Mustard is a very common plant among agronomists. It has earned such popularity due to its ability to release phosphates from the soil and enrich the soil with nitrogen.
It perfectly loosens, increases the permeability of the soil, turns hard-to-reach nutrients into a more accessible form for plants. Capable of retaining snow and preventing the soil from freezing in winter. Green mass is used for animal feed and silage. Needs moisture during germination. A very photophilous plant. Friendly shoots of mustard grow quickly, and its flowers are attractive and useful for bees. Perfectly copes with the task of preventing the soil from various pests. Heals the soil, which reduces plant diseases and leads to increased yields.
Mustard as a fertilizer has the following properties:
fights weeds. Due to its rapid growth, it inhibits the development of weeds;
- rapidly growing and replenishing useful material in the soil;
- loosens and drains the earth;
- retains nitrogen in the soil;
- heals the soil and fights various pests and diseases of vegetable crops;
- helps to retain winter moisture until spring;
- mustard is a wonderful honey plant;
- stimulates the growth of beans, potatoes, garden trees and grapes when growing near them.
How and when to plant mustard for fertilizer and soil improvement
Mustard seeds are mainly advised to plant, and not to sow in bulk in rows with a distance of 10-15 cm in a row and 20 cm between them. If you decide to sow, then the result will be worse than from planting, but it is faster and easier to do it. The main thing is not to deepen the seeds. It is enough to sprinkle with earth only 1-1.5 cm, then the first shoots will appear already on the 3-5th day.
When to start fertilizing the soil with mustard? This is best done in the spring. After the risk of night frosts disappears, they are immediately planted and wait 4-7 weeks. Then it is removed from the site, the land is cultivated and the main seasonal crops are planted. True, there are several crops that will not grow after mustard. These include radishes, cabbage, salads. This feature must be taken into account when planning the layout of the beds on the site, and the land under these crops should be left unsown.
Is it possible to sow mustard in summer? Of course yes. First of all, after harvesting early vegetables. Do you think why do it? But the fact is that the empty land will suffer from the wind and the sun. And so it will be protected and, as a result, improved. There are cases of auxiliary cultivation of mustard. When you sow it near other crops for their support and better growth. Do not allow mustard to grow superior to the main plant. And in the year when you are not going to use the site for planting, just repeatedly sow it with mustard. First in spring, then in summer and autumn. True, in this case it is better to alternate mustard with other green manure. For example, any legumes, radishes or lupins. By the next season, this way you will get perfectly fertilized, fertile soil.
White mustard (also called yellow due to flowering) belongs to the Cabbage family. White mustard is grown as a fodder crop and green manure (fertilizer).
In this article, we will get acquainted with when to sow it and, as well as its beneficial properties.
White mustard as fertilizer
The acidity level can also be any, but the optimal level is 6.5 pH. Regarding lighting, it is also unpretentious, it can grow both in the shade and in the sun.At favorable conditions shoots of green manure begin to appear in a couple of days. During the growth process, a large number of moisture, since the root system of the plant is superficial. During a drought, it needs plentiful. she is not needed. 
When to dig?
Important!Mustard cannot be sown in the place where the Cruciferous grew.
Before digging up the plant, it must be mowed. This must be done before flowering, because:
- during flowering, the leaves and stem of the plant coarsens, which prolongs the process of decay;
- when a plant blooms, it absorbs useful substances from the soil, thereby ceasing to be a fertilizer;
- it reproduces by self-sowing and turns into weeds.
Often, gardeners sow white mustard in the fall, they have questions about when and whether it is necessary to dig up the mustard sown in the fall. 
There are two options for sowing green manure in the fall:
- It is planted at the end of summer or early autumn, they give it the opportunity to grow until the first autumn frosts, then the frostbitten tops are left in the garden for the whole winter. Until spring, the stem and leaves overheat, and in the spring the site needs to be dug up. This method is the most popular among gardeners.
- The plant is grown until the end of October, and then dug up with a cultivator. If you do not have a cultivator, you can mow the green manure and chop it, and then dig up the area. This method is most effective, because the plant rots much faster.
Other types of mustard for green manure
Sarepta (or gray) mustard is also planted as green manure. This variety tolerates a lack of moisture more easily, but ripens longer, unlike white. Sarepta mustard is a taller and more branched plant, but its resistance to cold is much lower than that of white mustard.
Greetings, dear readers! You already know what green manure is and why they are needed, but you also know that each green fertilizer has its own specifics. Mustard, as a fertilizer, is also a special plant. It has many advantages over other green manure crops, but there are also disadvantages. Mustard, like green manure, will be discussed today.
So, mustard is a plant from the cruciferous (cabbage) family. Its close cultural relatives are cabbages of all kinds, radishes, watercress, rutabaga, radishes, turnips, and mustard greens. She also has “relatives” among green manure: oil radish, colza, winter and spring rapeseed. This is important to consider when crop rotation. Oilseed flax, sunflower, beet and millet are also bad predecessors for mustard.
Mustard, as a fertilizer, cannot be used before and after other cruciferous crops. Otherwise, you are more likely to develop clubbing disease (Plasmodiophora brassicae).
As green fertilizers () they use white mustard (it is also English mustard) and Sarepta (it is also Russian or gray mustard).
The main differences between white and Sarepta mustard
| Properties | White mustard (English) Sinapis alba | Gray mustard (Sareptskaya, Russian) Brassica junceae Czern. |
| Drought tolerance and "love" in soils | Not resistant to drought, especially during germination and budding. Moisture-loving (the presence of moisture affects the yield of seeds). Does not like waterlogged and acidic soils, although cultivated swamps are quite suitable. | Relatively drought tolerant. Does not tolerate waterlogged soils |
| Seeds germinate at temperatures | +1 - +2°С | +2 - +4°С |
| Cold resistance | More cold hardy. In the germination phase withstands up to -6°C, in the flowering phase - up to -2°C | Less cold-resistant, seedlings can only withstand frosts up to 3 ° C |
| Growing season (before seed collection) | 60-70 days | 85-100 days. Closer to the north less growing season |
| plant height | Before flowering - from 50 to 70 cm; In the flowering phase: 80 cm - 1 m and above. On poor and sandy soils, plants are lower | Before flowering - from 60 to 80 cm In the flowering phase: 1 - 1.5 m. On poor and sandy soils, plants are lower |
| seeds | Globular, pale yellow | Oval-round, mostly black-gray (rarely yellow). |
| Weight 1000 pcs. seeds | 5-6.5 g | 2-4 g |
The benefits of mustard as a fertilizer , is that it:
- clears the area of weeds. This effect is especially pronounced on cultivated soils;
- has chic phytosanitary properties: it allows you to get rid of, pea codling moth and slugs; contributes to the suppression of plant diseases: late blight and potato scab. It turns out that for the development of late blight, the presence of iron in the soil is necessary, and mustard binds this iron, which contributes to the improvement of the soil;
- rapidly increasing biomass. Due to the large biomass, the soil is replenished with useful organic substances, which are easily processed by the "underground inhabitants" into humus;
- improves soil structure. Long roots (can penetrate from 1.5 to 3 meters) perfectly loosen, drain and structure the soil. This also contributes to the moisture and air capacity of the soil;
- promotes the retention of nitrogen in the soil, that is, prevents its leaching. Note: While legumes fix nitrogen from the air and convert it into a form suitable for other plants, mustard only retains nitrogen (prevents it from being washed out). Also, this green manure absorbs other nutrients from the soil, converts them into an organic form and thereby prevents them from going into deeper layers;
- given the not strong winter hardiness, after frosts and under the influence of snow, mustard plants lie on the soil and from green manure they gradually turn into mulch. This property is used in autumn and winter to protect the soil from freezing.
In addition, mustard is a honey plant and its flowers attract many pollinating insects.
And mustard is a good companion for many crops. For example, it stimulates the growth of beans, fruit trees, grapes. Only as a companion you need significantly fewer seeds than when grown as green manure.
Mustard is good in crop rotation with cereals. It is an ideal precursor plant for potatoes (as it fights wireworm, late blight, scab), for tomatoes and other nightshades.
To the disadvantages of mustard may include the following:
- its plants suffer from the same pests and diseases as other cruciferous plants. That is why it is worth considering the rules of crop rotation when sowing this green fertilizer;
- sometimes birds enjoy eating seeds and even mustard greens. On the other hand, what kind of seeds do birds not like? And the benefits of birds are usually higher than the harm. IN last resort you can cover the mustard seeds after sowing with mulch.
Growing mustard as green manure
Growing mustard as green manure is not the same as growing mustard for seeds. So, for example, we don't have to wait for seeds to ripen. That is why its sowing is possible from March-April to August-September. When sowing mustard around the middle of August, we will only get phytosanitary tillage, that is, from the same wireworm, scab, phytophthora. Since mid-August, not much green mass will grow, respectively, soil fertilization will be less.
Seeding rate of mustard on green manure
From spring to mid-August, about 200-300 g per hundred square meters are sown. From the second half of August - the number of seeds is increased to 300-400 g per hundred square meters. Please note that this seed density is for the use of mustard as a fertilizer. If you want to grow it for honey collection, then the number of seeds decreases and the plants themselves do not need to be sown so densely.
Sowing seeds is recommended to a depth of 2-3 cm, after which the soil should be compacted (it is better that the seeds are in contact with the ground). If you simply scatter the seeds over a compacted surface, then you should cover them with a small layer of mulch. In any case, seeds need at least some moisture and contact with the ground to germinate.
Mustard usually starts flowering 4-6 weeks after sowing. You can cut it either with a cultivator (swift or other) during the budding or flowering period (it is advisable to prevent the formation of seeds). Before cutting, it is recommended to water the plants with a solution with effective microorganisms, as this contributes to a better processing of green manure. Also keep in mind that in dry weather, green manure will be processed for a long time by worms and microorganisms, so in this case, you need to water the area with mowed green manure from time to time.
If you wish to collect your seeds, then keep in mind that white mustard pods hardly crack, so they can be harvested at any time of the day. But the pods of Sarepta mustard are more prone to cracking. That is why the seeds of this species must be collected early in the morning, in the evening or even at night. In addition, such a dense sowing is not needed to obtain seeds, and it is necessary to sow in the spring, in this case. Summer sowing is unlikely to provide you with seeds.
That's all for today. I hope you enjoy the mustard plant as a fertilizer. It is far from universal, but it can still help in many ways.
Have a healthy garden and vegetable garden!
I advise, dear readers, not to miss the publication of new materials on this blog.
All gardeners and gardeners are interested in the fact that the soil under their plots retains its fertile qualities for a long time. For this, it is customary to use various fertilizers, both organic and mineral compositions. But long-term cultivation of something greatly depletes the soil, and crop yields drop significantly. Green manure can be used to increase fertility. This is the name of plants that are grown just the same to enrich the soil with organic matter. Today we will talk about growing mustard as green manure.
general information
Mustard is an annual oil type, it belongs to the cruciferous family and is characterized by the ability to release sparingly soluble phosphates. This culture can grow on any soil, the acidity of which ranges from the most acidic to alkaline. Seed germination is possible with a small sub-zero temperature, and seedlings of the plant are able to endure even short-term frosts (no more than minus five).
Use of mustard as green manure
Mustard is a green manure that adds looseness to the soil, conducts structuring and drainage, increasing the air capacity and moisture capacity of the soil. This culture has a taproot system that penetrates deep into the soil up to two to three meters. This plant is considered one of the best in protecting the land from erosion by water and wind in autumn and spring, and in the absence of mowing in winter.
Mustard crops trap snow, preventing severe freezing of the soil and helping to accumulate moisture. In the steppe territories, they are sometimes sown for this purpose in single rows between winter crops.
Mustard sprouts quite quickly and actively increases the green mass even in the cold period. The aerial part is mowed while the leaves of the plant remain fresh and juicy. It is best to carry out this procedure before the onset of the period of mass flowering, because harvesting in a later period will cause the leaves to die off, respectively, the mass of organic matter will decrease somewhat. In addition, mature seeds can clog the beds. The interval between sowing and incorporation of green mass into the soil is from fifty-five to seventy days (eight to ten weeks).
Mustard leaves are buried in the soil eight to fifteen centimeters deep. Seeding of the next culture can be carried out only twenty to thirty days after such incorporation.
Fight against diseases and pests
An important role in the choice of mustard as green manure is played by its phytosanitary properties. After planting this crop, the number of plant lesions by such frequent sores as late blight and rhizoctoniosis is significantly reduced. This green manure also makes tuber scab and Fusarium rot more rare.
Seeding mustard reduces the amount of wireworm in the soil by an order of magnitude, which is why it is often plowed late autumn, because at the same time the wintering of the wireworm is disturbed, which leads to its death. When sowing mustard to combat this pest, the seeding rate is increased to five grams for each square meter.
cultivation
Mustard is sown in the autumn, only after harvesting, or in the spring, about twenty to thirty days before the proposed planting of potatoes and other vegetables. Seeds are planted one and a half to two centimeters, both completely and in rows.
The first shoots can be seen on the third or fourth day. Top dressing should be carried out using a solution of the drug BaikalEM1 at a concentration of 1:1000. The use of such a preparation helps to speed up the fermentation processes, in addition, it creates positive microbiological conditions for saturating the soil with nutrient particles.
After one to one and a half months, mustard reaches a height of fifteen to twenty centimeters. It should be cut and embedded in the ground using a Fokin flat cutter or a Swift cultivator. First, it is worth watering the green mass with a solution of the same Baikal, but the concentration must be changed to 1:500.
Such treatment significantly accelerates the fermentation processes, in addition, it provides favorable microbiological conditions, due to which the soil is intensively saturated with nutrients, as well as microelements. Then they plant potatoes or other vegetables.
Mustard seeding, cultivation and incorporation into the ground are repeated two or three times a season. The last use of green manure should be in the fall, it is carried out one and a half months before the onset of frost. On this stage use a Baikal solution at a concentration of 1:100.
The standard packaging of seeds of two hundred and fifty grams is the norm for sowing on one hundred square meters. Mustard green mass, slightly buried in the soil with a flat cutter, is considered twice as effective as manure. Quite often, a mixture of peas and mustard, as well as spring vetch, is used as a green fertilizer. When using two parts of mustard and one part of oil radish, the owner receives a large amount of green and root mass.
Despite the fact that mustard is an excellent highly digestible fertilizer (after decomposition inside the soil), it is significantly inferior to legumes in terms of the content of nitrogenous elements in them. Therefore, quite often it is sown in a mixture with legumes through a row. It should be noted that when living in a dry area, green manure will be effective only with irrigation.
Modern agricultural technology widely uses the so-called green manure plants to enrich the soil, improve its nutritional qualities, and increase fertility. Green manures are, in fact, fertilizers, but only natural, naturally grown, therefore useful and, at the same time, very effective.
Annuals are usually used as siderats, capable of growing a significant green mass in one season. Among such plants can be attributed white mustard - a wonderful spicy plant, which is often used as a green manure. In the article, we will consider the features of growing white mustard as green manure: we will find out how to plant this crop and how to care for it.
Description
Today, about 40 types of mustard are known, however, it is white mustard that is most often used as green manure. In addition to its use in this capacity, white mustard is also widely used in cooking, as a delicious seasoning, as well as in folk and home medicine.
How to use fishmeal as a fertilizer, tell.
In a season, the plant can grow up to a meter in length, which makes it so well suited for use as green manure. The plant, among other things, is a wonderful honey plant, so the apiary located next to the mustard field will undoubtedly bring a good "harvest" of honey.
Find out when to sow green manure Phacelia.
The flowering period of the plant is from June to August. But when a plant is grown as a green manure, they usually do not wait for this period, cutting the green mass in advance. White mustard is a wonderful and very useful precursor for crops such as nightshades and grains.
Green manure mustard protects the soil from weeds, prevents the sun's rays from destroying the soil structure, loosens the soil, and enriches it with nutrients: in particular, phosphorus and nitrogen. The roots of the plant are of considerable length: they grow up to three meters. Due to their size, they can deliver nutrients to the surface from the deepest layers of the soil. And when the mustard is mowed, the soil remains permeated with roots, which improves air exchange in it, and benefits all subsequent cultivated plants.
Read when to sow and bury green manure.
In addition to those listed useful properties white mustard is still able to repel pests and protect plants from diseases. Therefore, grow next to or after mustard cultivated plants very beneficial.
The benefits of mustard green manure
We will find out what magical changes occur in the soil when white mustard is grown on it as green manure.
Mustard can absorb sparingly soluble organics and vitamins from the ground, converting them into easily digestible forms for other plants. If nitrogen is still not enough rationally.
Mustard loosens the soil due to its powerful branched root system. The plant also suppresses weeds, prevents their spread throughout the site.
The spice prevents valuable minerals from being washed out of the soil during the rainy season. And the special substances secreted by this culture stop the spread of pathogenic microbes, bacteria and fungus in the soil. Therefore, potatoes, tomatoes or other vegetables planted after mustard in this place will not suffer from fungal diseases and will avoid rotting.
The plant is able to save the garden from some pests. It is especially effective against slugs and wireworms. Of course, you can’t get rid of the wireworm in one season. But if you plant mustard in one place for 2-3 years in a row, then a harmful insect can leave the site altogether.
How mustard is sown in the spring to fertilize the soil is described.
If mustard is planted late as green manure, then after mowing it can act as a natural mulch, retaining snow moisture in the soil and enriching it with nutrients.
The plant, among other things, is also a wonderful honey plant. In addition, the cost of mustard seeds is low, so you can use the plant as a useful green manure without risking going broke.
There are also minor disadvantages of using this plant as green manure. So, white mustard is prone to certain diseases: such as powdery mildew, white rust, spotting. If the mustard hurts, then its green manure can infect the plants planted after it in this area.
Agricultural technology
Sandy loose soils are not suitable for mustard, therefore, on such land plots mustard is better not to plant.
The plant is quite resistant to cold. So, landing can be carried out even at a slightly warmer than zero temperature. And the sprouted sprouts can withstand temperatures down to -7 degrees. Because of this feature, it is quite acceptable to plant mustard in early spring so that by the time the rest of the crops are planted, this plant has already managed to enrich the soil with nutrients and improve air exchange in it.
Planting in the spring
To grow safely on green manure white mustard, there is no need to dig the site. A few centimeters of surface loosening is enough, after which the area can be leveled with a rake if it is small or harrowed if it is of considerable size.
Mustard seeds are small, so they should not fall deep into the ground. Usually the seeds are scattered on the ground (rather densely), after which they are covered with a rake. If you decide to plant mustard on green manure in rows, then it is recommended to keep a distance of 15 cm between them, and make holes 4-5 cm deep.
From the moment the seeds are placed in the ground until the plant begins to bloom, 40-45 days pass. But it is desirable to cut off the green mass before flowering, and two weeks before planting other crops in this area.
To get green manure in the same year, you can sow white mustard from March to August. Planted in any month in this time period, the mustard will have time to ripen and gain a good green mass. In the south of the country, it is sometimes planted as early as the end of February.
It is impossible to plant mustard after cruciferous plants, since pests and diseases in plants of the same family are common. And such a culture as turnips cannot stand even the neighborhood of mustard.
Planting in autumn
For the central regions of the country, the most suitable choice planting time for green manure white mustard is August-September. Having overwintered in the ground, in early spring the grass will already show the first shoots. And maybe it will grow a little more this year.
In the latter case, before the snow, it can be mowed down and tamped into the soil. In the southern regions, the plant can be planted until November. Moreover, even at this time of the year, mustard may well sprout, since partial germination occurs already at a temperature of + 2-3 degrees.
Mandatory before autumn planting clean the beds from the remains of previous plants so that their diseases are not transmitted to the mustard. It is desirable to fertilize the earth with humus at the rate of 1-2 buckets per m2 of land. The bed is then dug up, and it must be harrowed, removing large earth clods.
Seeds are scattered by the handful. And do not be afraid that the plant will be planted too densely: this method of planting, on the contrary, is beneficial in this case, as it protects the soil from erosion. Do not try to carefully bury the seeds: after the first rain, they themselves will safely settle at the right depth in the ground.
Care
Some points on the care of white mustard grown as green manure.
If you plant grass on green manure in early spring, then there is no need to water it. After winter and snow melting, there is enough moisture in the soil so that the plant can develop safely and receive nutrition. If you plant in the summer, then watering is necessary immediately after planting, and in the future - only in case of severe drought.
The grass does not need to be fed: you can safely remove this problem from the agenda.
It is important to mow the mustard before it blooms. Do not miss this moment, as with the onset of flowering, the stems and leaves of the plant coarsen, which makes it difficult for them to be further processed and decomposed in the soil. In addition, during flowering, the grass spends too many useful trace elements to maintain flower stalks: and all these useful substances in green manure should be used for other crops. And thirdly, flowering mustard seeds ripen, which fall immediately into the ground.
Thus, instead of a useful green manure, the plant risks becoming a weed - which is not at all difficult with its survival and unpretentiousness.
After mowing the green mass, it is dug up, and usually embedded right there in the soil. If the weather is dry, then it is necessary to water the green mess in order to speed up the processes of its decomposition.
To introduce green manure into the soil, two methods can be used: both are proven and reliable. In the first case, the grass must be mowed before it blooms, composted, and then applied to those areas where it is necessary. The second method is simpler, and it involves mowing the grass and trampling it into the ground right at the place where it grew. Compost in this case is not specially made. The plant will decompose in the ground, becoming a natural nutrient fertilizer for the following cultivated plants.
Video
This video will tell you why to plant green manure.
We examined the features of growing white mustard as green manure. Now you know that this plant can serve not only as a spicy seasoning, but also as a wonderful useful fertilizer for other garden crops. How to plant buckwheat as green manure will help you understand.
