Lupin Seed (Green Manure)
Lupin Seed is ideal as a green manure that will improve your soil naturally. Green manure is a crop that’s grown before planting vegetables or other plants. The green manure crop is then cut and left to break down in the soil providing nutrients and other benefits.
Green manure helps to control weeds in otherwise ’empty’ garden beds, preventing soil erosion and helping to prevent nutrients leaching. It also adds nutrients like nitrogen etc to the soil.
Many species are suitable for use as green manure; usually, things that provide lots of fast-growing leafy material, and plants that are nitrogen-fixing are also highly beneficial.
The crop is grown until they begin to flower (you don’t want to create weeds by letting seeds mature) and slashed. They are allowed to rot down and feed the soil before planting a ‘real’ crop.
Some examples of green manure crops are lupins, rye corn, oats, tic beans, and grey peas.
Green manure crops have quite a few benefits:
- Stabilize the soil. Winter rains won’t wash out the garden beds.
- Capture the nutrients which the rains would wash out otherwise.
- Add organic matter to the soil when they are dug under in spring before planting and they add fertility to the soil.
- Lupins, peas and tic beans are nitrogen fixers. They enrich the soil with nitrogen which fertilizes subsequent crops.
- Keep the moisture in the soil and this can reduce the need for irrigation in subsequent crops.
- Reduce water evaporation & drainage.
How to Grow Green Manure Crops.
Sow the seeds of these nitrogen-fixing plants at a ratio of approximately 0.5 kg per 10m2.
Allow them to grow for approximately 8-10 weeks then slash before flowering and allow them to break down in the garden bed before planting your vegetable crop.
For an ‘express’ green manure, allow to grow for only 4-6 weeks, then slash. Throw on a few handfuls of blood & bone to aid breakdown, water, then cover with black plastic for two weeks. After this, the crop should be broken down enough to be turned into the soil.
Sow in early autumn for best results.
In autumn most crops have been harvested. Next season’s tomatoes, potatoes, corn, pumpkins and so many others will only be planted in half a year, or even later. Our garden beds have supplied us with food and it’s a good idea to give something back in return, to plant something for the benefit of the soil rather than for our immediate use. So we sow green manure crops during autumn and early winter to improve the soil quality.
Frequently Asked Questions:
Q. Are your lupin seeds Inoculated?
A. These lupins are not inoculated since they are sold as poultry feed and not especially for growing. Nevertheless, inoculation does not affect the germination rate of lupin seed.
About Inoculation: The purpose of inoculation is to make sure that there is enough of the correct type of bacteria present in the soil so that a successful legume-bacterial symbiosis is established.
Q. Could you tell me which species of lupin seed you are selling?
A. According to our supplier it’s a “narrow leaf albus lupin”. (disclaimer: may change without notice)
Q. I was wondering are these lupins the same ones fed to horses.
A. According to our supplier, these lupins are the same type fed to horses.
Q. Are lupins suitable for making heat packs (heat bags)?
A. Yes, they are and many customers report that lupins are better than wheat for this purpose.
Q. Are the lupin flowers coloured or the white variety?
A. According to our supplier they will most likely produce coloured flowers.
Q. What is the germination rate for these seeds?
A. There is no set or guaranteed germination rate since these seeds are not produced specifically for planting. However many do still grow these lupin seeds.
Disclaimer: Some of the answers on the page may be many years old and may not be current anymore. Please email us if you want to confirm any of these details.