As the demand for organic products increases so does the need of organically managed land. In the southeast, where affordable and arable land has become scarcer and more expensive, organic farmers can choose to transition derelict farmland and old pastureland systems to expand current or begin new operations. However, this marginal land is commonly in need of fertility inputs and dominated by perennial weed species. The transition process can prove to be very time and effort consuming. Through the use of no-till drill seeded cover crops, poultry litter applications, and organic fertilizer applications farmers could reduce the thresholds for transitions while potentially reducing weeds, adding instant fertility, and helping build soils for quick turnaround of vegetable cash-crops. Therefore, the objective of this field study was to determine the effects of no-till drill seeded summer cover crops (Sorghum-Sudangrass and Vigna unguiculata) and tarping, with and without the addition of poultry litter, on subsequent fall broccoli production in Georgia. This was a two-year field study on broccoli with the first implementation taking place in the fall of 2023 and the second in the fall of 2024. No-till drilled cover crops and tarps were applied/planted in early May both years with and without the application of poultry litter in a randomized complete split block design. Cover crops were then flail mowed and incorporated in early August both years. Plots were rototilled the first week of September and Brassica oleracea var. italica cv. Belstar was planted with 0.45-m in row spacing in two rows on 0.18-m beds. Broccoli was harvested, counted, and separated into marketable yield or unmarketable yield. Soil cores were taken throughout both the cover crop and cash crop season with measurements of soil nutrients, inorganic nitrogen, and nitrogen mineralization potential being outlined. In 2023 and in 2024 plots that received the combined treatments of silage tarps, poultry litter, and organic fertilizer had the highest marketable yield average of 10013 kg/ha and 8623kg/ha. In 2023 the plots that received the treatments of sudex, no poultry litter, and no fertilizer preformed the poorest in terms of marketable yield, garnishing an average of 2429 kg/ha; while in 2024 the plots that received a silage tarp, no poultry litter, and no fertilizer preformed the poorest with an average marketable yield of 5614 kg/ha.
