White Mustard

White mustard (Sinapis alba - sometimes called Brassica alba or Brassica hirta) is a useful cover crop in vineyards, annual crop rotations, and home gardens as a winter cover. White mustard suppresses soil borne diseases including verticillium in potato, common root rot, and soil nematodes. It sprouts in 3-5 days, and grows quickly - in 60-100 days it will reach 90-150cm tall in fertile soil. It is easy to kill with tillage, and will winterkill from fall plantings at -3°C (26°F). White mustard provides some alleopathic weed control and hinders the germination of ryegrass, so it may be used to clean up a problem cover crop ryegrass field. Once tilled under, the crop adds some nitrogen and lots of organic matter to the soil. Use 4.54kg (10 lbs) per acre. 500g covers 4,800 ft². (open pollinated seeds)

NOTE: White mustard should not be used as a cover crop to be followed by Brassicas of any kind. Mustards are a magnet for flea beetles (however, they can be planted early in the season in order to establish good populations of beneficial insects). Mustards must be plowed under a minimum of three weeks prior to planting a new crop. Mustards cannot be used for animal feeds, and they must be planted as a monoculture. in order to release their alleopathic chemicals and biofumigants, mustards require rain or irrigation throughout the growing period.

XM990 A (500g) covers 4,800 square feet
XM990 B (1kg) covers 9,615 square feet
XM990 C (5kg) covers 48,075 square feet - just under 1 acre
XM990 D (22.7kg) covers 5 acres

Growing Details

• General
• Difficulty
• Starting
• Growing
• Harvest
• Companion Plants