Mustard - What is it good for
Jim S" wrote in message
On Fri, 22 Sep 2006 18:24:50 GMT, Tim W wrote: Dobies have given me a free packet of mustard seeds. Now I have spooned mustard into a ham sandwich once or twice, even cooked with mustard seeds but what am I supposed to get if I plant these Golden Streaks seeds? Do eat it? Am I supposed to make, er, mustard out of it? And what of the of great trees growing from the tiny seeds? Any advice? Tim w Farmers do use it as green manure, by digging it in. However I believe that's from an August sowing. Better than chucking them in the bin. -- Jim S Jim I have heard mustard plantsv are good at sterilising soil. Know anything about that claim? I found the answer to my own question using a google "Mustard green manure". I never got this answer googling mustard before mind. http://cekern.ucdavis.edu/Custom_Pro...en_Manures.htm But the use of mustards as a green manure for organic matter is intriguing because it also has the added benefit of biofumigation. Mustards, as well as many other brassicas, are able to produce chemicals called glucosinolates. When mustard green manure is incorporated into the soil, these glucosinolates are converted to isothiocyanates (ITC). ITCs are well known to kill or suppress many soil-borne diseases, nematodes, and weeds. The active form of metam sodium, a widely used pesticide, is methyl ITC. Mustards as green manure have been shown to help control several soil-borne pests, by not only the effect of crop rotation and added organic material, but also by its biofumigation effect. It is not likely that biofumigation will provide the level of control as synthetic chemical fumigants. But may be another useful tool growers can use to maintain soil-borne pests to acceptable levels. Many researchers are trying to learn more about these plants and how to best use them. Further research is needed to find how to best take advantage of the biofumigation effect, which cropping systems it may fit into, identifying the best varieties, and how to manage these plants as a green manure crop. Growers are just finding about these advantages and are working them into different cropping systems. Perhaps planting mustards will become another pre-plant routine that growers do to prepare the ground for spring planting |
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