Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
cessarily have to be bare ground. Various organic and inorganic mulches can
be used to reduce weed pressure while protecting the soil.
Maintaining bare ground requires more labor and machine hours for
mechanical and hand cultivation, raises fuel consumption if tractors are
needed for tillage, increases soil erosion and compaction, and reduces soil
organic matter. Bare ground can also be lacking in biological diversity and
activity.
Using mechanical cultivation to maintain bare alleys does not work in
all orchards. On even gentle slopes, erosion can be severe. In any orchard,
tilling more than 1 or 2 inches deep can damage vital feeder roots of the fruit
crops. Mechanical cultivation works best for annual weeds. It is less effective
and can even increase problems with perennial weeds such as nutsedge, field
bindweed, Canada thistle, quack grass, johnsongrass, and Bermuda grass.
When faced with aggressive perennial weeds, you will need a combination of
weed suppression practices.
In unirrigated orchards in regions that have little precipitation during the
growing season, some fruit growers practice what is called dust mulching.
Frequent, very shallow cultivation creates a layer of dust on the soil that
helps reduce moisture loss from the underlying soil and reduces weed prob-
lems in the alley. Dust-mulched alleys are highly susceptible to wind and wa-
ter erosion, and depending on the method of tilling, you can also create a
shallow hardpan. Use this strategy with great care.
According to some orchard experts, the far-reaching aspect we call soil
quality is strongly influenced by cover and soil management practices, as
shown in figure 9.2 . The take-home message is to use mechanical cultiv-
ation as little as possible and optimize the use of cover crops in established
orchards.
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