Nashville, IN - In this on-farm study, organic vegetable producer Dale Rhoads tried out several organic herbicide materials and flaming in conjunction with a ‘stale’ seedbed to reduce the time and cost of hand-weeding leafy greens beds. The materials tested were Matran 5 (now reformulated and sold as Matran EC), two different vinegar solutions diluted to 13% and 10%, and Burnout II.
These trials, performed in 2005, took place in salad green beds, where weeding is the most time consuming and least desirable farm task. The most problematic weeds on the farm are chickweed, hairy galinsoga, purslane and various grasses.