WEED MANAGEMENT IN ORGANIC VEGETABLES

On-farm testing of organic weed control strategies in Indiana

Nashville, IN - In this on-farm study, organic vegetable producer Dale Rhoads tried out several organic herbicide materials and flaming in conjunction with a ‘stale’ seedbed to reduce the time and cost of hand-weeding leafy greens beds. The materials tested were Matran 5 (now reformulated and sold as Matran EC), two different vinegar solutions diluted to 13% and 10%, and Burnout II.

Photo: Salad green plantings and treatment areas at time of harvest.

These trials, performed in 2005, took place in salad green beds, where weeding is the most time consuming and least desirable farm task. The most problematic weeds on the farm are chickweed, hairy galinsoga, purslane and various grasses.

Results and practical applications:

• All of the test materials and methods reduced weeding time by at least 32% when used to create a stale seedbed.
• In many situations the methods reduced weeding time by 75% or more.
• The trials showed not only labor savings that may allow crops to be grown profitably in harder to grow weasons and/or make otherwise less profitable crops profitable due to a reduction in weeding time.

For a detailed project description (2 pages), link to rhoads-04f15-weed mgmt-summary.pdf

For the complete project report (25 pages) link to: rhoads_04f15.pdf

Project advisor: Liz Maynard, PhD., Regional Extension Specialist of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture, Purdue University

OFRF support for project: $6,825, awarded fall 2004

Project note: An expanded version of this project has been funded by USDA-SARE North Central Region. Project number FNC06-609.