Crop rotations can be used to prevent soil erosion and maintain soil fertility. They can also help farmers plan for future needs such as planting new varieties of seed, or changing the type of fertilizer applied.
In addition, crop rotations can improve the overall health of the soil by reducing the number of weeds present.
Insects are not host-specific. They feed on plants of any species. If you keep your garden properly maintained, it won’t cause much damage.
But if you neglect your garden, they can destroy everything. You should try to rotate your garden every year so that no one plant gets too much attention.
Why Crop Rotation Is Important?
For better crop yields, there are several reasons why farmers need to apply crop rotations. Below are some of them:
- It prevents water pollution by preventing runoff from entering streams and rivers.
- Rotating crops helps improve the fertility of the land and thus increases the yield of food crops.
- Reduces soil erosion
- It controls insect/mite pests by using crop rotations. Crops used for this purpose include soybeans, corn, wheat, oats, barley, alfalfa, clover, sunflowers, peanuts, sorghum, millet, cotton, and sugar beets.
- Natural alternatives are better for our health than synthetics.
- Reduces the pests’ build-up
- Prevents diseases
- Adding crop rotation increases the variety of crops grown by an operation.
- And finally, it’s good to control weeds too
Advantages Of Crop Rotation
Cattle grazing has numerous advantages including the prevention of disease, pests, and weeds. It also helps improve the fertility of the land by allowing for natural fertilization and it improves the quality of the pastureland by allowing for the regrowth of grasses after they’ve been cut down.
Rotation of non-susceptive crops within a garden helps break down organic matter and allow pests to cycle through the soil.
If there aren’t any plants present, then the numbers of disease and insect organisms would start to dwindle.
Cropping rotations aid in controlling weeds by causing them to be less competitive in growing conditions. Tillagings and timings differ for dissimilar crops, so they cause a decrease in the weeding’s ability to establish itself.
A further advantage of crop rotations for weed control is that they allow us to manage different types of weeds. For instance, we can use grass-killing herbicides on broadleaved crops and grass-killing insecticides on cereals.
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How To Schedule A Crop Rotation
When creating a cropping schedule, you need to take into account several different things.
A grower needs to know which crops need to be planted first, second, third, etc. when growing multiple crops at once. For example, if you’re planning to plant tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, onions, carrots, and lettuce, you’d want to start by listing these five crops in order from most important to least important.
You can also organize them into groups by botanical relationships, for example, Brassicaceae, Solanaceae, and Alliaceae. Every year, move the entire plant family from one plot to another plot. This way, the plants won’t grow back on the same piece of ground twice a year.
Second, think about the size of the root systems of the crops to be grown. Shallow-rooted crops may not provide enough support for deep-rooted crops.
Lastly, think about the width of the plants’ row. If they’re wide enough, then you might not need to use any type of tiller at all. But if they’re too narrow, then you’ll want to use one.
One final consideration is whether you will grow a heavy feeder crop. A heavy-feeder crop will use up the nutrients in the ground faster than a nonheavy feeder.
One last thing to consider when deciding which crops to rotate through is whether the crop leaves a lot of organic material in the ground after harvest. If so, leaving some organic material in the ground will help replenish the nutrient content of the land.
Suggested read: Does soil testing really matter in agriculture?
Useful Tips For Crop Rotation
You need to know which crops belong to which families so that you don’t accidentally grow them together.
First, decide which crop(s) you’d like to grow. Then, take into account the demands of the local markets. For example, plant leaves veggies in the first croppings year, next fruits, then roots, then legumes, and so forth.
It is best to grow legumes first, then follow by growing grain crops, and finally practice green manures. Also, keep track of your farming records as much as possible for future reference.
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