Posted on August 2nd, 2011
Crop rotation is a common practice for farmers in large scale growing operations. The practice is used to control pest populations and disease as well as to replenish soil nutrients that are depleted during the growing season. While it is more difficult to organize an effective crop rotation in a smaller garden, the benefits of doing so are worth the effort.
Insect and disease damage can quickly render a garden a complete loss, while nutrient depletion from overuse of the soil can make it impossible to ever grow a garden in the first place.Is this new to you? Catch up here Few methods of controlling these issues actually work to remedy both problems at the same time. Fertilizer can be used to nourish the soil, but has no impact on the pest population. Insecticides can eliminate bug problems, but provide no nutrition for the soil. By implementing even a basic crop rotation plan, these problems can be noticeably reduced or even eliminated entirely.
A good example is the rotation of corn and soy beans. A corn plant consumes a lot of nitrogen from the soil. After a few seasons the nitrogen needs to be replaced in order produce another corn crop. Soybean plants deposit nitrogen into the soil naturally during their life cycle. By simply growing a soybean crop for a season, a field’s nitrogen has been replaced and a crop has been produced at the same time.
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