Caliente Mustard Seeds

This is not just a green manure – it also acts as a biofumigant for the soil. Biofumigants suppress various soil borne pests and diseases by releasing naturally occurring compounds.

The foliage must be crushed or finely chopped for it to release a natural gas (isothiocyanate) which effectively reduces and suppresses a range of harmful nematodes and diseases in the soil.

The combination of biofumigation plus the digging in of the green material, increases beneficial soil microbes, which out-compete pathogen microbes helping to keep soil diseases down.

The finer the chop the better the result, running over the area with a rotary mower or strimmer to chop well before digging in to the top 6inches of soil is a simple way of incorporating the crop.

The benefits of use for the home gardener for most crop and soil types are:

• Improved root systems and a measurable increase in yield of following crops
• Suppression of a range of soil-borne diseases including Verticillium wilt, Rhizoctonia, Pythium, Fusarium, and Sclerotinia
• Suppresses a range of harmful nematode species
• Improved soil structure and fertility
• Suppresses weeds – mainly soft-seeded annuals – soon after incorporation
• Caliente Mustard can be sown in spring or late summer for a quick crop, or mid-autumn for over-wintering in milder areas.