Summary from Vegetable Growers News:
Cover crops are seeing increased adoption across the U.S., driven by benefits to soil health and water infiltration and government incentives like the USDA EQIP program. In this recent article, weed scientists Dr. Stephen Meyers, Associate Professor of Horticultural Crops Weed Science, and Ph.D. student Jeanine Arana from Purdue University’s Department of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture highlight cover crops’ potential in integrated weed management systems.
By establishing a cover crop strategy, farmers can effectively suppress weeds through fall-planted cover crops, smother cropping, between-row weed control, and rotational cropping. Although cover crops can bring challenges like soil moisture competition and nutrient tie-up, with proper planning, they offer a valuable weed management tool in vegetable production systems.
Read the full article by Stephen Meyers and Jeanine Arana, Purdue University