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Home → Publications → Nursery Manuals → Forest Nursery Manual—Bareroot → Chapter 10: Cover and Green Manure Crops for Northwest Nurseries

Chapter 10: Cover and Green Manure Crops for Northwest Nurseries

Green manure crops are planted in Northwest bareroot nurseries primarily to produce organic matter to enrich soil. Available species include grasses, legumes, and brassicas. Legumes are deep rooting, decompose quickly, and can increase soil nitrogen by fixation but require good drainage and well-fertilized soils and can increase soilborne pathogens. The most suitable species for short-term rotations are annual grasses, including small grains, certain legumes, and spring-sown brassicas. For longer rotations, tall fescue is well adapted to varied soil conditions, and birdsfoot trefoil, a legume, produces well on acid soils. The pros and cons of other species for various rotation lengths are discussed.


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Author(s): W. S. McGuire, D. B. Hannaway

Publication: Nursery Manuals - Forest Nursery Manual—Bareroot