Barley as green manure: advantages and disadvantages, sowing rules and when to mow

Table Of Contents

Pros and cons of barley as green manure
Sowing and growing crops
When and how to dig?
What to plant after?
Which is better to use: barley or oats

Green manure is also called green manure, because they are grown for mowing and digging in the ground. Consider the advantages and disadvantages of barley as green manure, when and how to sow seeds, how to grow plants, the rules for mowing and digging greenery. What can be planted in place of green manure, what is better to grow in garden beds - barley or oats.

Pros and cons of barley as green manure

Cereals, including barley, are one of the most popular types of green manure. The benefits of using barley are as follows:

after digging, it becomes an environmentally friendly and nutritious fertilizer (over time, a mass is formed from the greens, in which all the nutrients are located);
roots loosen the soil and strengthen it at the same time;
improves soil characteristics, it becomes structured, more breathable;
reduces weed infestation as barley germinates early and thick, preventing weeds from growing;
disinfects the soil - the roots secrete substances that inhibit viruses and bacteria;
reduces the number of pests: aphids, nematodes and leafhoppers, attracts beneficial insect predators;
raises the level of yield and quality of fruits, they accumulate more sugars, minerals, vitamins, proteins, starch.

The result of applying barley can be compared to the effect of applying manure, but the cost of buying seeds and planting, and then mowing, will be less than using manure.

Barley as green manure has many advantages, but also has a drawback - the roots attract wireworms. If there is this pest on the site, it is better to replace the crop with some other green manure.

Sowing and growing crops

You need to sow barley not when you have to, but approximately at the time when its development will be most favorable. You should also consider how many seeds will have to be spent on a certain area, and how to properly plant green manure seeds.

Optimal planting dates

Spring barley is sown in the spring, when the snow has already melted, but the soil has not yet dried. This is a cold-resistant culture, the seeds germinate even in the ground that has not yet been completely warmed up. Sufficient soil temperature - +5 °C. The term for sowing barley seeds, depending on the region, falls on the 2nd half of March or April. Siderat can be planted throughout the summer, when the beds are freed from early crops.

Winter variety is sown at the end of August or in autumn - in September. It is sown after harvesting the crop that was grown this season in the garden. By the onset of cold weather, barley will have time to take root and grow. Winter barley should not grow too much before the cold weather, so that the greens do not freeze in the cold. The growth of winter barley begins actively in spring.

Seed consumption

For 1 sq. m. area, you need to spend 20-25 g of barley seeds, if it is used to suppress weeds, then the seeds can be sown thicker - 25-30 g per square meter. m.

Sowing process

How to plant green manure: clean the beds from plant debris, dig a shovel onto a bayonet. Level the ground and make small grooves in depth at a distance of 5 cm from each other. Sow seeds in them, cover with earth and, if the soil is dry, it does not have enough moisture for germination, water the beds with water.

When and how to dig?

Winter barley is left for the winter, cut only in the spring, 2 weeks before planting the crop in this place. A mass of greenery is immediately buried in the soil or left on it as mulch. Plowing improves the condition of the soil and allows you to get green fertilizer just in the layer where the roots of the plants are.

The deadline for mowing green manure is when the plants enter the budding period. If left to grow further, they will coarsen, they will slowly rot in the soil. On average, green manure barley grows for 2 months, by which time it can grow by 60 cm.

You need to cut the greens with a flat cutter, passing it near the roots. Later, dig up the bed with a shovel, embedding the greens in the top layer of soil. Or just leave it on the surface, where the mass will cover the soil from drying out for some time, and then it will also rot.

What to plant after?

Barley reduces the number of nematodes and can fight scab, so it is recommended to grow it before potatoes and root crops, unless, of course, the site is free from wireworms. After it, you can also plant cruciferous and legume crops, there are also no contraindications for crops of other families, except for the cereal family - these plants have the same diseases and pests.

Which is better to use: barley or oats

In arid regions it is better to sow more drought-resistant barley, on peatlands and acidic soils it is recommended to plant oats. This crop saturates the soil with potassium, solanaceous crops can be grown in place of green manure.

The roots of both green manures inhibit weeds, pathogens that can spread to crops. The roots penetrate deep into the soil, to a depth of less than 1 m, and draw out nutrients from there.After rotting the mass, they remain as top dressing for the culture. In winter, the soil under the green manure does not freeze so much, does not weather and does not erode.

If you plant barley on free plots, you can solve several problems at once: get fertilizer that is not inferior to manure in quality and effect, reduce weediness, structure the soil, make it more permeable to air and moisture. By sowing barley, you can replace many agricultural work on the site, which will no longer need to be carried out. The cost of purchasing seeds will pay off with a profit in the form of a large crop of fruits, root crops, tubers, heads of cabbage, vegetables or greens.