I appreciate everyone’s comments. I will be planting a separate row 100x20 row of pollinator mixed covers separate from the orchard so I am not quite as concerned about them having food. What I really want is to accumulate as much biomass to possible to build decent soil for decades to come since I am starting out with less then ideal soil. I am also thinking about something I can harvest for chicken feed like a millet or sorghum. Any one have experience with growing either of these or something else that will accumulate biomass in decent quantities?
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You definitely can i just put mine in the same line as my trees and not in my walking space so i was thinking about cover crop that takes to becoming a path when i said that
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Thats my method of comfrey “mowing”
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I planted some trefoil, white clover, and meadow brome mix last year. Had some spotty germination with some plants because of the dry conditions after planting. Those all seemed like a good combo for my soil and climate conditions. If you consider trefoil you might want to purchase some inoculant. From my reading it needs a different bacteria.
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Tall annuals and especially seeding tall annuals are a tremendous attractant to voles. Unmowed middles with broadleaf annuals also encourages stinkbugs and increases fungal pressure. There are reasons covercrops are not a common tactic in commercial orchards, especially in the humid regions.
I’m not saying it won’t work for you or that you can’t make it work, only that it makes it harder to get sound fruit, IME. I have customers that like growing fruit in annually mowed meadows and productivity always suffers a great deal.
If I wanted something I only had to mow annually I believe there a few species of Fescue that might do the trick. Here’s the kind of mix I’m talking about.
If you want to really do something about the clay, I suggest you make a deal with local landscape contrators and have them bring you the leaves you would need to completely cover your middles. If the leaves are shredded they should stay in place. You could also use arborists chips.
Won’t cover corps take decades to significantly improve clay? I know hay doesn’t leave much when it decomposes while a wood chip mulch rapidly becomes a layer of rich humus that turns clay soil into something useful. .
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Alan,
Thanks for the warning. I will take that in consideration. At this point my tree are still young and my expectations are minimal for the next few years. So I will be willing to sacrifice some short term performance if I can start improving the soil now.
Just be careful about voles. They tend to multiply when weeds seed and then get hungry for bark during winter. They are especially dangerous to young trees, but even mature trees sometimes get girdled.
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