Managing Cover Crops for Improved Soil Health

Abstract

This publication aims to help growers and researchers understand the role of cover crops in improving soil health. The document provides recommendations on managing cover crops and describes the benefits of growing cover crops. Written by R. Seepaul, S. George, J. Love, D. W. Wright, C. Mackowiak, and A. Blount, and published by the UF/IFAS Agronomy Department, revised January 2023.

Winter cover crop impact on soil health in Texas Rolling Plains dryland cotton

“…et al, 2013). Cover crops can also be a defensive strategy to reduce soil crusting, soil erosion, runoff, and nutrient leaching (Seepaul et al, 2023), while also providing weed suppression by outcompeting weeds for light, water, and soil nutrients (Blaco-Canqui et al, 2015).…”

“…No‐till management with cover crops increasing the water infiltration rates of the soil can be a solution to efficiently capturing and storing more precipitation from the sporadic and unreliable storms that are common in the southern Great Plains (Blanco‐Canqui et al., 2013). Cover crops can also be a defensive strategy to reduce soil crusting, soil erosion, runoff, and nutrient leaching (Seepaul et al., 2023), while also providing weed suppression by outcompeting weeds for light, water, and soil nutrients (Blaco‐Canqui et al., 2015).…”

“…Using NT management in tandem with growing cover crops as a replacement to fallow management could improve soil structure, SOC, water infiltration, water retention, and root penetration while enhancing soil microbial communities and nutrient cycling; however, these benefits are heavily influenced by soil moisture (Blanco‐Canqui et al., 2013; Clark et al., 2009; Seepaul et al, 2023). No‐till management with cover crops increasing the water infiltration rates of the soil can be a solution to efficiently capturing and storing more precipitation from the sporadic and unreliable storms that are common in the southern Great Plains (Blanco‐Canqui et al., 2013).…”

Noteworthy Collections: Maryland and Virginia

“…In the United States, it has been documented from southeast Texas, east to southern Alabama and Mississippi (Duke 1981, Diamond and Woods 2009, Keener et al 2022, throughout Florida, (Wunderlin et al 2022), northward to Georgia (Jones and Coile 1988), and north to the Carolinas (Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International 2022, Kew Royal Botanic Gardens 2022). Hairy indigo was intentionally introduced in Florida as a forage and green manure crop and has escaped cultivation and become a troublesome weed in crop and fallow fields (Seepaul et al 2023). In the Mid-Atlantic region, Nelson and Kelly (1997) reported it as new in 1995 from Sumter County, South Carolina, where at the time it was thought to represent a temporary adventive due to cooler temperatures.…”