sustainable small farming and ranching sustainable weed management strategies

Sustainable Small Farming and Ranching

Sustainable Weed Management Strategies

Know your Weeds ID your weeds in your field Be sure you want to get rid of it They do have a role:

Holding water Creating organic matter Providing cover Habitat for beneficial insects

“Weeds are plant we have not yet found a use for.”

Photo by S. Kopan 2006

Tools for Control Exclusion: Don’t bring weed

seeds onto the farm

Nutrients brought onto the farm Raw manure will have seeds

Mulches Don’t use hay Straw is better

Tools for Control

Instead of manure -- Use compost! Turn the pile often to get the temp even

throughout and kill seeds Be careful of source material

What can I compost?

Animal manuresStraw, hayVegetable matterYard debrisWood shaving/chipsNewspaperFruit and vegetable wastes

Organic Production Compost non-animal materials

Plant residues, etc

No specific composting regulations

Organic Production Compost with animal materials

• Regulations for using compost that contains animal materials are more specific.• Required minimum temperatures• Required turning times• Required C:N ratio

Organic Production Compost with plant materials

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Don’t let weeds go to seed!

Early cycle weed control Is it worth continued

harvesting from a field to justify continued weed management?Hand weeding is expensive

$200-$700/Ac

Cultivating

Expensive to control in row

Cultivate on both sides of row Shallow tillage Brings smallest amount weeds to the top

Planting techniques will help the crop out compete the weeds

Cover crop the year before

Use cover crop for weed suppression

Shallow tillage Brings smallest

amount weeds to the top

Cover cropping with winter peas for organic dry land wheat production.

Uses of cover crops and living mulches to control weeds

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Uses of cover crops and living mulches to control weeds

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Transplants

Give 4+ week jump on weedsPlant at the right planting density

can give you weed free plots

Irrigation

Drip irrigation is more water efficient

Also by directing water to the crop it minimizes weed germination and reduces need to cultivate

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Timing of Cultivation

Cultivate as soon as you can Small weeds easier than big weeds to

remove Do not irrigate right after cultivation

Depth of cultivation Depends on weed species

Solarizing the soil

Cultivate soil

Irrigate soil completely

Put plastic over the soilWeed get cooked

Soil gets up to 120 degrees F

Solarizing the soil (cont.) Bacteria fungi die and release

nutrients

Cooler climates two layers of plastic Have PVC between layers – create dead

air space

Needs to be on for at least 30 days during the heat of the summer

Weed control with herbivores

Rangeland or extensive pasture land

Large populations distributed (often dropped by airplane)

Takes time…

MS clipart photo

Equipment

A large part of controlling weeds is recruitment of the appropriate technology

The following is a short survey of the available equipment.

Hand Tools

Photos provided by D. Muehleisen

Hand Tools

Photos provided by D. Muehleisen

Weed Badger

Photos provided by D. Muehleisen

Flamer

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Flamers

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Click on image to start video

Flamers

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Steamers

Lely Tine Weeder

Specially suitable for Specially suitable for weeds with weeds with underground rhizomesunderground rhizomes Bring rhizomes to Bring rhizomes to surface and causes surface and causes them to desiccate them to desiccate Timing is criticalTiming is critical Click on image to start video

Hay Rake Weeder

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Bush hog

Rotary mower Cutting cover

crop Mowing weeds

before setting seeds

Photos provided by D. Muehleisen

Undercutter

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Basket WeederBudghing Corp

Photos provided by D. Muehleisen

Photo provided by D. Muehleisen

Wiggle Weeder

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Summary

Know your weed problems Don’t introduce new

weeds Eliminate spread of

existing weeds Compete with them –

cover crops, the main crop (spacing, timing, etc.)

Use a variety of tools depending on situation (cultivators, flamers, hand tools)

Credits

Presentation developed by Cultivating Success

TM: Sustainable Small Farms Education. Photos provided by Cultivating Success team, unless otherwise noted.

Video segments taken from:“Weed ‘Em and Reap, Part 1: Tools for Non-Chemical Weed

Management in Vegetable Cropping Systems.” Produced by Alex Stone, Oregon State University, Department of Horticulture. Copywrite 2005, Oregon State University.

“Weed ‘Em and Reap, Part 2: Reduced Tillage Strategies for Vegetable Cropping Systems.” Produced by Alex Stone, Oregon State University, Department of Horticulture. Copywrite 2005, Oregon State University.