View Single Post
Old April 13, 2012   #7
dice
Tomatovillian™
 
Join Date: Jan 2007
Location: PNW
Posts: 4,743
Default

Yes, you can harvest peas before incorporating the top growth into
the soil. A lot of the nitrogen contribution is fixed on their roots by
bacteria if they have been inoculant-coated before planting or if
the same bed has grown those or other legumes that the same
bacteria fix nitrogen on the roots of (if there is holdover nitrogen-fixing
bacteria in the soil compatible with pea-vetch-fava-bell_bean roots).
I expect that any fruit on the plants are only a small part of nitrogen
contribution from turning in the crop.

What the article above was saying was that maximum nitrogen release
from the incorporated cover crop was 2-3 weeks after turning it into
the soil. If you are planting seeds into it, you probably want to plant them
asap, so that they at least sprout before you reach that point. If planting
transplants, you probably want to wait no more than 2 weeks. (That
2-3 weeks probably varies with the cover crop.)

Buckwheat does not fix nitrogen on its roots, but it does exude enzymes
that make phosphorus in the soil more available to subsequent crops.
Mostly it contributes lots of organic matter. (There is some nitrogen
contributed by the leaves as they break down, but it may not be more
than what soil bacteria digesting the rest of the plant require.)

I do not know anything about the crop timing of southern peas in hot
climates. Winter peas (a kind of field pea I guess) are a fairly useful
winter cover crop in warm climates, but summer peas in such areas
probably have different planting and harvest timing.
__________________
--
alias

Last edited by dice; April 15, 2012 at 01:18 AM. Reason: typo
dice is offline   Reply With Quote