5 Ways Cover Crops and Fertilizers Can Work Together to Improve Your Fields

We are constantly looking for ways to improve soil health, reduce input costs, and boost crop yields. Combining cover crops with a targeted fertilization program is a proven strategy that supports these goals. Cover crops enhance soil structure, retain nutrients, and increase organic matter, while fertilizers fill nutrient gaps to support optimal plant growth. This partnership not only reduces nutrient loss but also ensures crops receive the full range of nutrients needed for high yields and long-term soil health.

What Are Cover Crops?

Cover crops are plants grown primarily to protect and improve the soil rather than for harvest. Popular options include legumes, grasses, and brassicas, each offering unique benefits:

• Legumes (e.g., clover, vetch): Fix nitrogen, enriching the soil.
• Grasses (e.g., rye, oats): Build soil structure and increase organic matter.
• Brassicas (e.g., radishes): Break up compacted soil and improve water infiltration.

Incorporating cover crops into crop rotations improves the soil’s physical, chemical, and biological properties. Their benefits stem largely from the biomass they produce, which drives improved soil health and nutrient cycling. Fertilizers play a critical role by supporting robust growth and maximizing these benefits, ensuring higher yields and long-term soil health. Here are five ways this powerful partnership can improve your fields:

1. Nutrient Retention and Recycling

• Cover Crops Reduce Nutrient Loss: Cover crops can capture and store nutrients like nitrogen and phosphorus, reducing losses due to leaching or soil erosion during the off-season. For example, cereal rye efficiently traps nutrients, releasing them back into the soil upon decomposition
• Fertilizers Close Nutrient Gaps: While cover crops recycle existing nutrients, fertilizers close nutrient gaps and ensure a balanced supply for optimal plant growth. Products like Polysulphate (a natural, low-salt multi-nutrient fertilizer) provides low-chloride potassium, sulfur, calcium, and magnesium, delivering gradual nutrient release that complements cover crop benefits.

2. Improved Soil Structure

• Cover Crops Build Soil Stability: Deep-rooted cover crops, such as radishes and clover, break up compacted soil and enhance water infiltration, creating a looser, more accessible environment for plant roots to penetrate and absorb nutrients. As these cover crops decompose, they contribute organic matter that further improves soil structure, boosting aeration and overall soil health.
• Fertilizers Enhance Soil Aggregation: Improved soil structure enhances fertilizer absorption by plant roots, maximizing nutrient uptake. With better tilth and increased water retention, nutrients are less prone to loss through runoff or leaching. When combined with cover crops, fertilizers create an environment that fosters more efficient and lasting crop growth. Polysulphate, for instance, supplies essential nutrients that bind soil particles into stable aggregates, improving aeration, water movement, and the soil’s resilience against erosion.

3. Nitrogen Fixation Legume

• Cover Crops Provide Nitrogen: One of the standout benefits of leguminous cover crops, such as clover or vetch, is their ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen into a form that plants can use. This reduces the need for synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, which can be costly and environmentally taxing.
• Fertilizers Balance Nutrition: Even with nitrogen fixation, crops require additional nutrients for optimal growth. Fertilizers fill gaps in phosphorus, potassium, or sulfur to ensure balanced nutrition. Mineral nutrients like K, Mg, Ca are very important for N fixation. Polysulphate, supplies these base minerals and can improve nitrogen fixation in legumes, as well as improve nitrogen use efficiency (NUE), for improved uptake and reduced waste.

4. Organic Matter and Microbial Activity

• Cover Crops Enrich Soil Life: Decomposing cover crops add organic matter, fueling microbial life that supports soil fertility, water retention, and nutrient cycling. This process, along with root exudates, supplies nutrients to microbes, stimulating their growth.
• Fertilizers Support Microbial Health: Even soils rich in organic matter need minerals for proper aeration to support healthy roots and microbial activity. Organic matter and enhanced nutrient fertilizers, like BIOZ® Diamond 10-0-1, enhance microbial activity and nutrient cycling, creating ideal conditions for crop growth. BIOZ, with molasses and yeast extract as microbial food, complements cover crops and, when paired with fertilizers like Agrolution pHLow, can significantly boost yields and improve long-term soil health.

5. Weed Suppression and Erosion Control

• Cover Crops Protect Against Erosion: Biomass production and roots holding soil in place is the key to suppress weed and control erosion. By covering bare soil, cover crops reduce erosion from wind and water. They also suppress weeds by competing for light, nutrients, and water.
• Fertilizers Improve Biomass: Fertilizers increase the rate of growth and biomass produced by out competing weeds and keep weeds from germinating. Plus, a healthier soil structure can often mean fewer herbicide requirements. Keeping the soil covered with living roots and taking an integrated approach to nutrient management creates optimal conditions for sustainable crop productivity.

Healthier Soils, Better Yields

Integrating cover crops with a strategic fertilization program creates a sustainable farming system that boosts soil health and crop productivity. Cover crops reduce nutrient loss, improve soil structure, and enrich microbial activity, making fertilizers more effective and economical. This powerful combination offers a cost-effective, environmentally friendly solution for farmers looking to maximize yields while maintaining long-term soil health. By working together, cover crops and fertilizers strengthen the soil’s natural nutrient cycle, helping farmers grow more with less while protecting their most vital resource—soil.