oats as a cover crop

[wsmoak]

A while back I bought a bag of whole oats for the pony, and when I opened them they were moldy. I went back for a refund, but rather that let the feed store throw them away, I asked if I could keep them, and tossed them out in the newly tilled area where the summer tomatoes and peppers had been.

Here's what happened:

111125_5949 by wsmoak, on Flickr

(Those are collards in the middle.) I've been cutting handfuls of it for the rabbits and horse, and it's just now starting to form stems. I wonder if I'll get some oat seed heads forming before it gets too cold...

-Wendy

 

[lesa]

Wow! I am surprised you had so much germinate, with the mold. That turned out to be a very interesting experiment! When I used winter wheat as a cover crop- the heads formed the following year- not sure how the oats would do over the winter.

 

[wsmoak]

Oh, most of the bag looked fine, though I wasn't going to risk feeding it to the animals. There was just a nasty chunk of moldy oats at the top of the bag when I opened it.

They had a big advantage going into freshly tilled ground, but I sure didn't expect them to take off that dramatically!

I *so* wanted to whack them down with a scythe and tie them into little sheaves to feed the bunnies this winter.

-Wendy

 

[hoodat]

Oats are my rabbits preference in grass. Lucky for me we have wild oats that grow here during our wet part of the Winter. I can usually cut enough greeen for the rabbits and have some left over to make hay. I have to dry it inside for hay though to keep the rain off it. At the end of the growing season you will find the roots full of worms.

 

[wsmoak]

At the end of the growing season you will find the roots full of worms.

What kind of worms? Good earthworms or something icky?

The rabbits *love* the oat grass (but are starting to reject the stemmy bits.) Put a handful in there and it's like furry locusts.

-Wendy

 

[hoodat]

I'm talking about good old fashioned earthworms. Plants try to keep themselves balanced. When you cut the tops short they will let some roots die to stay in balance. These decaying roots are excellent earthworm fodder aparently.