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Living Mulch Layer - Nitrogen fixing plants

Cvh

Well-known member
Supermod
Hi all,

Currently I'm doing my first indoor organic grow in living soil.
Previously I grew chem in coco for years. So I'm an organic newbie.

Recently I came across the concept for using 'Nitrogen fixing plants' as a living mulch layer.

I understand that Nitrogen fixing plants manage to pull N out from the air through symbiosis with Rhizobia bacteria and the formation of 'root nodules'. Acting as storage space for Nitrogen. And after the coverplants dead the root nodules will release the N to the soil through decay.

Nitrogen Fixing plants:
https://www.permaculture.co.uk/articles/nitrogen-fixing-plants-microbes

Root nodule:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_nodule

Rhizobia bacteria:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhizobia

My soil was already inoculated with a product named Bio Bacto which contain Rhizo bacteria which I hope are the correct kind.
https://www.guanokalong-shop.com/index.php?route=product/product&path=69&product_id=68

I have now placed an order for some clover and alfalfa seeds.

My question is now would it be truly beneficial for using Nitrogen fixing plants as a living mulch layer instead of the layer of old fan leaves I have now?
 

Cvh

Well-known member
Supermod
Here is a picture of my current grow. Skunk#11
More pictures can be found in my album which I try to update weekly.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=76579

picture.php
 
Last edited:

Ibechillin

Masochist Educator
I hope this helps, more than nitrogen fixation taking place from legumes.

Thanks Jidoka.

From blog.nutri tech.com

"American consultant, Gary Zimmer, coined the term “Calcium the trucker of all minerals and boron the steering wheel” and he correctly highlighted the critically important, synergistic relationship between these two minerals. It is a simple fact that you will be disappointed in your lime response if your soils are boron deficient because calcium does not provide its many benefits in the absence of boron. During a recent trip to New Zealand I was speaking with a dairy farmer who had made a considerable investment in lime but had seen very few benefits from the exercise. Upon further investigation I found that his soil tests revealed a massive boron deficiency! In fact, he had just 0.1 ppm of boron in his soils when he required a minimum of 1 ppm. He had created this deficiency through burning out his organic matter reserves with large applications of urea and then leaching boron with centre pivot irrigation. Organic matter is the boron storehouse as it is the only component of the soil that has the positively charged sites to attract and retain this negatively charged trace mineral (anion). As your organic matter declines so does your boron, as it is the most leachable of all trace elements. However this dairy farmer’s boron neglect cost him more than a poor lime response. There was virtually no clover on his entire property because legumes are boron-hungry and will struggle when boron drops to these levels. The lack of clover was also related to urea abuse as legumes never thrive in high N situations. When most people think of legumes they think of nitrogen fixation and the associated reduced requirement for applied N. However, legumes offer more than this. Legumes constantly release organic acids which are invaluable in solubilising locked-up phosphorus (over 70% of applied phosphate becomes insoluble) and they also make calcium more bio-available which is beneficial to both soil organisms and plants. So you get nitrogen, calcium and phosphorus from legumes and you don’t get a good legume to grass ratio without boron. These calcium and legume links should offer enough motivation for you to manage boron nutrition but this highly leachable trace element provides several other benefits."

Source Link:
https://blog.nutri-tech.com.au/the-role-of-boron-much-more-than-a-synergist/

Follow this link for more good info on what the different companion plants do for the main crop:
https://sensiseeds.com/en/blog/benefits-companion-planting-cannabis/

The companion crops you use depend on environment, indoors mostly nutrient helping companions. outdoor/greenhouse pest detterent companions also.

In reference to the alfalfa...I use it as a nitrogen and triacontanol source, i just use alfalfa pellets from the feed store for my soil. i think i got a 40 or 50 pound bag for like $12 or $15 dollars. Its just ground alfalfa compressed into pellets.
 
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