight.
Experienced gardeners have long been using this technology in crop rotation. It is not inferior in effectiveness to the introduction of humus and manure and has several advantages:
- low cost;
- simplicity in landing and further processing;
- some crops displace weeds;
- most siderates rid the soil of pests;
- siderates quickly rot, improve the structure and composition of the soil, enrich with fiber and humus;
- the site is not clogged and does not become infected from the outside, compared with the introduction of manure.
Beautiful green manure is mustard. Basic properties
The beneficial properties of this plant made it a real find for summer residents. Although many probably have a different idea about mustard. It is widely used in cooking, food industry, it is a delicious spicy snack, as well as a valuable honey plant. The honey collected tastes good, has a light color and a luxurious aroma. Mustard is also used in medicine. To everything else, it turns out that mustard is a siderate that has a lot of advantages over other cultures.
- Roots extract useful minerals from the soil, due to which the earth is enriched with sulfur and phosphorus.
- White mustard is a siderate that develops rapidly, covering the wholea bed. This inhibits weed growth. To close 10 square meters. m will need only 30-40 grams of seeds. If you plant them in the summer, then by October you can get up to 40 kg of green mass from the same area. After mowing and planting in the soil, a wonderful organic fertilizer is obtained.
- The smell is not like the wireworm - a small larva that destroys potato tubers. One such larva develops for 5 years, then turns into a nutcracker and lays new colonies of larvae.
- If your site is located on a slope from which a fertile layer of soil is washed and blown, then white mustard will help you. Siderat will protect the site from erosion when the main crop is harvested, and the soil has become accessible to moisture and wind.
- It has a fungicidal effect. With the help of mustard, you can get rid of viruses such as late blight, fusarium rot.
How and when to plant white mustard
You can plant at any time at a plus temperature. Shoots appear in dry soil on the 4th-5th day, in the wet on the third. Seeds are scattered, and then slightly buried with a rake, or sown in furrows and sprinkled with 2 cm of soil. No further care is required. Before flowering, the greens need to be mowed, patched into the soil with a plane cutter. If green manure is sown in winter, that is, after harvesting potatoes, then it is left in the soil until spring.