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Vegetable and fruit consumption patterns in the United States indicate that most people need to eat far more fruits and vegetables to meet the current nutritional guidelines for a healthy diet. Following these guidelines would require more than doubling the harvested acreage for fruits and vegetables and could have serious environmental implications if unsustainable production practices were used. This situation will likely intensify with population growth and climate change. To answer the title question (can we grow organic or conventional vegetables sustainably without cover crops?), this paper focuses on the high-input, tillage-intensive vegetable production practices in the Salinas Valley of California, a region often called “the Salad Bowl of America.” This region has a serious problem of nitrate contamination of the groundwater that occurred as the agricultural systems here shifted from agronomic to high-value horticultural crops [primarily vegetables and strawberries (Fragaria ×ananassa)] over the past several decades. This raises questions about the sustainability of past and current vegetable production practices and indicates the need for a radical paradigm shift in nutrient management. Cover cropping is well recognized as a “best management practice” in vegetable production systems, but is still relatively uncommon in many of the most important vegetable production regions in the United States, including the Salinas Valley. It is argued that cover crops are an essential part of sustainable vegetable production because they provide a complex suite of unique ecosystem services during fallow periods that complement best management practices during cash crop periods. The reasons that cover crops are uncommon here are discussed and three alternative cover cropping strategies are described to potentially increase adoption of cover cropping in vegetable rotations. These strategies are focused on reducing residue management challenges and include a novel strategy to extract the juice from nitrogen-rich, immature cover crops for use as a liquid organic fertilizer in subsequent cash crops.

Many important herbs [e.g., mint (Mentha sp.), thyme (Thymus sp.)], underused and nutritious vegetables [e.g., purslane (Portulaca oleracea), amaranth (Amaranthus tricolor)], and important biological control plants [e.g., sweet alyssum (Lobularia maritima)] have small seeds (≤ 1.5-mm long) that are difficult to plant with raw (i.e., nonpelleted) seed using existing seeders. A novel tool known as the slide hammer (SH) seeder was developed for the precise seeding of raw seeds of small-seeded plants. The SH seeder is a jab-type planter made primarily from electrical conduit tubing and other materials that are inexpensive and readily available in a hardware store or on the Internet. The interchangeable seed hopper is made from a plastic snap cap vial that has one or more holes of varying diameter depending on the desired seeding rate and seed size. Seed forms a “bridge” above the hole in the vial until they are dislodged from the force of the SH that discharges seeds to fall to the soil. Detailed plans are provided for how to make and use the SH seeder. The fabrication time is 2 to 4 hours with a material cost of ≈$32. I determined the seed vial hole specifications for the precise seeding of a variety of small-seeded plants, including chives (Allium schoenoprasum), chinese chives (Allium tuberosum), basil (Ocimum basilicum), grain amaranth (Amaranthus sp.), sweet alyssum, purslane, creeping thyme (Thymus serpyllum), and spearmint (Mentha spicata) that ranged in size from ≈200 to 11,000 seeds per gram. The diameter of the hole that was suitable for discharging the seed from the vial was always larger than the average seed length, and the ratio of hole diameter to seed length ranged from 1.07 to 1.62. Seeding rate uniformity evaluations were conducted for these species using vials with one vs. two holes and showed that the seeding rate was higher by an average of 58% to 173% from a vial with two holes compared with one hole. For most plant species evaluated, the SH seeder was able to dispense as few as one to three seeds consistently. Seed discharge increased somewhat with increasing SH weight for all species evaluated. The SH seeder can be useful for interplanting sweet alyssum as an insectary plant for aphid (Aphidoidea) control between existing plants of organic lettuce (Lactuca sativa), and for intercropping cultivars of purslane as a novel vegetable in between transplanted organic broccoli (Brassica oleracea Italica group) plants. This novel seeding tool has many potential uses for direct, hand seeding in vegetable and herb production systems and in weed research trials. The seeder could be automated and made with a variety of alternative materials.

Strawberry (Fragaria ×ananassa Duch.) production in California uses plastic mulch–covered beds that provide many benefits such as moisture conservation and weed control. Unfortunately, the mulch can also cause environmental problems by increasing runoff and soil erosion and reducing groundwater recharge. Planting cover crops in bare furrows between the plastic cover beds can help minimize these problems. Furrow cover cropping was evaluated during two growing seasons in organic strawberries in Salinas, CA, using a mustard (Sinapis alba L.) cover crop planted at two seeding rates (1× and 3×). Mustard was planted in November or December after strawberry transplanting and it resulted in average densities per meter of furrow of 54 and 162 mustard plants for the 1× and 3× rates, respectively. The mustard was mowed in February before it shaded the strawberry plants. Increasing the seeding rate increased mustard shoot biomass and height, and reduced the concentration of P in the mustard shoots. Compared with furrows with no cover crop, cover-cropped furrows reduced weed biomass by 29% and 40% in the 1× and 3× seeding rates, respectively, although weeds still accounted for at least 28% of the furrow biomass in the cover-cropped furrows. These results show that growing mustard cover crops in furrows without irrigating the furrows worked well even during years with relatively minimal precipitation. We conclude that 1) mustard densities of ≈150 plants/m furrow will likely provide the most benefits due to greater biomass production, N scavenging, and weed suppression; 2) mowing was an effective way to kill the mustard; and 3) high seeding rates of mustard alone are insufficient to provide adequate weed suppression in strawberry furrows.

Cover crop stands that are sufficiently dense soon after planting are more likely to suppress weeds, scavenge nutrients, and reduce erosion. Small-scale organic vegetable farmers often broadcast cover crop seed to establish cover crops but lack information on the most effective implements to incorporate the seed into the soil. Experiments were conducted with winter- and spring-sown cover crops to compare drilling vs. broadcasting methods for establishing rye (Secale cereale L.) mixed with either purple (Vicia benghalensis L., winter) or common vetch (V. sativa L., spring) on bed tops at a seeding rate of 140 kg·ha⁻¹ in Salinas, CA. Broadcast seed was incorporated with a rototiller, cultivator, or tandem disc. Cover crop stand uniformity was assessed visually, and cover crop emergence over time and seeding depth were measured. Stands were more uniform after drilling or broadcast + rototiller incorporation compared with the other methods. Cover crops emerged sooner and in higher densities after drilling compared with broadcasting. The delayed emergence of broadcast seed was most apparent during the cooler winter experiment, particularly with purple vetch. Most drilled seed emerged from 2-cm depth compared with the broadcast seed that emerged from up to 11-cm depth with the greatest variability after disc or rototiller incorporation. The data indicate that the cultivator and rototiller are preferable implements to incorporate broadcast seed on beds, but that 50% to 100% higher seeding rates for broadcasting than drilling are needed. The practical implications for weed and soil management, and planting costs are discussed.