Whats under the cover?

What's under the cover?

Display planter box at 1 4 days post seeding.

There is a lot going on under the soil surface that we don’t fully understand yet, but the benefits that root systems provide have gained a lot more interest in recent times.

The Cradle Coast Authority’s Agriculture Projects team are working with farmers to road-test simple, low risk options to consider in steep vegetable cropping sites between cash crops. The cover crops include a combination of species and are often referred to as “green manure” crops. The trials are part of the Protecting our Productive Soils project. A display planter box is being used to demonstrate root growth - plant root systems grew to 30 cm in just 1 4 days. This amount of root growth would certainly contribute to reducing the risk associated with hillslope erosion by water if planted after a summer harvest.

In a field trial of the same seed mix in Ulverstone, an Autumn-sown cover crop has emerged and is clearly reducing erosion. The selection consisted of tic beans, grey peas, lucerne and oats. This combination offers differing root depths and growth forms to provide improved soil retention plus many other soil health benefits. Timing is always key, so sowing and then preparing the site for the next crop will always be determined by the weather; the aim is to not allow too much growth above the surface or let the cover crop go to seed.

For more information about the progress, please contact Ali via: adugand@cradlecoast.com

This project is supported by the Cradle Coast Authority with funding from the Australian Government’s National Landcare Program.

Autumn-sown cover crop planted at Ulverstone and photographed in July 2020.