Fumigant Alternatives by Method

• Solarization Stapleton, J. J., Molinar, R. H., Lynn-Patterson, K., McFeeters, S. K., and Shrestha, A. 2005. Methyl bromide alternatives. Soil solarization provides weed control for limited-resource and organic growers in warmer climates. California Agriculture 59 (2):84-89. PDF Abstract: This paper describes the use of soil solarization technology for weed management, as conducted by the University of California Kearney Research and Extension Center for 8 years. The project consists of laboratory development, small-plot experimentation and on-farm validation of data in San Joaquin Valley specialty crops. Based on the weed research conducted and the small-scale tests on parsley, all of the solarization treatments were equally effective in providing weed control, with weed numbers reduced by 86-94% and weed biomass reduced by 94-99% over the untreated control. Furthermore, in an on-farm study in Fresno-Clovis area of San Joaquin Valley during 1997-99, solarization provided effective weed control for strawberries at a much lower cost than methyl bromide, with comparable yields. Link: http://calag.ucop.edu/0502AMJ/pdfs/Solarization.pdf