It is most popular as a green manure in many tropical and subtropical areas in the world as an organic nitrogen source.
Recently, there is a growing interest in rotating sunn hemp with cotton in the southern United States ...and in using sunn hemp as a summer cover crop in Florida and other southeastern states.
Sunn hemp suppresses weeds, slows soil erosion, and reduces root-knot nematode populations.
When plowed under at early bloom stage, nitrogen recovery is the highest.
Under optimum growing conditions such as in Hawaii, 'Tropic Sun' sunn hemp can produce 134 to 147 lb/acre of nitrogen (N) and 3 tons/acre air-dry organic matter at 60 days of growth at 40 kg seed/ha .
In northern Florida, sunn hemp is usually grown in the summer and can produce 2.4 tons/acre of dry biomass and 98 to 125 lb N/acre.
In southwestern Alabama, plants grown for 9 to 12 weeks produced 2.6 tons/acre dry-matter and 112 lb N/acre.
Although in the tropics, 'Tropic Sun' grows and produces seed year-round at elevations of 0 to 900 ft, and in summer up to 1800 ft, sunn hemp does not set seed well in Florida.
Sunn hemp is usually planted in summer in Florida, but it is suitable as a green manure crop as far north as Maryland.
The greatest challenge in using sunn hemp as a cover crop in U.S. is seed availability.
Other Topics in Article
- History
- Sunn Hemp as a Fertilizer
- Nematode Suppresion
- How Does Sunn Hemp Supresses Plant-Parasitic Nematodes
- Pest and Diseases
- Seed Availability Problems
- How to Enhance Sunn Hemp Effects in Surpressing Nematode Pest
- Reference, Tables and Footnotes
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