Project Overview

Reports

Commodities

• Fruits: berries (blueberries), grapes

Target Pests

• Target Pests: weeds

Practices

• Pest Management: mulches - general, Electric mulch

This proposal is for a Project Initiation grant and addresses New Technologies to Address Pests. Weed control in crops such as wine grapes and blueberries is a significant expense. In these crops, weed management often consists of herbicide application and the use of plastic mulch. Herbicides may have off target impacts, including the potential to negatively impact human health and the environment, and their overuse can lead to the evolution of herbicide-resistant weeds. Plastic mulches may be temporarily effective in preventing weed growth, but they have limited lifespans, are generally not biodegradable, and require landfill disposal. The drawbacks of herbicide and plastic mulch weed control limit their sustainability and call for new solutions to weed control. We have developed a novel weed control technique using low doses of electricity (hereafter, ‘electric mulch’) to prevent weed growth safely and effectively. While this technique has been demonstrated in xeriscaping and more recently in an annual crop, this will be the first implementation in perennial crops. The research objective is to evaluate electrical preemergent weed control efficacy in vineyards and blueberry, and research will be conducted in a vineyard in New Mexico and a blueberry field in Oregon, thereby evaluating the technology in two crops and two different ecoregions. Two different types of electric mulch (32-gauge wire with openings of either 2.5 mm (effective against weeds, but more expensive) or 5.7 mm (potentially less effective because of the larger openings, but cheaper) will be tested and compared to herbicide (pendimethalin), plastic mulch, and an untreated control to evaluate weed control efficacy in each crop. Weed cover and crop health will be estimated throughout the growing season and weed biomass and crop yield will be recorded at harvest. Plots will be 0.5 m × 5 m and there will be 4 replicates of each treatment in a randomized complete block design. Project outputs will include knowledge about the efficacy of electric mulches as a method for preemergent weed control in vineyards and blueberries. Outcomes may include adoption of the method which would lead to greater sustainability in crop production, including a reduction in herbicide use and lower probability for the evolution of herbicide resistant weeds.

The goal of this research will be to develop practical, economically viable, and environmentally sustainable weed control methods in vineyards and blueberry production. We aim to provide a simple method of electric mulch using an electrically charged weed barrier in a vineyard and a blueberry field. Because we will have a limited budget and will conduct research in two states on two different crops, we are focusing on one objective: Evaluate electrical preemergent weed control efficacy in vineyards and blueberry.