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BROADLEAVES

Okra flowers of flax are a nice addition to any pollinator or insec-
Okra is a warm season broadleaf vegetable in the cotton tary strips. Relatively small-seeded and inexpensive, flax is
family that is extremely deep-rooted and has excellent heat a good bargain and should be included in a great variety of
and drought tolerance. Okra’s massive tap root is an excel- cover crop mixes.
lent compaction breaker. This fast-growing plant provides a Safflower
large canopy, long-lasting residue, and winter snow catch. Safflower is a drought tolerant, annual, warm season broad-
Livestock will graze okra, as the pods are high in Vitamin A, leaf that can be seeded in cool soils. Safflower has an ex-
C, and K, along with other minerals and vitamins that help ceptionally deep taproot that can reach depths of 8-10 feet,
strengthen the immune system and bones. Green Cover breaking hardpans, encouraging water and air movement
Seed is the nation’s leader in cover crop okra. into the soil profile, and scavenging nutrients from depths
unavailable to most agronomic crops. Safflower provides
excellent forage, but most varieties become very prickly
with maturity, rendering the
plants unpalatable for live-
stock. Baldy safflower is one
of the world’s first spineless
safflower varieties and has
been developed specifically
for grazing and cover crops.
Baldy can be handled with
bare hands even at maturity
and is palatable for livestock
Sugar Beet grazing. Green Cover Seed
Sugar beets are a broadleaf cover crop that can offer owns the exclusive market-
your operation another outstanding deep rooting crop ing rights for Baldy spineless
with some frost tolerance. Sub-soiling thick taproots can safflower.
fracture hardpans, and the majority of the root develop-
ment is below the surface. Beets have a high sugar content Phacelia
and are preferentially grazed Phacelia is a quick-establishing purple-flowering annual that
by wildlife and cattle. When is fantastic bee forage and is considered to be in the top 20 hon-
grazed early enough, beets ey-producing flowers. Other beneficial insects and pollinators
have shown outstanding re- are also strongly attracted to phacelia. Phacelia is a long-day
growth. plant and should be planted in spring or early summer. It can
flower for up to 6 weeks as long as there are 12 or more hours
Historically, sugar beet seed of sunlight per day.
has been very expensive.
We have contracted seed
production with an Oregon
farmer and are now offering
non-GMO sugar beet seed
at very competitive prices.

Flax
Flax is an annual, cool season broadleaf plant that can be
utilized in many small-grain and corn rotations as a poten-
tial cover crop. Flax is a shorter plant that does not spread
aggressively and has low input needs so it works well as a
companion or interseeded crop, especially with sunflow-
ers. Flax is high in lignin and is slow to decompose so it
creates long-lasting, high-carbon residue. The pretty blue

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