Innovative and Affordable Methods of Managing Weeds in Strawberry Production

View the project final report

Commodities

• Fruits: berries (strawberries)

Practices

• Crop Production: cropping systems
• Education and Training: on-farm/ranch research
• Pest Management: chemical control, cultivation, integrated pest management, mulches - general, mulching - plastic, physical control, weed ecology

Weed Management in matted row strawberry production is a costly challenge. This project's goal is to analyze upcoming technologies including particle weeding and industrial hemp mulch and compare them to current weed management practices (cultivation, integrated weed management, and landscape fabric) through a field trial. Many of the growers in western New York continue to use the matted row growing system for strawberries as it has a relatively low cost of establishment and is easier to maintain for farms who's main focus is marketing via agri-tourism. 

A field day will be hosted at the farm to review the treatment methods and potential successes. An article about the project and the results from the project will be written and sent to local and state CCE newsletters including Cornell’s Small Fruit News and CCE Ag News.

This project's objective is to trial several weed management techniques in a matted row strawberry system including mulching (industrial hemp and landscape fabric), cultivating, integrated weed management (cultivation and herbicides), and particle weeding. Particle weeding is a new method developed by Sam Wortman, University of Nebraska, which uses air-propelled abrasive grits to kill small weeds within a crop row.