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Best crop rotations


Crop Rotation 101: Tips for Vegetable Gardens

If you grow tomatoes or other crops in the same garden bed year after year, you’re likely to notice an increase in pests and diseases. Break the cycle! Take a moment to learn about the basics of crop rotation. Your plants will thank you with a bigger, healthier harvest.

In the mad rush to get the garden planted in the spring, we forget all about something as important as crop rotation, which helps to slow the spread of garden pests and plant diseases. In the example of tomatoes, simply moving the tomato plants across the garden to where the squashes grew this past year is enough to throw off those hornworms! This fall, take a moment to practice crop rotation while planning out your spring garden.

What Is Crop Rotation?

The concept of crop rotation is simple: It’s the practice of not planting the same crops in the same place in back-to-back years. By not planting the exact same vegetables in the exact same spot every year, you can avoid having pests and diseases continuously build up in the soil.  If you move the crop, the pest or disease has no host on which to live. Ideally, rotate a vegetable (or vegetable family) so that it grows in a particular place once out of every 3 to 4 years.

For example, if you planted tomatoes in the same garden bed year after year, they’re more likely to be hit by the same pests or diseases that affected your tomato crop last year. So you’d want to plant them in a different bed in the following year. Then, in that first bed, you’d plant a different sort of crop such as carrots, broccoli, or chard. Finally, in the third year, you could plant tomatoes in their original spot again.

The purpose of crop rotation is not only to avoid pest problems, but to also consider the soil health and the nutrients that different plants need from the soil.

Photo by John Braid/Shutterstock

Crop Rotation Families

The key to successful crop rotation is “all in the family.” Even though tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, and potatoes look nothing alike, they are kissing cousins in the same botanical family, the nightshades (Solanaceae).

Here are the major family groupings:

  1. Alliums: Onions, shallots, leeks, and garlic.
  2. Legumes: Green beans, green peas, southern peas, peanuts, soybeans. All legumes are soil “fixers” and share the benefit of adding nitrogen back to the soil. 
  3. Brassicas: Broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts, turnip greens, radishes, collards, Chinese cabbage, mustard greens, and collards. Share pest issues and often need to be netted to block cabbage moths. Need nitrogen-rich soil. Plant after the legume (bean) family.
  4. Nightshades: Tomatoes, eggplant, peppers, and potatoes. All heavy feeders which need rich soil. Affected by the same diseases. Never follow tomatoes after potatoes.
  5. Umbellifers: Carrots, parsnips, fennel, parsley, and dill.
  6. Cucurbits: Zucchini and summer quash, cukes, pumpkins and winter squash, melons (watermelon, cantaloupe), and gourds. All heavy feeders that grow best in rich soil. 

There are many more families, but some have only one member that we would grow in a home vegetable garden, like corn, okra, or sweet potatoes. In a small garden, you can group some families together, like putting brassicas with legumes and lettuce to make rotations easier.

There are exceptions to crop rotation; perennial vegetables and herbs shouldn’t be moved each year, since they stay in the ground year-round. For example, mint spreads easily and is often best contained to one bed, and asparagus needs to settle into a spot for several years before it’s ready to be harvested. 

Lessen Disease and Insect Problems

Members of each family often suffer from the same pests and diseases, so planting a variety of crops from different families is a good way to lessen (or slow down) pest and disease damage. 

For example, soil-borne diseases can build up after years of growing the same plants in the same place. Crop rotation might not cure all of your disease problems, but it can make a dent. As for insects, moving crops around can make it harder for overwintering pests to find their first meal come springtime.

Get to the Root of Crop Rotation

Crop rotation also benefits the health of soil, structurally speaking. Plants with different root lengths benefit the soil by aerating it in different ways. Deeply rooted crops such as tomatoes, carrots, or beets break up the soil, creating channels for air and water as they seek out minerals in the subsoil, bringing them up closer to the surface where other plants can use them next year.

Alternate Heavy and Light Feeders

Another aspect of crop rotation is alternating “heavy” feeders (plants that use a lot of nutrients) with “light” feeders (plants that use less nutrients) in order to reduce nutrient demands on your soil.

Heavy feeders, including corn, lettuce, broccoli, tomatoes, and cukes, require a lot of nitrogen to produce their flowers, fruit, and leaves. Give their beds a rest by planting carrots, potatoes, beets, or onions, which don’t need as much.

To add nitrogen naturally, plant legumes such as peas or beans, as they accumulate nitrogen-fixing bacteria on their roots. In the fall, don’t pull these plants up; clip them off and let the roots decay in the soil. They will leave behind nitrogen that is accessible to next year’s plants.

See our video demonstrating how to rotate your vegetables.

Planning Crop Rotation in Your Garden

Depending on the size of your garden, you can plan rotations that cover 3, 4, 5, 6 or more years, with 3 years being the minimum recommended.

As noted above, the best way to rotate annual vegetables is to group them by their plant family, since they are susceptible to the same pests and diseases and also have similar maintenance requirements. For instance, all plants in the cabbage family are best grown together, as this makes it easier to net them against cabbage moths and birds—and there’s no risk of accidentally passing on crop-specific soil-dwelling pests and diseases to the next crop.

A handy way to set crop order is to give each plant family a shade relating to the colors of the rainbow, as shown below. Using this order of rotation is optional, but it helps to make sure that the soil is in the correct condition for the following crop. The numbers listed in the diagram tell you:

Rotating small gardens can be more challenging, given lack of space, but it’s still important. See our Four-Bed Crop Rotation Plan for Small Gardens. 

Keeping a Record

Crop rotation is not as complicated as it sounds, but it can be hard to keep track of. Don’t rely on memory alone, particularly if you are growing different amounts of a variety of crops!

Just roughly sketch your garden and write down what you have planted where and by plant family. (It can also be helpful to keep a list of the variety names.)

Even Easier: Online Tool!

This is where the online Garden Planner really shows its usefulness. Rather than having to remember a complete planning history of which vegetables were grown where over the past 3 to 5 years, and which family each vegetable belongs to, the tool just takes care of that for you. 

Each plant icon is color-coded similar to the chart above so that you can quickly see at a glance which family it belongs to.  When you plan a new season, it remembers what you have planted before and shows a red warning signal if you should avoid planting a vegetable in the area. 

Try out the Vegetable Garden Planner (for PC & Mac). It’s free for 7 days so you can understand its amazing benefits.

Bottom-line: The simplest rule is to grow your crops in different areas. Crop rotation is the best preventative medicine you can give to your garden!

A simple garden plan will be your best friend next year when it comes time to decide where those tomatoes should go. 

for the best vegetable harvests |

(Image credit: Leigh Clapp/Future)

Crop rotation is a useful tool to build and maintain soil health and fight pests and diseases organically.  

The simple aim of crop rotation is to increase the yields of vegetables you grow as part of your vegetable garden ideas. The principle involves rotating crops in different beds over successive years.

This is just one of the many practices you can employ as part of your permaculture gardening, but it is not needed in all cases of crop growing.

Crop rotation – for beginners

(Image credit: Future / Mathia Coco)

Crop rotation is an important part of integrated pest and soil management, and is one of the ways to help to improve soil health. It is useful when growing annual vegetables and can be employed in a large or small vegetable garden.

‘Many of us get in a spin over crop rotations,’ says Anton Rosenfeld of Garden Organic . ‘There are so many different diagrams in gardening books it’s difficult to be sure which is the right one, or even why we should bother to do it,’ he continues. ‘Let’s get one thing straight: there is no single “correct” rotation’.

The most commonly used pattern is a 4 crop rotation, which would take place over 4 years. Green manures, such as grazing rye, vetch and clover are used during winter where there are no crops in the ground and these can be used as part of the rotation, or as an addition to the rotations. 

Crops to include in crop rotation

(Image credit: Emma Bailey)

Not all crops need to be included in crop rotations. Crops are divided into 5 main categories:

When you are planning a kitchen garden, it is useful to know which variety of vegetable your chosen crops fall into as then you can decide on the best crop rotation – or if it is needed at all.

The Legume family – fabaceae – are known as ‘nitrogen fixing’ plants. They have a symbiotic relationship with a type of bacteria that can convert atmospheric nitrogen into a form that is readily available for plants. The bacteria do this for the plant in exchange for real estate in the form of nodules on the plants roots. The legumes help to replenish soil nitrogen levels, which are key to healthy plant growth. 

There are some crops that are not included in crop rotation. For instance if you are growing zucchini and other cucurbits, or sweetcorn, these are not included in crop rotations. These crops can simply be grown wherever it is convenient, providing that they aren’t grown in the same place too often.

Crop rotation can be a very valuable tool in minimizing pests and diseases organically, and in replenishing soil nutrients, so is an excellent sustainable garden idea. 

Crop rotation for pests and diseases

(Image credit: Becky Searle)

Pests and diseases often live in the soil. Pests like flea beetles, slugs, fungus gnats and leaf miners overwinter in the soil. If the plants that they favor are planted in the same soil they are overwintering in, they will have an easy time finding food the following year. 

If we rotate our crops we give ourselves the best chance of pests that we had during the previous year not recurring the following year – so is a form of natural pest control for a wildlife friendly garden

Diseases such as white rot, which affects alliums, also lives in the soil. If the white rot is unable to find a host – your alliums – it will die off. It is therefore important to rotate crops when you have a problem such as this one, to allow it to die off and the soil to become a healthy environment once more. 

In addition to using crop rotation to avoid pests and diseases in the soil, companion planting can help to deter pests from your veg crops, as well as attract beneficial insects.

Crop rotation for soil nutrients

(Image credit: Mark Bolton)

Crop rotation always incorporates legumes, that are known to help fix nitrogen in the soil. Most ecosystems are nitrogen limited, and vegetables need a lot of nitrogen to support their fast growth. Adding nitrogen to the soil in a liquid form is relatively unsustainable and can, over time, cause the soil to become saline and therefore hostile to a lot of plants. 

Crop rotation is just one element of maintaining healthy soils. Soil is an important ecosystem in the garden and as such we should try to minimize our disturbance of the soil, such as by using no dig gardening practices, and ensure to add organic matter, including homemade compost to feed the life in the soil. 

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Do I have to rotate my crops?

In the garden it is not always necessary to rotate crops, and we certainly should not let this put us off growing food. If you are new to vegetable growing, and deciding when to plant vegetables you are growing on a small scale, you should concentrate more on building organic matter in your soil.

‘I don't use a system of crop rotation because my growing beds are polycultures and I mulch around crops on a constant basis of little and often,’ Says Liz Zorab, author of Grounded .  

'I might make sure I don't grow brassicas in the same place in a bed immediately following the last crop, but they too are usually mixed with alliums, companion flowers and root crops. Growing a mix of vegetables in each bed reduces the risks of nutrient depletion of any one nutrient and equally the over-concentration of something else,' she adds.

How often should I rotate my crops?

It is a matter of personal preference as to how often you rotate your crops. 

The most common pattern is that of a 4 crop rotation, which takes place over 4 years, or 4 seasons if you live in zones where snow cover over winter is not an issue. 

There is also a pattern of 3 crop rotation, which takes place over 3 years. 

A 4 year rotation pattern is generally followed if the space that you are using will allow for it as this gives you the best chance of fighting pests and diseases in your soil and allowing your soil time to replenish with nitrogen. 

(Image credit: CJP/Getty Images)

What is the 4 crop rotation?

A common pattern of crop rotation is the 4 crop rotation. This rotation takes into account common crop problems and ensures that a nitrogen fixing crop is used to replenish soil nutrients. 

The 4 crop rotation works over 4 years or seasons, in 4 different sections. So that the same crops are being grown each year, in different locations. Alliums and Umbellifers are grown together in the same rotation. The pattern rotates between Legumes, Brassicas, Nightshades and Alliums and Umbellifers. 

An example of the 4 crop rotation is as follows:

Year 1

Bed 1: Legumes

Bed 2: Brassicas

Bed 3: Nightshades

Bed 4: Alliums and Umbellifers

Year 2

Bed 1: Brassicas

Bed 2: Nightshades

Bed 3: Alliums and Umbellifers

Bed 4: Legumes

Year 3

Bed1: Nightshades

Bed 2: Alliums and Umbellifers

Bed 3: Legumes

Bed 4: Brassicas

Year 4

Bed 1: Alliums and Umbellifers

Bed 2: Legumes

Bed 3: Brassicas

Bed 4: Nightshades

To put it simply, Brassicas follow legumes, nightshades follow brassicas, alliums and umbellifers follow nightshades and legumes follow alliums and umbellifers. Then the cycles continues for as many years, over as many beds as you wish. 

(Image credit: Yeo Valley Organic Garden)

What is 3 year crop rotation?

Another common pattern of crop rotation is the 3 crop rotation. With this rotation, legumes are combined with alliums and umbellifers. The pattern remains the same, but occurs over 3 years or seasons. This pattern is more suited to smaller spaces. It is also slightly less complicated if you are new to crop rotation or vegetable gardening. 

A typical 3 crop rotation would look like this:

Year 1

Bed 1: Legumes, Alliums and Umbellifers

Bed 2: Brassicas

Bed 3: Nightshades

Year 2

Bed 1: Brassicas

Bed 2: Nightshades

Bed 3: Legumes, Alliums and Umbellifers

Year 3

Bed 1: Nightshades

Bed 2: Legumes, Alliums, Umbellifers

Bed 3: Brassicas

Crop rotation can not only help you to achieve bigger and healthier crops of your favorite vegetables, but also helps the environment, as it preserves soil health and helps to control pests and diseases organically.  

Many of the easiest vegetables to grow can be included in crop rotations, so what's not to like about it?

Becky is a freelance writer, blogger, and podcaster. Her blog, Sow Much More and her podcast The Seed Pod are aimed at making organic gardening more accessible and encourage others to grow their own food. 

Proper crop rotation

To increase and restore soil fertility, green manure should be used, as well as crop rotation - crop rotation. It should be borne in mind that plants of the same family are in most cases susceptible to damage by the same pests and diseases, so one of the basic principles of proper crop rotation is the alternation of crops of different families .

In various soil and climatic zones of the country, crop rotations have been mastered and are used today, differing from each other in a number of indicators. nine0011 Why crop rotation is needed

The ratio of different crops to growing in repeated and permanent crops and in crop rotation is not the same. According to the reaction to repeated cultivation, the main crops can be divided into three groups:

The main reasons for the decline in crop yields in repeated and permanent crops are the spread of diseases (root rot of cereals, root beetle of sugar beet), pests (winter scoop, wireworm, baby, Colorado potato beetle, etc.), weeds (sunflower top, dodder ). When alternating crops that differ in growing technology and biological characteristics, these causes are eliminated. When placing crops in a crop rotation, it is assumed that all of them are sown after the best predecessors. When evaluating predecessors, they take into account the timing of their collection, the reserves of moisture and nutrients that they leave in the root layer, the amount of plant residues and their quality, the physical condition of the soil and its infestation with weeds and pathogens and pests after their cultivation. nine0005

- See more at: http://www.fermer.org.ua/stati/rastenievodstvo/agronomija/pravilnyi-sevoborot-11254.html#sthash.SlHhhD5L.dpuf

permanent crops and crop rotation is not the same. According to the reaction to repeated cultivation, the main crops can be divided into three groups:

The main reasons for the decline in crop yields in repeated and permanent crops are the spread of diseases (root rot of cereals, sugar beet root beetle), pests (winter scoop, wireworm, baby, Colorado potato beetle, etc.), weeds (sunflower top, dodder). When alternating crops that differ in growing technology and biological characteristics, these causes are eliminated. When placing crops in a crop rotation, it is assumed that all of them are sown after the best predecessors. When evaluating predecessors, they take into account the timing of their collection, the reserves of moisture and nutrients that they leave in the root layer, the amount of plant residues and their quality, the physical condition of the soil and its infestation with weeds and pathogens and pests after their cultivation. nine0011 Placement in crop rotations of winter crops

The best predecessors for them are clean and busy fallows. Pairs are used only in the steppe and southeastern regions of the Forest-Steppe. Pure pairs are subdivided into black, early and rocker pairs. The main processing of black fallows begins in the summer or autumn after harvesting the predecessor, for early fallows - in the spring of the next year. High-stemmed plants are sown in strips (backstage) on the rocker pairs across the direction of the prevailing winds (to prevent wind erosion of the soil). nine0005

Pure fallows, as weeds appear during the spring-summer period, are processed by cultivators with harrows, by the time of sowing winter crops, they accumulate and store in the upper soil layer a sufficient amount of moisture and nutrients, which under any weather conditions guarantees a friendly winter sprouts. The fallow-occupying crops include winter crops (colza, rapeseed, perco, vetch, rye, wheat) and spring crops (oats, vetch, peas, lupins, corn, sorghum) for green fodder. They are grown in pure crops or as mixtures. After harvesting the fallow-occupying crops, there is still enough time to prepare the field for sowing and accumulate a sufficient amount of moisture and nutrients in the seed layer. Busy couples are used in all zones of Ukraine. Valuable predecessors for winter crops are also perennial grasses for one (Forest-steppe and Steppe) and two (Polesie) slopes, sweet clover for green mass. On the soils of Polissya, winter crops are placed on green manure fallows, where the green mass of legumes (lupine) is grown for green manure. nine0005

Of the non-fallow predecessors, peas are the best for winter crops in different regions, and lupine in Polissya. Flax, potatoes, corn for silage are good non-fallow predecessors for winter crops in Polissya regions, and gourds, sorghum and corn for silage in the steppe regions. In the Forest-Steppe, corn for silage is the worst predecessor, since after its harvest (the third decade of August) there is little time left for the sowing of winter crops (the first decade of September). During this period, a sufficient amount of moisture does not accumulate in the seed layer of the soil to obtain friendly seedlings of the sown crop. nine0011 Placement in crop rotations of spring crops

Spring wheat in Ukraine is sown after tilled crops - potatoes, corn, sugar beets, etc. For barley, the best predecessor is potatoes, for corn, winter wheat, peas, and in areas of sufficient moisture, potatoes and sugar beets. Corn tolerates repeated crops better than other cereals. For green mass and silage corn, sugar beets and sunflowers are good predecessors. For barley and peas, corn and sugar beet are equivalent predecessors. High yields of these crops are after potatoes. Yields of barley and peas are sharply reduced in repeated crops. In the steppe regions, winter wheat is a good predecessor for barley. nine0005

Oats are grown after the same predecessors as barley. The best predecessor for soybeans is winter wheat, and from tilled crops - potatoes. For millet and buckwheat - winter wheat, and from row crops - potatoes, sugar and fodder beets.

Lupine in Polissya regions is well sown after winter wheat and potatoes, worse after barley and oats. Sugar beet reacts not only to predecessors, but also to precursors. The best predecessor for it is winter wheat after perennial grasses and occupied fallows, and in the steppe regions - a link with pure fallow. Poor predecessors for sugar beets are corn and millet. In repeated crops, due to the deterioration of phytosanitary conditions, the yield of root crops is sharply reduced. nine0005

Potatoes should be planted after winter wheat, and in Polissya regions after winter rye, flax, clover, lupine for grain. It tolerates repeated and permanent plantings better than other crops.

Sunflower is sown after winter wheat, potatoes. Less valuable predecessors for it are barley and corn. In repeated crops, its yield decreases sharply, so sunflower can be returned to its original place no earlier than after 7–8 years.

Flax is placed after winter wheat and clover. Its high yields should be when sowing after potatoes. Perennial grasses are sown under spring or winter cereals and corn for green fodder. The best cover crop is barley, somewhat worse is oats, and of winter crops, respectively, wheat and rye. In fodder rotations, the cover crop can be annual grasses for green fodder or hay. In the steppe regions, coverless summer crops of perennial grasses are used on clean fallows. From leguminous grasses in areas of sufficient moisture, clover is grown, in arid areas - sainfoin and alfalfa. In fodder and soil-protective crop rotations for long-term (2–3 years or more) use of perennial grasses, legume-cereal mixtures are used. nine0005

Clean fallows are placed after crops that deplete the soil more and worsen the growing conditions of subsequent crops. The forerunners of steam are sunflower, Sudanese grass, less often - spring cereals, millet. In the Forest-Steppe, after these predecessors, fallow-occupying crops are grown, the most common of which are spring cereal-bean mixtures for green fodder and hay.
Intercrops in a crop rotation

Intercrops are plants that are sown and yield before sowing (planting) or after harvesting the main crop. The introduction of intermediate crops into crop rotation makes it possible to obtain two crops per year from the same land area. Depending on the timing and methods of sowing, as well as the period of cultivation, they are divided into undersowing, stubble, mowing and winter crops. nine0005

Undersown crops are sown under the cover of the main crop (spring or winter) and harvested in the autumn of the same year. They grow vigorously after the cover crop is harvested and continue to develop until frost.

Stubble and hay crops are sown after harvesting the main crop and harvested in the same year. Harvest crops differ from stubble crops by earlier sowing dates. Stubble and hay crops can be the same crop. For example, corn will be stubble if it is sown after harvesting winter rye and wheat for grain, and it will be stubble if it is sown after harvesting winter crops for green or other types of fodder. nine0005

Winter crops are sown under cover or after harvest of the main crop and harvested the following year in the spring before sowing the main crop.

Catch crops are mainly used for livestock feed in various forms (green fodder, haylage, silage, hay flour), as well as for green manure. In southern areas with sufficient moisture or on irrigated lands with a long growing season, some intermediate crops produce a full second crop from the same area. nine0011 Variants of crop rotation

Today in Ukraine various variants of crop rotation are used, depending on a number of indicators of the zone in which they are used. We are talking about the species composition of crops, the ratio of their individual species or entire groups of crops (row and continuous sowing), the number of fields, the presence of a hatching field, etc.

The modern classification of crop rotations is based on the type of product produced in the rotation and the ratio of individual groups of crops and fallows. The first indicator is used as the basis for dividing crop rotations into types, the second - into types. Depending on the type of crop production, all crop rotations are divided into four types: field, fodder, vegetable and special. nine0005

Field crop rotations are intended primarily for the production of food and feed grains and raw materials for the processing industry. Therefore, most of the area in them is allocated for grain and industrial crops. Part of the sown area in field crop rotations can be occupied by fodder crops, but the complete provision of livestock with fodder is not included in the tasks of a field crop rotation. As a rule, all crops that are grown within a field rotation do not require a special soil environment or special growing conditions. In the field crop rotations of the Steppe, in addition to agricultural crops, part of the area is allotted for pure fallow. nine0005

Field crop rotations are an obligatory element of the farming system of the vast majority of farms in Ukraine. The differences between the field crop rotations of large collective and farm or leased farms are limited only by the quantitative composition of the crops that are grown and the number of fields into which the entire land mass under the crop rotation is divided.

A typical example for large farms would be a field rotation with crop rotation:

Forage crop rotations are intended for the cultivation of predominantly forage crops, although other plant groups may also occupy part of the area. In fodder crop rotations, the bulk of succulent fodder is produced. Depending on the species composition of fodder crops and location, fodder crop rotations are divided into near-farm and meadow. By farming is meant such a subtype of fodder crop rotation, the fields of which are “cut” near livestock farms and are intended for the production of mainly heavy-transported fodder in the form of root crops and green mass. Food grains and industrial crops are practically not grown in farm rotations. nine0005

Typical in the forest-steppe zone will be near-farmer crop rotation with the following set and alternation of crops: alfalfa - alfalfa - alfalfa - corn for silage - winter rye for green mass, post-harvest corn for green fodder - fodder beet - corn for green mass with alfalfa oversowing .

Grassland rotation is placed primarily on natural forage land unsuitable for growing most field crops. These are floodplain and low-lying lands, which are flooded in spring with flood and melt waters. nine0005

Before laying such lands, meadow crop rotations are introduced with the following tentative set and alternation of crops: vetch or oats - potatoes, fodder beet - barley with oversowing of perennial grasses - perennial grasses - perennial grasses - perennial grasses.

Sown grasses are grass mixtures, which include common bluegrass, cocksfoot, perennial ryegrass, pink clover, red foxtail, etc. To create sown pastures, grass mixtures include grass species whose plants withstand trampling well and grow well after grazing. These are meadow timothy, meadow fescue, awnless bonfire, perennial ryegrass, meadow bluegrass, red fescue, white bent grass, white clover, horned bird's-foot. nine0005

An example of a meadow crop rotation can be such an alternation of crops: vetch or oats with oversowing of cereal-legume mixtures of perennial grasses - perennial grasses - perennial grasses - perennial grasses - perennial grasses - perennial grasses.

In order for the period of use of perennial grasses in such crop rotations to be long, the green mass is mowed for one or two years, and after the formation of sod, it is grazed by cattle. On land lands, meadow crop rotation is introduced as an anti-erosion agent. nine0005

Vegetable is a type of crop rotation in which vegetables occupy all or most of the area. Like field crops, vegetables respond differently to placement in a crop rotation. Therefore, according to the recommendations of scientific institutions of Ukraine:

One of the variants of vegetable crop rotation can be vegetable peas with post-harvest sowing of annual crops for green fodder - tomatoes - cucumbers, zucchini - table beets, onions. nine0005

Vegetable crop rotations are introduced in suburban farms and placed mainly on low-lying lands.

Special is a crop rotation in which crops are grown that require special conditions - agricultural activities. This type includes, for example, rice crop rotation, since for growing rice it is necessary to prepare checks in advance, which are filled with water after sowing. In addition to rice, the crop rotation scheme includes perennial leguminous grasses of two years' use and an agro-reclamation field where annual grasses are grown. nine0005

The scheme of rice crop rotation can be as follows: alfalfa - alfalfa - rice - rice - rice - agro-meliorative field - rice - rice.

Place such a crop rotation on low-lying and well-leveled lands and close to a water source.

Each type of crop rotation can include different types. There are grain-fallow, grain-rowed, grain-fallow-rowed, grain-grass, grain-fallow-grass, grass-rowed, row-crop, grass-field and grain-grass-rowed (crop-crop).

Grain-fallow - a type of field crop rotation with grain crops of continuous sowing and pure fallow.

For example: bare fallow - winter wheat - winter barley - spring wheat - millet. Such crop rotations are used only in the arid regions of the Steppe.

Grain-rowed is a type of field crop rotation in which a large share in the structure of sown areas is occupied by grains of continuous sowing, alternating with row crops.

Example of such rotations:

Grain-fallow-rowed is the most common type of field crop rotation in the steppe zone. In it, in addition to tilled crops and pure fallow, grains of continuous sowing are grown on a larger area. nine0005

An example is a nine-field crop rotation: bare fallow - winter wheat - winter barley - corn - barley - corn - peas - winter wheat - sunflower.

Grain-grass crop rotation provides for the cultivation on a large area of ​​grain crops of continuous sowing, alternating with perennial and annual grasses. This type includes a special rice crop rotation and individual options for field crop rotations.

An example of a field grain-grass crop rotation: peas - winter wheat - vetch-oats with undersowing of alfalfa - alfalfa - alfalfa - winter wheat - barley - oats. nine0005

Grain-grass field and fodder crop rotations are also called soil-protective crop rotations and are used as an anti-erosion measure on the lands of the second technological group with a slope of 3–7 °.

Grain-fallow-grass is a type of field crop rotation, in which, in addition to grain crops of continuous sowing, a smaller area is occupied by pure fallow and perennial grasses.

For example, pure fallow - winter wheat - winter barley with oversowing of sainfoin - sainfoin - winter wheat - oats, millet. This type of crop rotation can be used in the northern and central regions of the Steppe. nine0005

Row grass can be a type of field, fodder or vegetable crop rotation in which row crops alternate with perennial and annual grasses.

An example of a fodder crop rotation of this kind is the scheme: corn for green fodder and is-oats with undersowing of alfalfa - alfalfa - alfalfa - corn for silage - fodder beets.

Grass-rowed crop rotations are unreasonable to use in a very arid Steppe, where unfavorable conditions for perennial grasses develop. nine0005

Row crop rotations are characterized by the fact that all or most of the area in them is occupied by row crops. This type is typical for vegetable crop rotations, although it can be field and fodder. For example, corn for silage - buckwheat - sugar beets - corn - potatoes - soybeans - sunflower.

Such field crop rotations are introduced only on the lands of the first technological group with a slope steepness of not more than three, and only when the share of such lands is insignificant. nine0005

Grass field crop rotations are characterized by the fact that most of the area is occupied by perennial grasses, less by cereals and industrial crops, and in forage crops by annual crops for green fodder and silage and fodder root crops. An example is a seven-field fodder crop rotation with such an alternation of crops: vetch-oats with overseeding of a cereal-bean mixture - grass mixtures - grass mixtures - grass mixtures - grass mixtures - grass mixtures - corn for silage.

Grain-grass-rowed or crop rotation - a type of field, fodder or vegetable crop rotation, in which crops that are close in biological characteristics and technology of growing crops are not repeated. The best option is a crop rotation in which annual crops alternate with perennial crops, legumes with non-legumes, winter crops with spring crops, row crops with continuous sowing crops. In such crop rotations, the best phytosanitary condition of the soil environment and the opportunity to obtain environmentally friendly crop products are ensured.

An example is a field crop rotation scheme: peas - winter wheat - corn - barley with clover or sainfoin undersowing - clover or sainfoin - winter wheat - sugar beet, sunflower - corn for silage - winter barley. This option is typical for the forest-steppe zone and the northern Steppe. nine0005

In the lenose-growing regions of Polissya, the following crop rotation is practiced in crop rotation: clover - winter wheat - flax - potatoes - lupins - winter wheat - corn for silage - winter rye, barley with clover undersowing. However, the above classification of crop rotations cannot be considered complete. Along with the indicated types and species, there are many intermediate forms, which are characterized by a transition from one type or type of crop rotation to another. For example, such a form can be a fodder-vegetable crop rotation, in which, in addition to fodder, vegetable crops are grown in one or two fields. Forage and vegetable crop rotations are being introduced mainly in suburban farms, where the demand for vegetable products is growing. nine0005

Dependence on the sowing zone

In the forest-steppe zone in general-purpose farms, the structure of the sown areas of the field crop rotation has 55–65% of grain crops (about 30% winter wheat, 10% corn, 7–8% barley, 2–3% buckwheat, 2–3% millet, 7–8% peas), 15–20% technical (12–13% sugar beet and 2–5% sunflower) and 20–25% fodder crops (winter and spring annuals for green fodder and silage, root and perennial grasses).

A ten-field crop rotation common in the zone with the following approximate alternation of crops: spring cereals - legume mixtures and corn for green fodder and silage - winter wheat and barley - sugar and fodder beets, potatoes - barley, oats with oversowing of clover or sainfoin - clover or sainfoin - winter wheat - sugar beet - peas - winter wheat, rye, barley - corn, sunflower, millet, buckwheat. nine0005

If the economy specializes in the production of pork, the share of crops for green mass and silage in the structure of sown areas is minimal and the share of grain forage crops due to corn and barley is maximum. The share of industrial crops remains recommended for the zone.

With such a ratio of individual groups of crops, the crop rotation scheme can look like this: vetch-peas-oats, corn for green fodder and silage, peas - winter wheat and barley - sugar and fodder beets, potatoes, corn - barley with clover undersowing, barley - clover, peas - winter wheat - sugar beet - corn - barley - corn, sunflower. nine0005

In the farm, which specializes in the production of milk and rearing of young cattle, the share of crops for green fodder and silage, legumes for hay is growing in the forage group. Among grain forage crops, preference is given to corn.

The scheme of a specialized field crop rotation in this case can be as follows: winter and spring crops for green fodder, peas - winter wheat - sugar and fodder beets - corn - barley, oats with alfalfa undersowing - alfalfa - alfalfa - winter wheat - sugar beet, sunflower - corn for silage. nine0005

With the specialization of agro-formation in the production of beef, silage crops prevail in the fodder group, and corn crops expand among cereals due to the reduction in areas under winter wheat.

For this type of farming, a crop rotation with a similar set and alternation of crops is indicative: annual cereals-legumes, corn for silage - winter wheat - sugar and fodder beet - corn for grain and silage - barley, oats with clover undersowing - double clover -three cuttings - corn - peas - winter wheat - sugar beet, sunflower. In agricultural enterprises located close to sugar factories and with a flat terrain, in order to reduce the cost of transporting root crops and from an environmental point of view, it is advisable to bring beet crops to three fields in a ten-field crop rotation by reducing the area of ​​​​beet in farms remote from sugar factories and on eroded lands unsuitable for growing this crop. The scheme of such a specialized crop rotation can be as follows: corn for green mass, vetch-oats - winter wheat - sugar beet - barley with oversowing of clover or sainfoin - clover or sainfoin - winter wheat - sugar beet - peas - winter wheat - sugar beet. nine0005

According to fermer.org.ua

Crop rotation ⋆ blumgarden.ru

Crop rotation is the most important agricultural technique, without which it is impossible to obtain high yields of vegetables, greens and other crops. The main rule is not to plant one crop for several years in a row in one place, as pests and diseases characteristic of it accumulate in the soil. Another reason for crop rotation is soil fatigue, which is expressed in the fact that some vegetables re-grown in the same place do not grow well, remain oppressed throughout the growing season and bring a low yield. Moreover, weak plants are easily damaged by pests and diseases. nine0005

Often, soil fatigue is associated with the depletion of the soil in the element (or elements) of nutrition that are required by a given crop in an increased amount. However, this is not the only and not the main cause of soil fatigue. Despite the presence of all the necessary nutrients in the soil, it occurs, which is associated with the reaction of vegetable crops to their own root secretions. Vegetables of the quinoa family - beets, spinach, chard - are especially strongly inhibited by their own root secretions. Therefore, they can be called self-poisoners. If you re-grow carrots, celery, parsley and peas in one place, their oppression is also noticeable. However, corn, tomatoes and other nightshade, pumpkin and cabbage crops are almost not oppressed by their own root secretions. nine0005

Moreover, crop rotation becomes especially important after outbreaks of fungal and bacterial diseases.

Draw a plan of the garden on paper. That is, divide the rectangle into four parts: crops are placed on one of them, under which organic fertilizers must be applied. For example, cabbage, cucumber, zucchini, pumpkin, tomato. On the other - plants that do not need large doses of fertilizers. For example, onions, garlic, radishes, green crops. The third part is filled with crops, under which only mineral fertilizers or ash are applied. For example, carrots, beets, parsley, parsnips, radishes, daikon, rutabaga, turnips. The remainder is grown early potatoes. Consideration should be given to the compatibility of vegetable plants in crop rotation. nine0005