Using Hardwood Ramial Woodchips as a Time-Saving Mulch for Weed Control

View the project final report

• 2002 annual report

Commodities

• Vegetables: beets, broccoli, onions

Practices

• Crop Production: no-till, nutrient cycling
• Pest Management: field monitoring/scouting
• Production Systems: general crop production
• Soil Management: organic matter, soil analysis, nutrient mineralization

Time and energy spent on weed management puts economic pressure on all producers, and this part-time farmer will experiment with hardwood chips as an effective mulch for his organic vegetables grown in a no-cultivation system. He will assess the effect of the chips on germination, transplanting, and plant vigor, with the three-year goal of reducing by half the time spent managing weeds. The project will also make limited use of plastic as a mulch, particularly in the spring when the soil needs to be warmed.