Weed control in early establishment of row grown vegetables in organic production

Based on the successful weed control strategy in organic cropping developed for late established carrots (end of May), which has now been implemented in practice, we are seeking to extend this strategy to early seeded cultures i.e. onions. The underlying concept in this type of weed control strategy would again be to encourage weeds to germinate and then control them by flaming immediately before or during early emergence of the cultivated crop. The aim of this project is to develop, study and evaluate, via participatory research, different combinations of weed control methods, to entire strategies, that have the potential to decrease the hand-weeding requirement in organic vegetable growing, especially in cultures sown early in the season, such as carrots and onions.

Project leader: David Hansson
Collaborators: Sven-Erik Svensson
Partners: Johan Ascard Swedish Board of Agriculture, Owe Johansson Raggården Vara, Johan Malmström Mariannes farm, Per Modig HS Kristianstad, Trygve Wålstedt Dala-Floda, Elisabeth Ögren County Administrative Board Västmanland.

Funding: Swedish Board of Agriculture and Partnership Alnarp SLU