According to Madson (1951), the herbage is usually smooth or with little pubescence. The flowers are quite large, blue or bluish purple or bicolored and are borne without a stem in the axis of the leaf. Only a few flowers are present in each raceme. Leaves are compound, made up of several pairs of leaflets, but without a terminal leaflet.
Goar (1934) mentioned that the leaflets have a pinched-off appearance, with the midrib extended. Usually there are seven pairs of leaflets with a terminal tendril. The violet-purple flowers are borne in pairs on very short stalks. The stems and leaves are relatively smooth (not hairy).
Goar (1934) stated that common vetch will withstand temperatures as low as 10 F above zero with little or no injury. Since it quickly succumbs in hot weather, it should be planted in the fall and harvested in the spring. Its rate of growth during the winter months is intermediate. In cold weather, it makes more growth than hairy vetch, but less than purple (Goar, 1934).
Drilling is the best method because it distributes the seeds more evenly and places them at a more uniform depth in the soil; the result is better germination and stand. If no grain drill is available, the seed may be broadcast (Goar, 1934).
The seedbed for vetches should be firm but well prepared. In dry-land sections, summer-fallowed land should be worked lightly after the first rains in the fall to destroy the first flush of weed seedlings and prepare the seedbed. In areas where rains are late, common vetch may require pre-irrigation about October 1, followed by disking or spring-tooth harrowing and rolling, floating, or otherwise smoothing the surface in time to plant the vetch by October 15 (Goar, 1934).
Madson (1951) wrote that seeding may be from October through November. Except in coastal areas, common vetch should be seeded on pre-irrigated land not later than November 1st.
Kutschera (1960) reported that common vetch generally roots to a depth of over 80 cm.
Common vetch makes excellent pasture or silage. (Duke, 1981).
In California, common vetch is often grown in mixtures with oat, hairy vetch, and field pea for cover cropping in both annual and perennial farming systems. The oat supplies windblown pollen during April and May, and bird cherry - oat aphid (Rhopalosiphum padi during March and April; these are used as food by some beneficial arthropods. Common vetch harbors pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum and cowpea aphid (Aphis craccivora) and has extrafloral nectaries (on the stipules) that attract various beneficial predatory and parasitic insects, as well as certain pests, like Lygus hesperus (Bugg, pers. comm.).
Various legumes in the tribe Vicieae (peas, lentils, and vetches) contain Beta-(3-isoxazolinonyl) alanine which is released into soil as a root exudate, and apparently is an allelopathic compound. This chemical can cause reduced growth in seedlings of various grasses and of lettuce. Pea was only slightly affected. (Schenk and Werner, 1991).
In Cyprus, monocultures of oat (Avena sativa, cv 'Mulga') or triticale yielded more dry matter and digestible organic matter than did bicultures involving these cereals in combination with common vetch (Vicia sativa) or pea (Pisum sativum). Yields of mixtures did exceed those of monocultures of the relevant legumes. Digestibility and crude protein content were highest in mixtures of peas and triticale. There appears little incentive for farmers to grow mixtures of annual legumes and small-grained cereals for forage production (Droushiotis, 1989).
Abd El Monem et al. (1990) reported that in Syria rainfed common vetch (selection 2541) at 102, 118 132, and 145 days after planting (D.A.P.) yielded 1.38, 3.47, 3.93, and 4.74 Mg/ha of dry matter during 1986-87. During 1987-88 at 115, 130, 144, and 163 D.A.P. the corresponding figures were 2.46, 4.31, 5.67, and 6.54. The corresponding yields for selection 2037 were 1.22, 2.78, 3.79, 4.33, 2.15, 3.80, 5.86, and 7.69. For selection 2020, the corresponding yields were 0.90, 2.18, 3.41, 3.61, 1.81, 3.00, 4.86, and 5.30. To summarize, maximum biomass yields were obtained around 145-163 D.A.P, and those yields were 4.74 and 6.54 Mg/ha for selection 2541; 4.33 and 7.69 Mg/ha for selection 2037; and 3.61 and 5.30 for selection 2020 Mg/ha. Rainfed woollypod vetch attained maximum biomass yield at 20-50% podding. By contrast, common vetch attained maximum biomass at maturity.
Alzueta et al. (1995) reported from Spain that field drying of common vetch hay led to dry matter losses of 40g/kg and 31g/kg in successive years. Concentrations of non-structural carbon and non-protein nitrogen increased, indicating some decomposition occurred. In the discussion, the authors indicated that proteolysis is highly variable in hay drying, and may impact from 0-40% of protein-N. Breakdown of protein leads to formation of free amino acids, and, under adverse conditions, to amides.
In southern Georgia, blackpod or narrowleaf vetch (Vicia angustifolia or Vicia sativa ssp. nigra) volunteers in the understories of pecan orchards and can harbor substantial densities of pea aphid (Acyrthosiphon pisum) and cowpea aphid (Aphis craccivora) and associated lady beetles. It may prove useful in efforts to enhance biological control in pecans (Bugg et al., 1989 and 1991b).
Bugg et al. (1991b) grew cool-season cover crops relay intercropped with spring-planted cantaloupe (Cucumis melo L. var. reticulatus Seringe). Of eight cover-crop regimes tested, a subterranean clover (Trifolium subterraneum L. cv 'Mt. Barker') and a hybrid vetch (Vicia sativa L. X V. cordata Wulf cv 'Vantage') harbored especially-high densities of the generalist predator Geocoris punctipes (Say) (Hemiptera: Lygaeidae) amid cover crops, their residues, or weeds; on or near cantaloupe plants; and on or near sentinel egg masses of fall armyworm, Spodoptera furgiperda (J. E. Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae) pinned to cantaloupe leaves. Absolute responses were highest for the plots of subterranean clover. Among those regimes attaining good stands of cover crops, numbers of G. punctipes per sentinel egg mass were significantly greater for the subterranean clover regime than for rye, crimson clover, polyculture, but not than 'Vantage' vetch. Rye was particularly poor habitat for G. punctipes.
Bugg et al. (1990a) found that Lygus spp., which are important pests of field, row, and orchard crops, were exceptionally abundant on the hybrid vetches 'Cahaba White' and 'Vantage', both of which derive from the cross Vicia sativa L. X V. cordata Wulf and thus include common vetch in their parentage. Both hybrid vetches feature stipular extrafloral nectaries at which Lygus frequently fed. Various Vespidae (Hymenoptera) were also often observed feeding at the stipular extrafloral nectaries of 'Cahaba White' and 'Vantage', as were the following Ichneumonidae: Eutanyacra melanotaris Heinrich, Vulgichneumon brevicinctor (Say), and Woldstedtius flavolineatus (Gravenhorst).
Bugg et al. (1990b) found especially-high densities of tarnished plant bug (Lygus lineolaris [Palisot de Beauvois]) during April and early May. They attained relatively-high densities on hybrid vetches (cv 'Cahaba White' or 'Vantage'), lower levels on crimson clover and lentil, and particularly-low densities on 'Mt. Barker' subterranean clover. Low densities were also obtained on 10 other varieties of subterranean clover. Late-instar and adult tarnished plant bug lived longer when caged on crimson clover than on hybrid vetch, which in turn supported better survival than did subterranean clover. When adult tarnished plant bug were caged on hybrid vetch or subterranean clover with or without floral and fruiting structures, there was no evidence that the presence of these structures prolonged tarnished plant bug survival on either crop. In choice tests with flowering and fruiting sprigs of three cover crops, tarnished plant bug preferred crimson clover over hybrid vetch, which in turn was more attractive than subterranean clover. When sprigs were presented after reproductive structures had been excised, there was no statistically-significant preference by tarnished plant bug.
Results of the survival and choice experiments do not explain why tarnished plant bug was typically more abundant on hybrid vetches than on crimson clover. Early-instar tarnished plant bug nymphs may find the extrafloral nectar of the vetches more accessible than the floral nectar of crimson clover. Such an effect on early-instar nymphs could have led to the observed differences in densities. Subterranean clovers appear to provide both a less-attractive and less-favorable habitat for Lygus lineolaris (Palisot de Beauvois) than either crimson clover or the hybrid vetches. Preferred use of subterranean clovers in rotation or as interplants might reduce tarnished plant bug in agroecosystems.
Meagher and Meyer (1990) reported that in North Carolina, narrowleaf vetch, Vicia angustifolia (sometimes regarded as a subspecies of common vetch, V. sativa ssp. angustifolia), dominates the undertstories of peach orchards in which Simizine is applied. Where vetch is dominant, infestations of spider mites tend to be exacerbated. The authors indicate that the lack of other later-maturing hosts may predispose for migration of the spider mites into trees.
In southern Oregonian pear orchards, Flexner et al. (1990) found that certain understory weeds can harbor high densities of twospotted spider mite, Tetranychus urticae Koch (Acari: Tetranychidae). This mite is mainly a secondary pest and a creature of pesticide-disrupted or stressed agroecosystems. Among the plant species suitable for use as cover crops, vetch appeared particularly prone to outbreaks of the mite. Use of herbicides led to increased movement by mites into trees.
Ball and Gray (1980) reported that cvv 'Cahaba White.' 'Nova II,' 'Vanguard,' and 'Vantage,' all hybrid vetches that include common vetch in ther parentages, were resistant to Meloidogyne javanica, M. incognita, and Hederodera glycine, but susceptible to Meloidogyne arenaria and M. hapla.
Guertal et al. (1998) reported on replicated greenhouse pot and field studies in Alabama on the effects of winter-annual cover crops on southern root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne arenaria) and reniform nematode (Rotylenchulus reniformis), two plant-parasitic species. In the greenhouse pot trial using fine sandy loam soil, hairy vetch showed an increase of reniform nematode density (population index = 1.43 [final nematode density divided by initial nematode density]), common vetch (cv 'Cahaba White') maintained the existing reniform nematode densities (population index = 0.99), and reniform nematode densities were decreased both for cereal rye (population index = 0.37) and no cover crop (control) (population index = 0.08). Final reniform nematode densities for hairy vetch were not significantly different from those for common vetch; both of these, however, differed significantly for final densities for cereal rye and control. The latter two treatments did not differ from one another.
In a field study on fine sandy loam soil in southeastern Alabama, Guertal et al. (1998) reported that densities of southern root-knot nematode (Meloidogyne arenaria) on okra were significantly increased by preceding winter cover crops of common vetch, hairy vetch, or crimson clover, by comparison with plots lacking cover crops.
Guertal et al. (1998) concluded that the vetches tested are maintenance hosts for reniform nematode (Rotylenchulus reniformis) and should not be grown prior to susceptible cash crops, such as cotton. Cereal rye or bare fallow would be a better choices based on this criterion.
Bugg et al. (unpublished data) report that in Hopland, Mendocino County, plots sown to common vetch, produced a weed above-ground dry biomass of 0.3+/-0.3 Mg/ha, Mean +/- S.E.M., which was only 6.2% of the weed biomass in unseeded control plots. Dominant weeds were darnel, scarlet pimpernel, common chickweed, and shepherspurse. By early May, vegetational cover by common vetch was 100.00+/-0.00 % Vegetational Cover (Mean +/- S.E.M.).

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