Intercrops are thus able to

• Additionally protect the soil from erosion over winter
• Provide food for soil organisms and surface-dwelling organisms
• Break up compaction through their root growth
• Shift nutrients from deeper soil layers to the surface, where the plant rots at the surface and is mineralised by soil organisms
• Bind atmospheric nitrogen and incorporate it into the soil (leguminous catch crops)
• Improve the trafficability of the soil, as the roots hold the soil together like a scaffold

Crop rotation/main crop

Sowing time

Intercrops have different suitabilities for early or late sowing. While legumes tend to reward early sowing with lush growth, yellow mustard and greening rye are pronounced specialists also for late sowing dates.

Water supply

Freezing catch crops generally have no negative influence on the water balance of the following crop. Increased winter precipitation usually balances the water balance until the main crop is sown. The emergence and soil shading of catch crops protect against unproductive evaporation and create soil rigidity. In the long term, the additional organic biomass promotes water-holding capacity via the improved humus content, and the root tunnels create tubes in which precipitation water can be absorbed into the soil and does not cause erosion damage above ground.

Sowing technique

Intercrops have different requirements in terms of seedbed preparation and drilling technique. Since the aim of intercropping is always the rapid establishment of a dense stand to suppress undesirable weeds and volunteer cereals, sowing should be carried out as carefully as technically and temporally possible. The main crop tillage of catch crops often saves tillage before sowing the following crop. Maize and sugar beet mulch sowings take advantage of the soil fermentation of the catch crops and benefit from the mulch layers of the catch crops in the first few weeks.