What Plant Families Should I Be Concerned About When Planning Crop Rotation?

Question

I am going to plant okra. I would like to be careful about what other plant families I should be concerned about as I plan succession planting.

Answer 1

Okra specifically falls into the "other" category. It is related to cotton and can be very nutrient hungry, so it might be a good idea to follow it up with a nitrogen fixing plant (peas and beans) and leave the roots of those plants in the soil after they have faded. This returns the most amount of nitrogen to the soil.

Answer 2

The normal groupings are nightshades (tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, potatoes), curbits (squash and melons), nitrogen fixing (peas and beans), cole crops (cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower, greens, etc), grasses (corn and corn like plants) and then all else can be grouped together (carrots, beets, radish, etc).

You do not want to plant vegetables from the same groupings in the same spots for more than 2-3 years tops, with rotating yearly being ideal. You definitely need to rotate if a plant from a grouping has been diseased. This helps balance what nutrients the plants use up from an area and also allows time for diseases that affect only certain groupings to die out.