Crop Rotation of Vegetables

Disease Control

• Certain fungal diseases, such as Fusarium root rot, Verticillium wilt fungus and tomato bacterial canker, attack only certain types of vegetable plants. If these diseases have access to the same plants each year, the disease grows and spreads in the soil. By rotating vegetable crops each year, you eliminate the host that the disease needs to infect in order to survive and thrive. The diseases will die out and not be present in the soil the next time the vegetable is planted in the original spot. This will help create a disease-free, healthy garden that has the potential of producing an abundance of vegetables.

Nutrient Depletion

• Growing the same vegetable variety in the same spot year after year will deplete the nutrients contained in the soil in that area. Each type of vegetable extracts different nutrients from the soil as it grows. Leafy vegetables, such as lettuce, cabbage or chard, use large amounts of nitrogen. If grown in the same spot each year, the amount of nitrogen available to the plants decreases, causing the plants to have poor yields. Some vegetables, such as peas and beans, actually replenish the supply of nitrogen in the soil. Alternating these two crops in the same spot will stop the nitrogen depletion in the soil.

Pest Prevention

• Different varieties of vegetables are susceptible to different insects. If the same vegetable is grown in the same area, the population of insects that are harmful to that plant will build up. The need for pesticide application will increase as a result of a thriving pest population. Rotating vegetable crops will decrease the buildup of pests in your garden by decreasing their access to the same plants. This will ultimately result in a decrease of the amount of pesticide spray needed and how much damage pests can do to crops.

Rotate by Families

• A crop rotation plan should be drawn up three to four years in advance. Divide the vegetables up into their family groups and use that as a starting point for drawing up a rotation schedule. Another way to divide vegetables up for rotating is by their growing habits. For example, place leafy, green vegetables and Brassica varieties in group one, root vegetables in group two and legumes and other vegetables in the third group. Plant vegetables in group two after group one, group three after group two and group one after group three.