Soil and Cover Crops

On Thursday, my husband and I took a trip to Woodstock Orchards in Woodstock, CT, to attend a Connecticut National Resource Conservation Service (NRCS) workshop on Amendments, Cover Crops and Nutrient Cycling in Soils. The agenda included Professor Tom Morris from the University of Connecticut, Storrs, who spoke about Cover Crops and Nutrient Cycling in Soils. The importance of cover crops include preventing soil erosion, maintaining soil organic matter and capturing nitrates. In order to improve soil structure, he recommended turning in the cover crop, but emphasized that proper timing is crucial. He quoted Columella who wrote about agriculture in the first century:
     Where no kind of manure is to be had, I think the cultivation of lupines will be found the      readiest and best substitute. If they are sown    about the middle of September in a poor soil … they will answer as well as the best manure. –– Columella, First Century, Rome

It is interesting to me that much of what we are rediscovering as good agricultural practices were known in "ancient times". Prof. Morris recommended using buckwheat, crimson clover, hairy vetch (for nitrogen), rye, and sorghum-sudan. Prof. Morris mentioned that much of the work on cover crops was done in the 70's at Rodale. Prof. Morris also mentioned that a good site to listen to webinars about cover crops can be found at the Penn State Extension:
2013 Cover Crop Innovations Webinar Series Recordings.

The next speaker was Tom Akin from the NRCS-MA, whose topic was Cover Crops and Soil Physical Properties. His focus was on soil attributes and how cover crops can help in making physical improvements to the soil. Tom said to unlock the resources in the soil, the soil must remain an aerobic, living system by minimizing tillage, keeping the soil covered and keeping living roots in the soil throughout the year. The roots of plants aid in the formation of water stable aggregates creating pores that helps move water through the soil and not as surface runoff. To emphasize this point, Lisa Krall and Raymond Covino (NRCS-CT) set up a demonstration:

From left to right, the experiment shows (1) cover crop, (2) cover crop cut and laid down, (3) light grass, (4) tilled with crop residue on top and (5) tilled. They simulated rainfall and the bottles were there to capture the water. It is clear that in the (5) tilled soil, there is a lot of runoff carrying away nutrients. We then split into two groups to see three different cover crop treatments as well as a soil test pit.
We thought the day was a thought provoking one and are now doing more online research on understanding how using cover crops can have a beneficial impact in our vineyard. Another benefit to attending these workshops is meeting people. We saw Pamm Cooper from the University of Connecticut Cooperative Extension whom we know from our Master Gardener activities. Pamm cleared up one mystery. These eggs are those of the cutworm! Good thing we took it out of our vineyard!