Cover Continued from Page 7
“Totheextent thesoilholdsthatwater, it’s inthebankandcanbeaccessed,”Kingsaid. King said he has seen no negative im- pact on yields. But he said one year a par- ticularly lushcover cropdidattract rabbits, which gnawed on drip lines. “Wemowed earlier that year,” he said. BothKing andCardoza use a seed drill to plant cover crops rather than broad- cast seed. Kingsaidtiming is important and“ideal- ly youwant to drill before the first rain. It’s like a fieldof dreams: Youput the seedout there and hope the rain comes.” “The issuewithbroadcasting is that a lot of times you’re just providing expensive bird food,” King said. As to choosing covers, Cardoza said the machineheusescanhelpshift toplantsthat aredenser andbecomea source formulch. For almonds, King said, he looks for some plants that act as forage for polli- nators. He also has mixes of legumes and mustards as well as a soil buildermixwith radish, mustard, grasses and peas. Lauren Hale, a research soil scientist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Service in Parlier, is heading research into cover crops in part- nershipwithastatedemonstrationproject inCalifornia. She said researchers are looking at cov- er crops to enhance soil health and for
those near the introduced crop. In the fall of 2020, researchers looked at infiltration rates, but impacts are ex- pected eventually. They also looked at the total soil microbial biomass in differ- ent soil samples. In native treatments, there was en- hancedmicrobial biomass. “Didwe save water?” Hale asked. “This year and inthe first season, no,wedidnot.” A factor in that was that precipitation re- ceived fromNovember toMarch2020was 63%of average. But the advantages of the cover, espe- cially the phacelia, was that “bees just love this crop,” she said. Its biomass also boosted the carbon-nitrogen ratio. That wasbelieved tohelpenhance themicrobi- al community and the soil structure. This year, less water was applied, just 36 gallons of water per vine compared the previous year’s156gallons.Nomorewater willbeappliedtocovercrops.Precipitation was 71% of average in the cool season months. It’s not yet knownwhat thewater savings will be. Hale said itmay be that growers elect to have a dense cover in a wet, cool season, and inadry, cool season, theydon’t. Itwill be a question they will likely have to pon- der year by year, he said. (Denni s Pol lock i s a repor t er in F r e s no . He ma y b e c on t a c t e d a t agcompollock@yahoo.com.)
regenerative agriculture and are seeking to determine whether they are practical inplaces where irrigationwater resources are limited. “We wanted to see if benefits conferred from the cover crop are passed to the soil below the vines,” she said. The vineyardwas established last year. In 2019, researchers broadcast seedmix- tures over a “fluffy seed bed,” she said, covering seed mixtures with a quarter inch of soil. In January 2020, plants be- gan to emerge. One seed mixture included five intro- duced species, dominated by a Merced rye.Anothermixturewasallnativespecies, dominated by phacelia. Winter of 2020 brought lowannual pre- cipitation. Microsprinklers were used to helpestablish the cover togeneratea lush, dense cover with a high biomass, which attractedmany insects and bees. Thecoverwasallowed toreseedanddry out. Itwas thenmoweddown, andresidue was left to serve as amulch. The grape va- riety is Almond King, which is harvested in autumn. There were variations in volumetric soil moisture among species when ap- plying the same amount of water. The amount of water applied was lowered for native species. Vines adjacent to native cover crops proved tohavewider trunkdiameters than
Hemows the cover regularly and gets it “down to a stubble” a month before har- vest, preparing the bed before laying out grapes on paper trays to dry in the sun. “We have to get it perfectly flat like ev- erybody else,” he said. But unlike growers whohavenocover, there isnot theneed for frequent tillage. Cardoza said places where cover crop- pinghasbeendone for the longest periods have thehighestwater retention levels.He uses soil moisture probes to assess levels and confirmhis suspicions that more wa- ter is retained in the root zone. “In our area, our soils are extreme- ly sandy,” he said. “So, water just runs through it like a coffee filter. Anything you can do to keep water higher in the soil profile and in the root zone, you can have massive benefits.” The covers also create habitat for bene- ficial insects. Cardozashowcaseduseofapieceofma- chinery for mowing and mulching. The machine disperses mulch onto the berm near the vines. Ben King, whomanages orchards from KerntoColusacounties, growscover crops in almond and pecan groves. His cover crops include clover, peas and grasses. He said he believes it’smost important to im- prove thewater-holding capacity of soil.
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8 Ag Alert August 25, 2021
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