Project Overview
Commodities
Practices
- Crop Production: row covers (for season extension)
- Pest Management: weed ecology
Proposal summary:
To develop a more sustainable strategy to limit the use of pesticides and lessen the load of labor associated with weed control, landscape fabric can be used to kill weeds to decrease weed pressure while lowering the use of pesticides, controlling weeds that pesticides can't be used for, and allowing farmers to reduce labor involved in weed removal by preventing weed growth. By using landscape fabric, farmers will be able to move toward creating a robust IPM program by creating an environment that discourages weed growth which would then lead to a reduction in pests through limiting the habitat-availability found in weeds near the crops. Landscape fabric can also be used to stabilize soil moisture by protecting the soil from the sun and shielding soil from the rain. This experiment will be designed with the varieties most suited to the subtropical environment found in VIFA's previous SARE grant study in order to build off of our previous work and to create a system that not only limits weeds and creates a stable environment for the crops but encourages yield in crops previously shown to be productive compared to other varieties. Creating this thought out system for weed control with yield in mind will maximize labor inputs to increase efficiency, reduce pesticide use, and contribute to the growing knowledge of subtropical agriculture on the Virgin Islands.
This experiment would look at how the benefits of landscape fabric affect the success of varieties found in our previous SARE study by measuring their production, disease resistance, and heat tolerance on fabric. This would enable farmers to build a more productive and efficient system specific to the varieties grown for the Farm to School program. This knowledge directly contributes to daily farm practices and the overall success of a crop. By determining the most efficient and sustainable control methods and best varietiess to pair with those methods,would form a long term sustainable system for growing crops like the cucumbers and tomatoes that are provided to the Farm to School program to provide schools with fresh local produce.
Project objectives from proposal:
To develop a more sustainable strategy to limit the use of pesticides and lessen the load of labor associated with weed control, landscape fabric can be used to kill weeds to decrease weed pressure while lowering the use of pesticides, controlling weeds that pesticides can't be used for, and allowing farmers to reduce labor involved in weed removal by preventing weed growth. By using landscape fabric, farmers will be able to move toward creating a robust IPM program by creating an environment that discourages weed growth which would then lead to a reduction in pests through limiting the habitat-availability found in weeds near the crops. Landscape fabric can also be used to stabilize soil moisture by protecting the soil from the sun and shielding soil from the rain. This experiment will be designed with the varieties most suited to the subtropical environment found in VIFA's previous SARE grant study in order to build off of our previous work and to create a system that not only limits weeds and creates a stable environment for the crops but encourages yield in crops previously shown to be productive compared to other varieties. Creating this thought out system for weed control with yield in mind will maximize labor inputs to increase efficiency, reduce pesticide use, and contribute to the growing knowledge of subtropical agriculture on the Virgin Islands.
This experiment would look at how the benefits of landscape fabric affect the success of varieties found in our previous SARE study by measuring their production, disease resistance, and heat tolerance on fabric. This would enable farmers to build a more productive and efficient system specific to the varieties grown for the Farm to School program. This knowledge directly contributes to daily farm practices and the overall success of a crop. By determining the most efficient and sustainable control methods and best varietiess to pair with those methods,would form a long term sustainable system for growing crops like the cucumbers and tomatoes that are provided to the Farm to School program to provide schools with fresh local produce.