WS Soil Builder
WS Soil Builder combines a cereal grain, legumes and brassicas to provide several complementary cover crop functions in one planting. The mix is designed for growers looking to maintain living soil cover, capture nutrients, add biomass, support biological nitrogen fixation and introduce a range of rooting characteristics into the soil profile.
Mix Components
A combination of cereal, legume and brassica species selected to provide complementary soil-building functions.
Multiple Soil-Building Functions in One Mix
By combining cereals, legumes and brassicas, WS Soil Builder brings together species with different nutrient-use patterns, rooting characteristics and residue types.
Biological Nitrogen Fixation
Biomaster peas and bell beans are legumes capable of fixing atmospheric nitrogen when properly inoculated and successfully nodulated. Following termination and decomposition, part of that nitrogen can cycle through the cropping system.
Nutrient Capture
Triticale and the brassica components actively take up soil nutrients while growing. This can help retain residual nutrients in plant biomass during a period when a field might otherwise remain without a growing crop.
Biomass & Residue
Triticale, legumes and brassicas provide several types of plant growth and residue. When conditions support strong establishment, the mix can produce useful biomass that can be returned to the soil following termination.
Rooting Diversity
Fibrous cereal roots are combined with larger legume roots and taprooted brassica species such as daikon radish. This creates a broader range of root architectures within the soil than a single-species cover crop.
Living Soil Cover
Establishing vegetation during an otherwise fallow period keeps more of the soil surface protected while maintaining actively growing roots within the field.
Complementary Functional Groups
Cereals emphasize biomass and nutrient scavenging, legumes contribute biological nitrogen fixation, and brassicas add additional nutrient capture and rooting characteristics.
Agronomic Note: Cover crop performance varies with planting date, soil fertility, rainfall or irrigation, temperature, stand establishment, inoculation and termination timing. Individual species may express differently within the mixture from one field or season to another.
Three Functional Groups Working Together
WS Soil Builder is designed around the idea that different cover crop groups provide different functions. Rather than relying on one species to accomplish every goal, the mix combines cereal, legume and brassica components within the same planting.
Looking to Build More Function Into Your Cover Crop?
Contact Weaver Seed for current WS Soil Builder availability, pricing, packaging options or help determining whether this mix fits your field conditions and soil-management goals.
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