Does anyone have experience with planting a mustard cover crop as a first step in renewing a row?
From what I've read, mustard (or even better, but much more costly--mustard seed meal) is very effective in preventing replant disease. We are contemplating adding a mustard cover crop at the very beginning of row-renewal; right now we do nothing to knock-back the previous trees' microorganisms before building things up again.
I know wheat is also used--Michael mentions it in "The Apple Grower". Has anyone compared the effectiveness of the two? Thanks in advance for any insight.
Door Creek Orchard
Zone 5a in Wisconsin