Siderat is good because it performs severaluseful functions. He delays nutrients within the soil-penetrated soil layer, not allowing them to wash out. The long roots of the siderata, reaching up to the deep soil horizons, play the role of a pump, pumping nutrients upward. This promotes the accumulation of humus in the soil and improves its properties. Needless to say, how great is the role of humus in enriching the soil with a useful microflora. To this we add that the green mass, through its organic residues, brings into the soil nitrogen and other nutrients, decomposing faster than other organic fertilizers, which are based on fiber.
What is good is white mustard
All the above described characteristics in fullas much mustard as siderat, or rather, white mustard. She is good with her rapid growth. Its vegetative period is short: before the mass flowering of the plant, it takes 45-60 days, until the white mustard seed ripens - 80-90 days. If the development of the plant occurs at +29 ... + 35 degrees, then after 37-40 days after sprouting it can be mowed.
Precocity of mustard is complemented byresistant to cold. As soon as the temperature rises above zero by one to two degrees, the seeds are already ready to give sprouts. White mustard like siderate is insensitive to late frosts to -5 degrees; autumn +3 ... + 4 - is also not a hindrance to the development of the plant. Therefore, the time period of sowing white mustard is so wide (end of March - mid-September).
Another thing - the soil for its sowing:it must necessarily be cultivated. The best option - sod-podzolic soil, pre-fertilized with organic. A bit worse for the sowing of white mustard are suitable sandy loam and peat cultivated soils. Regardless of the temperature regime, the plant needs abundant watering in the phases of seed germination and budding.
Preparation and sowing
Before sowing mustard like siderat in the spring,you need to calculate the time so that before the planting of vegetables a month remains. When the time comes for potatoes and other root crops, the green mass of mustard is cut off and left in place. In summer, white mustard in the aisles "will work" phytosanitary, scaring off pests of vegetable crops. The main thing is that the green mass of mustard should not interfere with the development of the latter. The greatest benefit it brings, if it is sown after harvest, until August 10.
The rate of seeding mustard for siderat is120-150 g per hundred parts. But this is if it is sown in furrows with row spacing, the width of which is 15 cm. If the plots are planned in bulk, then the seed consumption will increase to 300-400 g. All of them should be covered with a layer of soil 2-3 cm.
And in the field, and on the table
In its green mass mustard as sideratcontains a storehouse of useful trace elements, including 22% of organic matter and 0.71% of nitrogen. The latter element, of course, accumulates worse than the plants of the legume family, but in the "conversion" of sparingly soluble nutrients into easily accessible equals it still needs to be looked for. From one hundred we can remove up to 400 kg of green mass of white mustard. This is equivalent to introducing almost the same weight of manure into the soil.
Essential volatile oils contained in allparts of the plant, lead to a decrease in populations of wireworms, slugs, moth flies, nematodes, prevent the development of fungal infections. Sowed in cultivated soil, mustard like siderate suppresses weeds. However, before and after the plants of the cabbage family, which includes white mustard, it can not be planted: from precaution, not to make it a distributor of cabbage whales.
To complete the "laudatory song" with white mustard, it should be mentioned that it is an excellent honey, a medicinal plant, and its young leaves are used in cooking.
