Biological Name:
Vicia spp. (Sand-Vetch)
Natural Habitat:
Sand-Vetch: Sandy soils, North America
Description:
Sand-Vetch also known as Lathyrus is a plant that is native to coastal and dune areas of North America. It is a herbaceous vine that can grow up to 10 feet long and it has small delicate flowers that are typically white or purple in color. The plant is tolerant of sandy soils and is often found growing in areas with poor soil fertility.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Q: Are Vetches weeds?
A: Common vetch (Vicia sativa) is a trailing winter annual weed that forms large mats of vegetation. It is common to waste areas and roadsides. The leaves of common vetch are very narrow, alternately arranged and compound. Tendrils form on the ends of the leaves.
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Q: Is vetch hard to get rid of?
A: The plant is tolerant of many site conditions and grows in sun to part shade and in dry sandy soils to moist clay loams. Vetch has purple flowers and produces green bean-like seed pods. The weed has a tap root that breaks easily, making it difficult to remove when weeding by hand.
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Q: Should I pull common vetch?
A: Try to remove it before it goes to seed to keep it from spreading. But this winter annual weed is valuable to some, as it is often used as a cover crop and being a legume, it is forage for livestock and wildlife. Luckily, it can easily be removed by hand.
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Q: What are the benefits of vetch?
A: Benefits. Hairy vetch fixes large amounts of nitrogen (N) that help meet N needs of the following crop, protects soil from erosion, helps improve soil tilth, and provides weed control during its vigorous growth in the spring and when left as a dead mulch at the soil surface.
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Q: Does vetch come back every year?
A: Tilling the vetch under, letting it decompose and then planting your crop will go one step further by adding organic matter to the soil. Hairy vetch, as a winter annual, will sprout in the fall, overwinter, regrow in spring, go to seed and die.
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Q: Is vetch good for deer?
A: Hairy vetch is a widely adapted, winter hardy cool-season annual legume that supplies an abundant amount of palatable forage for deer and turkeys and other wildlife in late spring into early summer. It also produces an excellent seed crop that attracts quail and turkey.
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Q: Where does vetch come from?
A: Vicia sativa, known as the common vetch, garden vetch, tare or simply vetch, is a nitrogen-fixing leguminous plant in the family Fabaceae. It is likely native to North Africa, Western Asia and Europe, but is now naturalized in temperate and subtropical regions worldwide.
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Q: Can humans eat vetch?
A: Most of the plant is edible and some species actually taste decent. Common vetch is one of the better ones. The young shoots are edible raw, but better cooked. Vetch is a pretty good potherb, if you go for the younger leaves.
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Q: Why do farmers grow vetch?
A: Vetch is a well known legume also known as common vetch or tares. It scrambling, smothering growth habit and frost tolerance make it a very useful winter cover crop or green manure. Used as an over-winter green cover and soil improver, it can also be grazed by livestock.
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Q: Is vetch toxic to animals?
A: Animals grazing the green vetch develop a severe granulomatous disease affecting many organs. The seeds of hairy vetch when eaten in quantity by cattle and horses cause nervous signs and death. The seeds of Vicia sativa have been reported to contain cyanide.
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Q: Do bees like vetch?
A: There are many different types of vetch, but hairy vetch and crown vetch are among the two most popular ones for bee-attracting cover crops.
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Q: Is vetch native to Australia?
A: It originated from north and eastern Africa and Europe and was probably introduced in grain and cattle fodder. As an annual it grows rapidly into a tangled carpet sometimes growing as tall as 1.5 metres.
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Q: Is vetch toxic to dogs?
A: The toxin in hairy vetch responsible for the symptoms is not known. The toxin appears to cause an immune-mediated disease as prior exposure or sensitization is necesary for the disease to develop. Animals grazing the green vetch develop a severe granulomatous disease affecting many organs.
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Q: Is vetch good for the garden?
A: Few legumes contribute as much nitrogen or biomass to the garden. Vetch produces an abundance of vining stems and fine foliage that help protect soils from wind and rain, while improving structure and adding nutrients. Plant vetch as a cover crop or green manure and reap the rewards of healthy, thriving soil.
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Q: Is vetch an invasive plant?
A: Range: Crown vetch is native to Europe, Asia and Africa. Since its introduction to the U.S., it has spread throughout the country. It is currently reported as invasive in many states, especially through the center of the country and along the eastern seaboard.
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Q: Is vetch good for wildlife?
A: Bees and other small butterfly species such as the brown argus and the skippers also love this flower and the burnet moths lay their eggs on the leaves. In all, fantastic wildlife value in one small plant.
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Q: What is vetch good for?
A: Often, common vetch is used as a green manure which, when incorporated into the soil, provides valuable carbon, and nitrogen for rotation crops such as wheat and barley.
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Q: Is vetch good for soil?
A: Benefits. Hairy vetch fixes large amounts of nitrogen (N) that help meet N needs of the following crop, protects soil from erosion, helps improve soil tilth, and provides weed control during its vigorous growth in the spring and when left as a dead mulch at the soil surface.
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