What Is Vegetable Crop Rotation? A Detailed Guide to Vegetable Growing Knowledge

Reasonably rotating different vegetables can deprive pathogens of their hosts or change their living environment, thereby reducing or eliminating pests and diseases. For example, planting Chinese cabbage after harvesting scallions and garlic can significantly reduce soft rot. If grain-vegetable rotation or paddy-upland rotation is practiced, it is even more effective at controlling soil-borne diseases.

Vegetables belonging to the same family taxonomically are not suitable for rotation. For example, tomato, eggplant, chili pepper and sweet pepper all belong to the Solanaceae family, so they are not suitable for rotation.

Cucumber: Spring cucumbers are often preceded by autumn vegetables, spring small greens, or overwintering small greens, and can be followed by many kinds of autumn vegetables; summer-autumn cucumbers can be preceded by various spring and summer vegetables and followed by overwintering vegetables or spring small greens. Cucumber and tomato inhibit each other, so they are not suitable for rotation or intercropping.

Tomato: 3-5 year rotation; do not grow continuously with Solanaceae crops. Previous crops can be various leafy vegetables and root vegetables, and the following crops can also be leafy vegetables and root vegetables. Intercrop or relay intercrop with short-stalked crops or vegetables, such as edamame, cabbage, bulb fennel, scallions, garlic, etc., in alternating beds.

For autumn greenhouse tomatoes, intercropping small greens can lower soil temperature.

Intercropping sweet corn in tomatoes can attract moths to lay eggs, allowing concentrated elimination.

Eggplant: The previous crop can be overwintering leafy vegetables, and it can also be intercropped with short-growing-period vegetables such as early cabbage, early-maturing Chinese cabbage, spring radish, water radish, and cherry radish; the following crop can be autumn vegetables such as Chinese cabbage.

Chili pepper: Not suitable for continuous cropping with Solanaceae crops; intercrop with short-stalked crops such as leafy vegetables, root vegetables, and peanuts.

Melon: Avoid continuous cropping. Rotate for 3-5 years. Avoid following or preceding other cucurbits. For melons, leafy vegetables are best as both previous and following crops; following with leafy vegetables can significantly increase yield.

Legumes: Including common bean, pea, snow pea, sugar snap pea, pole bean, etc. Not suitable for continuous cropping; rotate for more than 3 years. The previous crop should be autumn-winter vegetables or fallow land.

Carrot: Autumn-winter carrots are mostly preceded by wheat, spring Chinese cabbage, spring cabbage, legumes, etc. The following crop can be wheat, onion, spring cabbage, Welsh onion, potato, etc.

Potato: The previous crop can be alliums and cucumber, followed by cereal crops and soybean. Solanaceae crops are not suitable for rotation with each other, nor with root vegetables.

When intercropping with other crops, note: (1) Choose early-maturing, short-statured varieties. (2) Shorten the symbiotic period as much as possible and stagger the peak periods of product organ formation. (3) Minimize competition for temperature, light, water, and nutrients and avoid interfering with management.

Welsh onion: Most intolerant of continuous cropping. Requires more than 3 years of rotation; rotate with grain crops and use onion stubble to grow Chinese cabbage and cucurbit vegetables. During the early growth period of Welsh onion, interplant early-maturing radish, and in the later period intercrop overwintering crops such as spinach.

Garlic: Most intolerant of continuous cropping, or of following another Allium crop. For autumn-sown garlic, the best previous crops are early-maturing common bean, cucurbits, solanaceous fruits, and potato; for spring-sown garlic, the best are autumn common bean, cucurbits, pumpkin, and solanaceous fruits; it is a good previous crop for other crops.

Chinese cabbage: Rotate with rice; not suitable for continuous cropping, nor for rotation with other Brassicaceae crops.

In rotation:(1) Choose vegetables with an earlier harvest period, such as solanaceous fruits;(2) Choose vegetables that received more fertilizer as the previous crop, such as cucumber and watermelon; (3) Using scallions and garlic as the previous crop can reduce pests and diseases. When Chinese cabbage is planted on chive ridges or between garlic rows, diseases are significantly reduced.

Pak choi and wuta-tsai: Can be rotated with cucurbits, legumes, root vegetables, and field crops. Spring-planted greens can be intercropped or relay intercropped with solanaceous fruits, legumes, cucurbits, etc. Summer-autumn greens can be mixed-sown with celery, garland chrysanthemum, and carrot. In autumn, early-autumn Chinese cabbage can be intercropped or relay intercropped with cauliflower, cabbage, autumn potato, etc. In winter, intercrop with spring cabbage, celtuce, etc.

Shepherd's purse: For autumn-sown shepherd's purse, the best previous crops are tomato and cucumber; for spring shepherd's purse, the previous crop is garlic. Avoid continuous cropping.

Winter melon: Plant 5-6 ginger plants between winter melon plants, plant kudzu on one side of the bed and taro on the other end. After April and May, intercrop winter melon in chive beds, or intercrop winter melon with chili pepper and eggplant; intercrop winter melon in tomato; under the winter melon trellis, intercrop bulb fennel, celtuce, head cabbage, and small leafy greens; in mountainous areas, intercrop ginger in winter melon.

Watermelon: Rotate for more than 5-8 years. Rotation crops include: wheat, rice, corn, radish, sweet potato, and green manure.

Lotus root: Rotate lotus root with rice. After harvesting early lotus root, water dropwort, arrowhead, water chestnut, and watercress can be planted. Lotus root is often rotated every other year with arrowhead, water chestnut, and wild rice stem, or intercropped with wild rice stem.

Celtuce:The previous crop can be scallions, garlic, or cucumber, and it can be followed by strawberry or tomato.

Generally, leafy vegetables that require more nitrogen should be followed by solanaceous fruit vegetables that require more phosphorus. After fast-feeding cucumbers, celery, and spinach, it is best to plant tomato, eggplant, chili pepper, etc., which take up more organic fertilizer.

Pay attention to the effects of various vegetables on soil pH. Planting potato and cabbage increases soil acidity, while planting corn and pumpkin reduces soil acidity. Therefore, acidity-sensitive Allium vegetables grown after corn or pumpkin can achieve high yields.

Long-growing-period and short-growing-period vegetables, and heavy-feeding and light-feeding vegetables, should be reasonably combined in planting. Growing legume vegetables can increase soil organic matter content and improve soil fertility, while long-term growing of nitrogen-demanding leafy vegetables will cause nutrient elements in the soil to become unbalanced.

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