ALEXANDRIA, Va., Nov. 18 (UPI) -- Non-chemical biodegradable mulches can be as effective as herbicides for managing weeds in nursery production, Italian researchers said.
With hand-weeding labor costs being prohibitive and herbicides causing non-target losses as high as 86 percent with environmental harm, nursery producers are looking for more sustainable and cost-efficient techniques to control weeds in container-grown plants, a release from the American Society for Horticultural Science said Friday.
In experiments in a nursery near Como, Italy, four biodegradable mulching materials were tested and compared with a chemical control and a non-mulched/non-treated control in container-grown plants.
The results showed that mulches limited weed growth to the same extent as the chemical control, study author Gabriele Amoroso said.
In the experiments container water content was unaffected by mulching materials, and none of the mulching materials were found to reduce the pot temperature, the researchers said.
The study can help ornamental plant growers by giving them more information about the effects of mulching on plant growth, substrate temperature, and water content in containerized plant production, they said.
