Browsing by Author "Tammisto, Otto"

Farmers are increasingly aware of the drawbacks involved in traditional techniques to terminate vegetation. No-till methods have been implemented but in organic farming it has been difficult to find efficient alternatives to tilling. The aim of this study was to investigate the potential of tarping as an alternative way of vegetation termination without tillage under the conditions of southern Finland. The study compared five different tarping treatments and bare fallow. The treatment period was 10 weeks, and the follow-up period was 4 weeks after the end of the treatments. The effectiveness of the treatment was monitored by estimating vegetation cover and studying the effect of treatment on soil, nitrogen content, moisture, temperature and structure. Occultation was found to be as efficient as bare fallow as a method to terminate vegetation. Solarization, on the other hand, even increased the growth of weeds. Tarping also had a positive effect on the humidity and nitrogen content of the topsoil. More research is needed since observations suggest that with larger sample size occultation would have been more efficient than bare fallow. Occultation can be a potential alternative tool for vegetation termination and weed control for small gardens/horticultural farms and landscaping.