What are Cover Crops?
A cover crop is vegetation that is planted or managed for the purpose of improving a number of conditions associated with sustainable agriculture. Cover crops are fundamental tools that improve soils, crops, and water quality by reducing losses of nutrients, pesticides, or sediment from agricultural fields. Cover crops may be permanent, harvested, left as surface residue, or plowed under for use as a green manure. Cover crops can be planted for conservation measures including buffer strips, filter strips, grass hedges, and rotation crops.
Benefits from using Cover Crops include: Increased Yield of the Following Crop, Improved Water Quality, Improved Soil Quality, Weed Suppression, Pest Reduction and Saving Money. Cover crops as insectary plants.
More information can be found on the benefits of Cover Crops in Hawaii at The O'ahu Resource Conservation and Development Council website.
Benefits from using Cover Crops include: Increased Yield of the Following Crop, Improved Water Quality, Improved Soil Quality, Weed Suppression, Pest Reduction and Saving Money. Cover crops as insectary plants.
More information can be found on the benefits of Cover Crops in Hawaii at The O'ahu Resource Conservation and Development Council website.
Sunn Hemp
Fast growing tropical nitrogen fixing legume. Can produce up to 150 units of Nitrogen in 60-90 days. Highly recommend for it's ability to suppress root-knot nematodes, fix nitrogen and suppress weed growth.
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Buckwheat
Fast growing, warm season annual with a fibrous root system. Buckwheat will germinate quickly and does not require much water. |
Soil Saver Black Oats
Tropical annual cereal that is used for cover crops. Will produce large amounts of bio mass and is very rust resistant. Strongly recommended over common oats. |
Sodbuster Radish
Sodbuster radish is a new cover crop forage radish. Developed in New Zealand, it is the culmination of many years of selection for traits of a large fleshy taproot, high glucosinolate levels. The tap root can penetrate soil as much as 6 feet deep! |
Cowpeas, Iron and ClayWarm season legume which produces abundant amount of organic matter and nitrogen. Used as a cover crop to enrich soil and favorable due to it's resistant to common forms of root-knot nematods. |
Pigeon PeasPigeon Pea (cajanus cajan) is well known around the world ranked 5th by acres planted of legumes and used extensively as a cover crop. While it’s claim to fame is that it will produce a crop on 1 inch of rain making it well suited to drought areas of the U.S, it prefers about 15 – 20 inches to be very productive.
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Other Cover Crops Used in Hawaii:
Please contact us for information on any other type of cover crop. We can always find what you are looking for and happy to have customers try new species.
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