Cover crop for potassium?

12 years ago

I know there are cover crops for nitrogen and phosphorus (legumes and grain), but what about potassium? And yes a cover crop, not advice on composting or fertilizing. Thank you!

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rhizo_1 (North AL) zone 7

12 years ago

Bucky, are you looking for a cover crop that will 'make' potassium when the soil is deficient? If that's the case, there isn't such a thing. There are crops that do a good job of mining soil potassium and storing it in the plant body (beets, potatoes, yams, buckwheat, and probably others) but cannot manufacture it out of thin air. The legumes, with their nitrogen fixing bacteria colonies, are the only plants that can create plant nutrients out of thin air....atmospheric nitrogen.

If your soil has plenty of potassium, but is inaccessible, you can 'possibly' increase the availability by the proper use of calcium sulphate (gypsum). It's the calcium ions that release the potassium. However, this will only happen if there is adequate soil moisture at all times and only in certain types of soil. It is not a pH related chemical reaction, I don't believe.

The use of a leguminous cover crop would probably be of great benefit in such instances, as nitrogen appears to be involved in the release of potassium, as well.

Your local extension office will have information pertinent for your native soils and what practices appear to be most successful in creating and fostering healthy soils. The gypsum relationship won't work everywhere, for example.

But, the most important tidbit of information you need to walk away with is that there is no cover crop that can make its own potassium. If, however, you are looking for a crops that have high K requirements and store it for harvesting, just google 'foods high in potassium'.

By the way, many legumes are high in K. You'll be recycling plenty of K PLUS making nitrogen!

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Comments (9)

terrestrial_man
12 years ago
Sweet potatoes, beets, and russet potatoes.
BuckyWheaty
Original Author
12 years ago
Thanks for the help, how do you know this?
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terrestrial_man
12 years ago
Just found out last night! Check the link. Now I know why I love potatoes as I need potassium.

Here is a link that might be useful: Play the slide show here
sam_md
12 years ago
In my area the use of cover crops is a widespread practice. It is mainly to protect the soil in winter and reduce soil erosion. My state's Dept of Ag is keen to reduce agricultural soil erosion to protect Chesapeake Bay.
We have workshops on this topic every year.
As I understand it, we have no shortage of K in our soils. K is most often insoluble/unavailable to plants. K can be made available to plants by adding recommended amounts of limestone for the desired crop.
taxonomist
12 years ago
Seems to me that all of you are very badly in need of a short course in chemistry. Most potassium compounds are extremely soluble at all pH levels. In addition, I do not believe that ordinary dolomitic limestone has much of a potassium content!!!
leftwood
12 years ago
Buckwheat is worth checking out. It is supposed to be especially good for either potassium or phosphorus. (My memory is too hazy to say for sure...)

Rick
ronalawn82
12 years ago
BuckyWheaty, rhizo 1 is right. Nutrient availability depends upon the chemical AND physical conditions of the soil. One important property is Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC). It is classified as a Chemical property BUT my opinion wavers because the reactions change as physical conditions vary. It has been a long time since I sat in any Chemistry class.
Here is a site to check out.
http://www.nj.nrcs.usda.gov/partnerships/envirothon/soils/soilproperties.html
Christopher Henderson
8 years ago
You have to use potash. (Ashes from burned wood) This will give you potassium chloride. GET IT WET and dump it onto your fields and DO not throw it on dry. If you breathe ANY of it in it can kill you within weeks. I will look for another cover crop, but the easiest and most efficient way to regenerate potassium is potash.