Project Overview
Commodities
- Fruits: general small fruits
Practices
- Production Systems: general crop production
Proposal summary:
The SARE-funded raspberry study of the use of mulches to control weeds during the establishment year showed that mulching with straw produced greater cane number and yields in the second year compared with plots treated with herbicides or weeded by hand. The study showed that straw should be removed before the second year to prevent increased phytopthera root rot incidence. The SEED grant proposes to study two questions: (1) whether conifer bark mulch controls weeds with equal success to straw and the economic costs or benefits of using one versus the other; and (2) whether conifer bark mulch retained around the raspberry plants into the second year results in higher or lower rates of phytopthera incidence than removed straw mulch that allows white clover to move in and the economic costs or benefits of one practice or the other.