Lablab Highworth Cover Crop Seeds

Lablab Highworth Cover Crop Seeds

Botanical Name: Lablab purpureus

Lablab Highworth is a vigorous warm-season legume cover crop used for green manure, nitrogen fixation, weed suppression, biomass production, forage, and soil improvement. It produces strong climbing or trailing vines, deep roots, and dense leafy growth, making it ideal for summer cover cropping in vegetable beds, orchards, food forests, paddocks, trellised systems, and regenerative farming projects.

As a legume, Lablab can fix atmospheric nitrogen when grown with suitable rhizobia, helping improve soil fertility for future crops. Highworth is a later-flowering lablab type, making it especially useful where longer vegetative growth, ground cover, and green manure biomass are desired before cutting or incorporation.

• Warm-season annual legume cover crop and green manure.
• Fixes nitrogen when grown with suitable legume inoculant.
• Produces vigorous vines and dense leafy biomass for soil improvement.
• Excellent summer ground cover for weed suppression and moisture retention.
• Deep-rooted and drought tolerant once established.
• Useful for orchards, vegetable beds, trellises, paddocks, and regenerative systems.
• Can be used as forage, green manure, living mulch, or chop-and-drop mulch.

Plant Details

• Plant Type: Warm-season annual or short-lived perennial legume
• Botanical Name: Lablab purpureus
• Variety: Highworth
• Growth Habit: Vigorous climbing, trailing, or sprawling vine
• Vine Length: Approximately 2–6 m depending on conditions
• Root System: Deep-rooted legume with nitrogen-fixing potential
• Frost Tolerance: Low; frost sensitive
• Drought Tolerance: Good once established
• Best Position: Full sun

Best Uses

• Warm-season green manure
• Summer cover crop
• Nitrogen-fixing soil improvement
• Weed suppression and living mulch
• Chop-and-drop mulch
• Orchard and food forest ground cover
• Trellised garden cover crop
• Forage and grazing systems where suitable
• Regenerative farming and soil-building blends

Sowing Information

• Best Sowing Time: Spring to summer once soil is warm and frost risk has passed
• Germination Time: 7–14 days in warm, moist soil
• Sowing Depth: 3–5 cm
• Position: Full sun
• Soil Type: Well-drained soil; performs best in fertile loam or sandy loam
• Soil pH: Best around pH 6.0–7.5
• Watering: Keep moist during establishment; drought tolerant once established
• Inoculation: For best nitrogen fixation, use a suitable lablab/cowpea-type legume inoculant where available.

Sowing Rate and Coverage

Seed Quantity Guide

Coverage is a guide only. Use higher rates for faster canopy closure, stronger weed suppression, poor soil, exposed sites, or dense green manure biomass.

When to Sow Lablab Highworth in Australia

How to Sow Lablab Highworth Seeds

1. Choose a sunny position with warm, well-drained soil.
2. Remove weeds and prepare a firm seedbed.
3. Sow seeds 3–5 cm deep.
4. Broadcast for ground cover or sow in rows for easier management.
5. Water well after sowing if soil moisture is low.
6. Keep soil moist until seedlings are established.
7. Train vines onto trellises if vertical growth is desired, or allow them to sprawl as ground cover.

Management

• Water regularly during establishment.
• Once established, Lablab has good drought tolerance.
• Use trellises, fences, or support structures where climbing growth is preferred.
• For ground cover, allow vines to sprawl and cover bare soil.
• Cut before heavy seed set if volunteer plants are not wanted.
• Can be chopped and incorporated, or left as surface mulch in no-dig systems.

Harvest and Incorporation

For green manure use, cut or chop Lablab before heavy seed set while stems are still manageable. Incorporate the biomass into the soil 2–3 weeks before planting the next crop, or leave the cut material on the surface as mulch in no-dig systems. Earlier cutting produces softer, faster-breaking material, while later cutting produces more biomass and longer-lasting mulch.

Soil Benefits and Use

Lablab Highworth is valued for its nitrogen-fixing ability, vigorous biomass production, weed suppression, and deep-rooted soil improvement. It helps protect bare soil during warm months, improves organic matter when chopped and returned to the soil, and supports more resilient growing systems in vegetable gardens, orchards, paddocks, and regenerative farms.

Important Notes

• Lablab is frost sensitive and should only be sown after frost risk has passed.
• For best nitrogen fixation, use a suitable legume inoculant where available.
• It prefers warm soil, full sun, and good drainage.
• Pods and beans should not be eaten raw; edible uses require correct cooking.
• Growth can be vigorous, so provide space or supports where needed.

Quick Growing Guide