Interactive Effects of Hand Weeding, Tine and Sweep Cultivation for Weed Control in Organic Peanut Production

Abstract

ABSTRACT Previous research has shown that mechanical cultivation is the most effective and affordable method of weed control in organic peanut production. However, growers are in need of more information on specific integrated cultivation regimes for effective season-long weed control with minimal hand-weeding requirements. Therefore, field trials were conducted in 2010–2012 to evaluate the effects of various tine and sweep cultivation treatments combined with or without hand-weeding on season-long weed control, stand establishment, and yield and grade of an organically-managed peanut crop. Tine cultivation treatments consisted of no cultivation or weekly cultivations for 5 wks after planting (WAP). Sweep treatments consisted of no cultivation, weekly cultivations (for 5 WAP), cultivations at 2 and 5 WAP only, or cultivation at 5 WAP only. Hand-weeding treatments were no hand-weeding or hand-weeding of the entire plot. There were numerous significant interactions among tine and sweep treatments on weed control. Initial weed species composition greatly affected cultivation effects on overall weed control. Tine cultivation was most effective at controlling annual grass weeds. Sweep cultivation was effective at reducing weeds (Amaranthus spp., southern crabgrass, and Florida pusley), but primarily when tine cultivation was absent. Hand-weeding significantly improved weed control for every weed species every year. Additionally, inclusion of certain cultivation regimes significantly reduced the hand-weeding time requirement over the control. However, cultivation treatments did not improve pod yield or grade in any year. The most significant benefit in cultivation from these data is in the reduction in hand-weeding requirements. Based on this research, a regime consisting of weekly tine cultivations for 5 WAP, combined with two timely sweep cultivations provided the best overall balance of weed control and minimization of hand-weeding. Hand-weeding is the most critical weed control method, followed by tine cultivation, and finally sweep cultivation, which primarily served as an aid in the event of missed tine cultivations or failure.