Cover Crop Management for Mid-Atlantic Vegetable Systems.

High-residue cover crops (killed late in growth to provide optimal biomass) are the best way to add organic matter to soil for tilth improvement. Higher soil organic matter concentrations raise soil cation exchange capacities, increase water holding potential, reduce erosion, and assist with nutrient cycling; however, may impact nitrogen management. Objectives for this study include: 1. Determine appropriate nitrogen fertilizer application rates for sweet corn and tomatoes in systems that are utilizing high residue cover crops; 2. Quantify soil health improvement from conversion of conventional tilled vegetable land to land with incorporation of cover crops (tomato and sweet corn) and conservation tillage (sweet corn), 3. Determine nitrogen supply from cover crops, and 4. Disseminate information to farming audiences. For both tomato and sweet corn, we will compare their perspective nitrogen fertilizer needs for each system utilizing no cover crops (control), hairy vetch, cereal rye, and mustard. For sweet corn, an additional comparison will be utilized that compares no-tilled systems to conventional systems to monitor nitrogen use over conversion years. We aim to demonstrate that introduction of high residue cover crops on a large scale bases is both possible and beneficial for vegetable production in Virginia for both conventional and organic growers.