Weed Management Options for Plasticulture Berries

One advantage of the plasticulture system is the excellent weed control from the dark plastic mulch and fumigants (where used). However, weeds can still establish in the hole by each plant, in the row middles and along the field edges.

Weeds in the planting hole

Frequent scouting and hand removal are the best options. Begin shortly after planting to scout for small weeds, so mother plants are not uprooted as well. Remember that winter annuals like Canada fleabane and prickly lettuce establish during the fall so scouting should begin early in the fall and continue next spring.

Weeds between the beds

Consider one or two of the following options:

• Pre-emergent herbicides banded between the rows eg. Devrinol or Sinbar.
  
• Cultivation between the rows (see Figure 1 for a cultivator adapted to weed between the rows)
  
• Gramoxone between the rows, using a shield to keep spray drift off the beds.
  
• Roundup applied with a wick wiper to control emerged weeds between the rows.
  
• Cover crop seeded in late summer to either winter-kill (eg. oats) or beckilled in the spring by mowing or herbicide (eg. fall rye, barley, or wheat).
  
• Poast or Venture to control grass escapes or spring seeded cereal cover crop.

Figure 1: A cultivator adapted to weed between the rows

Weeds at field edges

Weeds often establish in bare soil at the ends of the rows or field edges. Control these before they go to seed by mowing, cultivating or by using an appropriate herbicide. This is especially important in fields kept for a 2nd harvest.

Cautions

• Do not apply Treflan or Dual before making beds. Untreated soil from below the herbicide layer will be moved to the surface, and the herbicide will be diluted, reducing weed control.
  
• Do not apply pre-emergent herbicides (ie Sinbar, Devrinol) over plastic because they can move off of the plastic and concentrate in the planting hole or between the rows.
  
• Do not use glyphosate (eg. Roundup) to control runners between the rows, as this systemic herbicide could translocate back to the mother plants
  

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