Plant · P-091

Common Vetch

Vicia sativa

Common Vetch is a winter annual legume grown as a cover crop for its nitrogen fixing and heavy spring biomass, then turned under before it flowers. Cut young, the forage is exceptionally nutritious - more digestible than alfalfa at the same stage - but the mature seed builds up a toxin that can kill poultry within days, so timing the cut matters more than with most cover crops. Unusually for a legume it tolerates shade, thriving as an understory planting beneath fruit trees and grapevines where most nitrogen fixers demand full sun.