Living Mulches – Technical Guide
Getting Started with Living Mulches
This downloadable guide to living mulches is designed to help farmers make informed decisions about adopting living mulch systems in arable rotations. Created to offer practical insights, it is based on interviews with UK farmers trailing living mulches and builds on original research from an Innovative Farmers Field Lab and ongoing studies by the Organic Research Centre. Developed in response to farmers’ key questions on how to implement living mulches effectively, it provides clear, step-by-step guidance on integrating living mulch systems to enhance soil health, weed suppression, and input reduction in arable cropping.
What Are Living Mulches?
Living mulches are semi-permanent legume understories sown beneath cereal crops in the first year. By the second year, once the cover crop mulch is well established, new crops are direct drilled into it. This method integrates key regenerative agriculture practices, combining elements of intercropping, cover cropping, mulching, and undersowing to enhance soil health and improve biodiversity. When successfully managed, living mulches help reduce external inputs, improve soil fertility, suppress weeds, and increase resilience in arable rotations.
Living Mulches Hub
Read the guide? Keep scrolling to explore our learning hub…
Living Mulches Hub
This Hub draws on a wide mix of resources – from videos and tools, to blogs, research papers and real-world case studies, sourced from the Agricology archive and beyond.
It’s a place to hear from other farmers, pick up practical tips, and explore different approaches to getting started with living mulches. Take your time, click through, and explore.
Are you considering integrating a living mulch into your crop rotation? Living mulches have the potential to address several problems in agricultural systems. The Organic Research Centre project hub has a range of resources to explore.
Trials have been carried out of small and medium leaf white clover being used as a living mulch in two arable systems growing oats and rye.
One trial showed the living mulch reduced cash crop yield by up to 30% and reduced grain quality. However, the use of a mulch was found to improve soil health.
Hear from two UK farmers that have implemented living mulches in their farming systems; Matt England at Fring Estate, and David Newman at Bucksum Market Garden. The webinar they took part in also gave a review on soil health data from research carried out at Green Acres Farm.
In the arable systems, there were clear soil health benefits. Using a white clover living mulch in linseed created too much competition and the crop failed, but in winter oats the crop appeared to be healthy. In the horticultural system, a low growing micro clover was key in order to avoid crop and rooting zone competition.
In addition to combining living mulches with wheat, oats and horticulture, in maize production, where space between crops is increased, mulches can offer great soil health benefits.
Living Mulches: Variety Selection
Several crop species can be successfully used as a living mulch. It is important to become familiar with their crop characteristics in order to best apply them.
Things to consider: Adaptation to your soil type, seed cost, growth dynamics, weather sensitivity and ease of chemical control.
White clover is most commonly used as a living mulch in arable systems as it as it adequately fulfills many of the considerations listed above and may not outcompete the cash crop if effectively managed.
Do you need support in deciding which species to use as a living mulch? A decision support tool can help you choose based on the intended outcomes.
Want to use lucerne as your mulch species? Find out how Frederik Larsen has integrated this into his system:
Living Mulches: Establishment
Growing a living mulch together with a cash crop can bring many benefits but can be complex to implement.
This practice abstract outlines practical recommendations for establishment in different arable crops:
There are several approaches for living mulch establishment that may differ depending on the farming system.
Summer (after early harvested winter cereal): Offers sufficient growing time for effective mulch cover from October to January, but dry conditions may hinder germination.
Spring establishment with a spring-sown cash crop: While dry conditions may delay cash crop germination, they provide the mulch with a head start; however, cold early spring temperatures could slow establishment.
Late summer/autumn: Better establishment conditions may be possible, but wet conditions could hinder machinery access, and limited growing time before winter is a challenge.
Undersowing winter cereal in March: Allows ample time for mulch development in the critical weed-free period, though in non-organic systems, vigorous cash crop growth might suppress the mulch.
To see this in action in an organic arable setting, watch this video of John Pawsey at Shimpling Park Farm establishing his clover living mulch:
Novel technologies for living mulch establishment are emerging, with recent trials looking at using drones.
Living Mulches: In-Season Management
An Innovative Farmers field lab is showing that living mulches have the capacity to outcompete the cash crop, therefore in-season management is important to reduce yield penalties.
The mulch can be knocked back pre or post cash crop drilling, depending on how well established it is.
Inter-row tined weeders, inter-row mowers and crimper-rollers all offer valid mechanical control options.
If there are livestock in the system, then mulches can be grazed hard. For conventional systems, herbicides are considered to be an option.
In a Northern Real Farming Conference 2021 webinar, Jerry Alford and Harry Henderson offered insights into what options are available for mechanical living mulch management.
Living Mulches: System Benefits
There are several potential soil health benefits of implementing living mulches. Organic Research Centre trials (particularly focused on weed control and nitrogen (N) supply) have found significantly increased available N and earthworm counts, and a trend for increased microbial activity and soil organic matter.
There are also several less easily quantified potential benefits to living mulches; reduced tillage, lengthening organic rotations, reduced artificial inputs, and reduced leachates and run-off.
A trial in Sussex looking at winter wheat in a clover living mulch, reducing the N applications by 10% and 20%, found slightly reduced yield and grain N levels in the reduced rate, but a higher gross margin.
Trials in France however found using a living mulch did not guarantee a reduction in N fertiliser.
This cost-benefit analysis in France also found the use of a living mulch led to increased labour with mechanical weed control. The number of pesticide applications was not increased with the use of a living mulch. Margins were varied in living mulch systems, with alfalfa showing the most consistent improved margin, followed by white clover and then birds foot trefoil.
With thanks to Matt England and Mark Lea for some of the images used within the Hub. All Rights Reserved apply to all images
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