Evaluating Cover Cropping Systems for Beginning High Tunnel Producers in West Virginia

High tunnels are passively-vented, solar-heated structures which protect plants from environmental stress and accelerate growth.  Most crops within high tunnels are grown directly within the native soil under the high tunnel structure.  High tunnels permit intensive specialty crop production on a limited area of land with many succession crops planted and rotated within the course of the crop year.  Soil management is one of the most frequent areas of interest and often overlooked by beginning high tunnel producers.  The objectives of this USDA Conservation Innovation Grant funded project are to demonstrate and quantify the effects of cover crop rotations and no-till production on soil physical and biological properties and their relationships with nutrient cycling, soil water availability and plant growth and yield in seasonal high tunnels.  Beginning in 2012, baseline soil health data was collected and cover crops were established on approximately ten cooperating farms in the Potomac Highlands of West Virginia.  Two planting dates (mid-October and mid-November) and ten cover crop species are being evaluated over a three year period as either green manure or no-till residue within a high tunnel.  Soil health data will determine if the cover crops significantly improve soil quality over a three year period.  Soil health assessments are evaluated with the Cornell University Soil Health Testing Program.  Workshops demonstrating cover crop establishment and management are conducted each year and participants are routinely surveyed to monitor changes in skill and knowledge concerning cover cropping systems.  After one year, growers have shown a significant increase in skill and knowledge concerning cover crop establishment and maintenance within high tunnels.  Subsurface compaction has been identified as the most significant soil health factor for each high tunnel location.  Cover crops used for green manure have produced more biomass relative to the no-till cover crops after one season.  Cover crops established in early October have produced significantly more biomass relative to November-established cover crops in most locations during 2013-14.