To the folks looking into organic strawberries, thinking about weed control from corn gluten.
As you know, you can buy corn gluten and apply
it as a "pre-emerge"; i.e., it inhibits weed seeds
from germinating.
An organic byproduct that controls weeds is
certainly appealing.
But when you start to figure the cost to purchase
corn gluten at the suggested application rate, you wonder..... is it really effective for weed control?
Here is a paper I kept track of when it came out
in HortScience, Vol. 37 (2002).
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Dilley, Craig A., Gail R. Nonnecke, and Nick E. Christians. 2002. Corn-based extracts to manage weeds and provide nitrogen in matted-row strawberry culture. HortScience. Vol. 37, No. 7. p. 1053-1056.
*N rates -- including urea plots -- did not improve yields; yet soil OM was pretty good at 3.3%
*dicot weeds control slightly, monocots not at all with CGM
*overall, weed control hardly effected by CGM ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
In other words, corn gluten's ability to control weeds
was practically nil.
Perhaps you can find papers that show more promising results, but this is pretty recent and
it is from the Iowa State University team that figured out corn-gluten-for-weed-control in the first place.
It seems like you can take the same $$ investment
that you would spend on corn gluten, and instead focus on:
*100-200 bales of straw mulch *shredded newsprint *commercial rolls of paper mulch *geotextile mulch
The newsprint and/or paper mulches would be laid under straw mulch, in the pathways, for long-term weed control.
The shredded paper will work alone, as it tangles
together... especially after getting wet. It can be laid in the pathways.
The geotextile method has been tried with ever-bearing strawberries.
Of course, with matted row berries the daughter plants need to peg down into soil, especially after
renovation, so geotextile mulch is better suited to ever-bearing strawberries.
The geotextile mulch would cover the whole acreage, rather than pathways alone, just burn holes through it and tuck transplants into soil.
If you are talking a quarter acre or a half acre,
the geotextile method is practical and affordable.
If you going to a few acres, you can rely on tillage and combine with straw + paper mulch, as appropriate.
The finger tine weeder is an excellent tool
for young stawberry plants, keeping them
weeded the first growing season.
The Reigi weeder was invented to assist strawberry and vegetable weeding. It is similar to a stirrage hoe.
Reigi Weeder at Univerco http://www.univerco.net/en/reigi.html
Also just came across Christine Jaeger's leaflet,
on weed control in organic carrots... a nice summary of implements and uses.
Organic Farming: Weed Control in Organic Carrots - Implements HTML
http://www.nre.vic.gov.au/4A2568B2008332A3/BCView/A0789DF732565B98CA256CAE0001D7BA?OpenDocument
http://www.nre.vic.gov.au/web/root/domino/cm_da/nrecinf.nsf/c119e3f042f5596aca256bca001f8bd5/a0789df732565b98ca256cae0001d7ba/$FILE/AG1083.pdf
Tomorrow I will put out 100' x 15', or 100' x 30' of geotextile mulch, and plant
cucurbits... depending on how much I have
left on hand.
Horticulturally, Steve Diver
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