Mulches/mulching

Mulching— Mulching is used to prevent light from reaching weed seeds, thus preventing weed growth between rows, around trees and shrubs, or in other areas where no plants are desired. 

Mulch Mulching involves putting a generous layer of organic material on the surface of the soil, leaving space around the stems of the plants. This should be done when the soil Is warm and wet. Mulch helps to keep the soil moist and to protect the structure of the soil at the surface. 

The analysis of cocoa shell (7) is given in Table 4. In the United States, shells are often used as mulch or fertilizer for ornamental and edible plants, as animal feed, and as fuel for boilers. 

In contrast, composting processes utilize a mixture of solids and yard waste under controlled environmental conditions to produce a disinfected, humus-like product. Three common composting systems are a horizontal agitated reactor, a horizontal nonagitated reactor, and an aerated static pile system (nonproprietary). Compost can be marketed as a soil conditioner in competition with such products as peat, soil, and mulch. Although a large potential market exists, significant effort is required to penetrate this market. Yard waste revenue of 6.50/m (S5/yd ) and product revenue of 2.00/m ( 1.50/yd ) appear to be reasonable market values based on various studies reported on the Web. 

Rye (Secale cereale L.) and Wheat Triticum aestivum L.) Mulch The Suppression of Certain Broadleaved Weeds and the Isolation and Identification of Phytotoxins... 

In full-season soybeans and sunflowers planted into desiccated green rye, the elimination of tillage and the presence of rye mulch reduced aboveground biomass of C. album, A. artemisiifolia, and A. retroflexus 99,... 

Cultivation of soil has and will continue to be an important means of controlling weeds (1). However, extensive soil cultivation leads to various problems such as losses of soil, soil moisture and nutrients. This results in water pollution by both the soil itself and pesticides and nutrients associated with it (2, 3, 4). Minimum or no-till cropping systems can reduce these problems because various crop residues (i.e., mulch) are left on the soil surface with a minimum of soil disturbance in planting the crop. 

The presence of crop residues has been reported to both increase (5, 6) and decrease crop yields ( 7) and not tilling to increase certain difficult to control weeds (8). However, other reports indicate that the presence of certain mulches can reduce the biomass of certain weeds (9-15) and allow for higher crop yields ( 5, 6). Thus, under certain conditions, mulches can suppress certain weed species, but determining the reason(s) presents many logistical problems, especially under field conditions. To determine the cause(s), the physical and chemical (i.e., allelopathy) effects of the mulch and the role of soil disturbance (or the lack of, as would be the case in a no-till system) must be separated. 

Even with these problems, attempts have been made to demonstrate that mulches suppress weeds allelopathically. Putnam and DeFrank (12) and Barnes and Putnam (39) used Populus wood shavings to separate chemical and physical effects of mulches. Their work indicated that certain mulches do possess allelopathic potential. Liebl and Worsham (9) and Shilling and Worsham (14) placed mulch on tilled soil, after tilling, in an attempt to provide the weeds with an exposure to light. Their work also indicated that at least part of the suppression of weeds by wheat and rye mulch is allelopathic. Thus, research to date indicates that both mulch and the lack of soil tillage contributes to the suppression of weeds in no-till cropping systems. 

The purposes of the studies reported here were to (1) characterize the effects of rye and wheat mulch and soil disturbance on certain weed species, (2) determine if allelopathy was involved,... 

In April of 1982 (flue-cured tobacco) and 1983 (soybean and sunflower), treatments were set up as follows (1) mulch removed ... 

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