There is an unfortunate truth about nitrogen fixing plants that many
people don’t want to face. My aim isn’t to be the bearer or bad news,
or a negative Nancy, but instead to inform and make sure people are
understanding why something does or doesn’t work. Legumes do not fix
nitrogen to other plants if they are planted close to eachother… I am
sorry. They just don’t.
Send mail to:
PO box 131
Marysville, MI 48040
450+ varieties of Heirloom & Non-GMO Vegetable seeds .99/pack, fertilizer, garden tools, blog & More: http://www.MIgardener.com
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/MIgardener
Instagram: http://instagram.com/MIgardener
G+: http://plus.google.com/+MIgardener
Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/MIgardenerYT/ Twitter: http://twitter.com/MI_gardener
Tumblr: http://tumblr.com/MIgardener Check out our new clothing line! http:www.freshpickedapparel.com
https://youtu.be/9mD6DUiMPec for some more info on nitrogen fixers and incorporating them efficiently!
Great channel and thanks for the valuable information! If I may ask, how long prior to flowering would you suggest chopping and incorporating your cover crop back into the soil (clover in my instance) in order to give the soil microbes enough time to mineralize the organic nitrogen into usable nitrogen for the beginning stages of the flowering cycle?
My question is, do nitrogen fixing plants need to die and decompose in the soil to add the nitrogen to the soil? or does the 'alive' plant add nitrogen into the soil, live?
Hairy vag?
thank you for your video ๐
Do you recommend a specific clover? And do you recommend planting clover as a ground cover or more for an off season cover crop? Thanks in advance ๐
outdated…blessings to all
What about terminating the crop right before flowering? Maybe with a krimp method and then seeding directly in that residue?
Does mulching the clover after it flowers provide nitrogen?
I've wondered about this. Don't the plants themselves want to use that nitrogen? After all, beans are high in protein which is the only macromolecule with nitrogen, so they'd have to re-uptake it.
That nitrogen is also consumed by fungus and bacteria. When a nematode eats a bacteria it releases the nitrogen- and other nutrients- at the plant roots. Plants release exudates at their roots that attract the specific bacteria to them that contain the nutrients the plant requires.
Itโs more about the microbiology than just looking at NPK. The microbiology is what moves the nutrients around.
Duh
You can add nitrogen by pouring urine in soil.
I was thinking about this exact problem today . And then i saw your video . Universe is amazing ๐
Thank you
This is why I plant peas, broad beans and what have you around my dormant trees in winter… they take advantage of the winter fertilizer and rains, I get a crop, and then I chop and drop, putting mulch over it in spring. The roots still have plenty of nitrogen present. Works beautifully! My trees have really thick sturdy trunks, and pest free growth, compared to my neighbour's ones that were put in of the same type and year – we're friends, but she doesn't like the look of growing other things with the trees, lol. Now she's starting to come around!
how do you know?????
Thank you ! Makes sense
If you let the clover flower and fruit, then chop it and till in, is the nitrogen still in a usable form?
Thank you so much. I guess a little knowledge is a dangerous thing.
??? Crop rotation (clover cover, for example) RESTORES nitrogen to soil. Period. Plants that fix nitrogen do indeed USE the nitrogen they make, however, if the roots are left behind in the soil, the nitrogen (ammonia and nitrates) is also left behind. You may be attempting to split hairs here, but crop rotation with nitrogen fixing plants most certainly does restore nitrogen to the soil. However, we both agree that a soybean plant next to a tomato plant will not transfer nitrogen from one plant to another. But the soybean WILL leave nitrogen in the soil for whatever is planted after it.
What if you chop and drop the beans etc on the ground?
This is the same guy that said that alfalfa was a grass.
You may need to innoculate your legume seed right when you plant it if you do not already have the rhyzobium bacteria in your soil in sufficient quantities. Chop and drop the crop when you are done, leaving the roots in the ground. Make sure you keep your soil moist all year around. If you let it dry out, it kills off the bacteria and fungi colonies.
I don't need to plant that nitrgoen fixer i have a Xtreme Azos(Nitrogen Fixation).
You mentioned flower and fruit. What if I grow a legume for its leaves?