> From: Joel Wilcox <wsjvypbk@xxxxxxxxx>
>
> On Thu, Jan 29, 2009 at 2:58 PM, Ken Norton <xra@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>>>
>> A typical rotation is to run beans year one, corn years two and
>> three, hay
>> year four and then repeat the rotation.
>
> Right. Farmers used to rotate alfalfa and clover in methodically as a
> natural fertilizer (nitrogen fixing) and make hay from those "fallow"
> fields of clover or alfalfa.
If they're making hay, they're exporting fertility -- unless the end-
product of the hay is returned to the soil.
For best result, you should include a "cover crop" or "green manure"
in your rotation. In these cases, the cover crop is *not* harvested,
but ploughed back into the soil. A lot of the nitrogen that legumes
generate is in their foliage.
:::: I'm not looking for culprits because we're all culprits. Every
last one of us is doing things that shouldn't be done in a rational
society because we haven't known any alternative. -- M. King Hubbert,
1976 ::::
:::: Jan Steinman <http://www.EcoReality.org> ::::
--
_________________________________________________________________
Options: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/listinfo/olympus
Archives: http://lists.thomasclausen.net/mailman/private/olympus/
Themed Olympus Photo Exhibition: http://www.tope.nl/
|