Biodegradable Mulch Weed Suppression Study Related to Cannabis Production

Описание: Biodegradable Mulch Weed Suppression Study Related to Cannabis Production

Professor DeBacco


Reference Article
Cirujeda, Alicia & Aibar, J. & Alvaro, Anzalone & Martín-Closas, Lluís & Meco, R. & Moreno, Marta & Pardo, Alfoso & Pelacho, Ana & Rojo, Ferran & Royo-Esnal, Aritz & Suso, María & Zaragoza, Carlos. (2012). Biodegradable mulch instead of polyethylene for weed control of processing tomato production. Agronomy for Sustainable Development. 32. 10.1007/s13593-012-0084-y.
https://www.researchgate.net/publicat...

Study Objective
To evaluate the effect of several biodegradable mulches on weed control and yield of processing tomato in different areas of Spain.
Goals was to find an alternative to standard black polyethylene mulch in order to reduce the waste problem.
This study investigated a field trial at four locations in Spain over three years.
It was a randomized complete block design with at least three replicates of nine treatments



Tomatoes Studied
Since a long term study regarding Cannabis of this type does not exist, in this example tomatoes are being used as a crop of comparison
At the end of the study review, based on the results specific recommendations for cannabis production will be provided.



Treatments Studied
Untreated control
Manual weeding (three times along the crop cycle)
Conventional plastic mulch (black PE, 15 μm thick)
Biodegradable plastic mulch (black Mater-Bi©, 15 μm thick)
Biodegradable plastic mulch (black Biofilm©, 17 μm thick)
Oxo-degradable plastic mulch (black Enviroplast©, 15 μm thick)
Paper mulch (black MimGreen©, 85 gm−2)
Paper mulch (brown Saikraft©, 140 gm−2)

Barley straw (1 kg m−2) provided locally and applied 10 days after transplanting


Weed Densities at Four Different Locations
Weed Control 63 Days Post Transplanting
Income and Benefits of Tomato Data



Category Comparisons
Biodegradable plastics can be an alternative to polyethylene due to the overall good weed control and high (tomato yield)
Paper mulches did not perform as well overall, and are more difficult to apply and avoid fracturing.
However, these are the only products that control nutsedge emergence



Economic Considerations
Biodegradable materials do provide benefits however in all cases they were less when compared to polyethylene.
This is why it still remains the most commonly used option, despite the disposal issue



Manual Weeding
Manual weeding did result in low weed densities
However, depending on area and labor this may be cost prohibitive.



Applying Finding to Cannabis Production
In season plastic offers many benefits, but grows must consider the entire growing season.
With the typically well established root (based systems of cannabis) this can make the removal of plastic mulches at the end of the season more challenging, in addition to the disposal issues.
If the field you are planning cannabis in has nutsedge (which is becoming a bigger problem in many agricultural fields) growers should consideration of paper mulch.

Nutsedge can emerge through plastic mulch and only paper mulch has show effectiveness at reducing its emergence.


Link to Lecture Slides: https://drive.google.com/file/d/12KPk...

*Due to the description character limit the full work cited for "Biodegradable Mulch Weed Suppression Study Related to Cannabis Production" can be viewed at... https://drive.google.com/file/d/1P3gl...