175 Synthetic Mulches Increase Strawberry Yields Compared with Organic Mulches

The Combustibility of Landscape Mulches

Enhanced Pest Management with Cover Crop Mulches

Living and dead plant vegetation on the surface of soils can provide opportunities for regulating pest populations in no-tillage production systems. Cover crops generate substantial quantities of surface vegetation and residue that can be managed to enhance control of pests. Research at the Beltsville Agricultural Research Center has shown that weed germination and emergence is inhibited by hig...

Living Mulches Eggplant Growth and Yields in Living Mulch and Monocultures

INTRODUCTION The primary limitations of conventional weed control programs include a heavy reliance on capital intensive, toxic, and non-renewable resources (pesticides and petrochemicals) to manage weed competition. Weed emergence from the soil top layers is facilitated by the continuous disturbance created through cultivation, irrigation, pesticide applications, machinery, and other cultural ...

Weed Control Effi cacy of Organic Mulches in Two Organically Managed Bell Pepper Production Systems

A 2-year field study in Lexington, Ky., evaluated weed control efficacy and infl uence on yields of several organic mulches in two organically managed bell pepper (Capsicum annuum) production systems. Five weed control treatments [straw, compost, wood chips, undersown white dutch clover (Trifolium repens) “living mulch,” and the organically approved herbicide corn gluten] were applied to two pr...

Mulches reduce aphid-borne viruses and whiteflies in cantaloupe

A viruses and silverleaf whitefly can completely devastate cantaloupe crops, causing serious economic losses to growers. The California Melon Research Advisory Board (2003) lists the management and control of aphid-borne viruses and whitefly as a top pest-management research priority. At the UC Kearney Research and Extension Center (KREC), we studied the use of reflective plastic mulch and stra...