Weed Management of Establishing Organic Blackcurrants
D. W. Hobson*, A. Hammermeister, K. Pruski and D. Lynch
Abstract
Weed control is essential for establishment of small fruits. Organic fruit crops rely on non-herbicide strategies for weed management, and mulches are commonly used to reduce the labour requirements for traditional methods like cultivation.
Plots with newly planted blackcurrants (Ribes nigrum L.) were either cultivated, mowed, mulched with a black, porous landscape fabric, mulched with a non-permeable tree-grade black plastic, mulched with a white, porous, reflective fabric or cultivated and sprayed with acetic acid to control weeds in a randomized block design with four blocks. One site was established in 2010 and the other in 2011 in Truro, Nova Scotia and growth, soil moisture and temperature and costs were calculated for the first year to find the most cost-effective weed management strategy. Black plastic provided the best weed control at the lowest cost per plant growth.
The cultivated treatment provided good weed control, but was the most expensive as it was very labour-intensive. Plants were significantly smaller in the Mowed treatment and some plants died from moisture stress. Acetic acid was very expensive and poor at controlling perennial weeds. Overall black plastic was the most effective treatment in terms of the efficacy and cost of weed control.
Source
. Saskatoon, SK. 16-19 July 2012.
Author Locations and Affiliations
(1) Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada, Truro, Nova Scotia
(2) Department of Plant and Animal Sciences, Nova Scotia Agricultural College, Truro, Nova Scotia
* Corresponding author, E-mail hobsond@nsac.ca
Posted June 2013