Screening of Turfgrasses and Clovers for Use as Living Mulches in Sweet Corn and Cabbage

Abstract

Abstract The system of using a living sod intercropped with row crops is aimed at alleviating soil compaction, a major problem for commercial vegetable producers in the United States. Monoculture screening of 30 grasses and 52 legumes was conducted to select groundcovers suitable for use as living mulches with little or no crop suppression. Five turfgrasses and 3 dwarf white clover cultivars were selected from the trial and grown between rows of sweet corn (Zea mays L.) and cabbage (Brassica oleracea var. capitata L.) in the following year. Colonial bentgrass, creeping bentgrass, and a Kentucky bluegrass/white clover mixture significantly reduced sweet corn and cabbage yields. Red fescue adversely affected sweet corn, whereas 2 American white clover cultivars caused yield reductions in cabbage. Growth of Chewing’s fescue, Kentucky bluegrass, and the wild white clover cultivar ‘Kent’ had no effect on sweet corn or cabbage yields. Correlations of living mulch dry weight to vegetable yield parameters were negative and highly significant in both experiments.