Subject: Re: BD Now! Re.green manures-cover crops, tropical biointensive

From: Steve Diver <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 04 Jun 2004 11:16:57 -0500

Guillermo -

Velvet bean, or mucuna, will provide plenty of ground
cover.

Look into millet / sorghum-sudan as biomass-producing
cereals and grasses, or similar local cereal grains.

Look into cowpeas or similar local bushy legumes.

You might need to to chop or mow whatever you grow, prior to
incorporation. Compost tea or the BD Field Starter, applied to
green biomass prior to incorporation, will enhance decomposition
and conversion to soil humus.

Some really excellent resources for tropical cover crops and soil
management:

TropSCORE -- Tropical Soil Cover and Organic Resources Exchange
http://ppathw3.cals.cornell.edu/mba_project/moist/TropSCORE.html

On-line Extension Material: Cover Crops/Green Manure/Fallows
for smallscale farming in the tropics
http://ppathw3.cals.cornell.edu/mba_project/CIEPCA/exmats/exmat.html

(MOIST) -- The Management of Organic Inputs in Soils of the Tropics
http://ppathw3.cals.cornell.edu/mba_project/moist/home2.html

Cover Crops in Hillside Agriculture: Farmer Innovation with Mucuna
IDRC/CIMMYT 1998
http://web.idrc.ca/en/ev-31734-201-1-DO_TOPIC.html

"With the fertilizer bean, cowardly land becomes brave."
 Teodoro Reyes, La Danta, Honduras

Interestingly, I'm doing something similar with biointensive
beds..... 12 beds at 20' x 5' each, using 2' pathways.

Regards,
Steve Diver

Guillermo wrote:

>Mostly salad greens is what I am planning to plant
>there.  (when weather chills a bit)
>
>As green manures I am also considering a local dwarf
>sorghum and Daikon radish.  Good for "under growth".
>
>Any kind of hemp in this neighborhood will create too
>much of a fuzz :)
>
>There are other legumes being used around here, but
>not good enough for elevated beds IMO (canavalia,
>velvet beans, Leucaena and a number of local legumes)
>they grow in trellises or tall bushes, not close
>enough to the soil and not producing much leaves) 
>
>Thanks for your help, any more?
>
>
>	
>		
>  
>

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From: Steve Diver <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 04 Jun 2004 11:16:57 -0500

Guillermo -

Regards,
Steve Diver

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From: Steve Diver <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 04 Jun 2004 11:16:57 -0500

Guillermo -

Regards,
Steve Diver