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Funded Project |
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Funding Program:
IPM Enhancement Grants |
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Project Title:
Enhancing Weed Management Systems in Container Nurseries for Reduced Costs |
Project Directors (PDs):
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Lead State: NC Lead Organization: North Carolina State University |
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Cooperating State(s):
Florida, Virginia |
| Undesignated Funding: $29,736 |
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Start Date: Mar-01-2016 End Date: Feb-28-2017 |
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Pests Involved: Weeds |
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Site/Commodity: Nursery Crops |
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Area of Emphasis: Weed Science |
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Summary:
Nursery crop production is an important sector of U.S. agriculture with about $5.1B in annual sales. Within the southeastern U.S., nursery crop production is among the most valuable crop production sectors, with AL, FL, GA, NC, SC, TN and VA accounting for over 24% of the national value of floriculture and nursery crop sales. Between 2007 and 2012 there was a 22% decrease in nursery crop sales. As a result, growers are searching for strategies to reduce production costs and improve economic returns.
Weed management can be one of the more costly inputs in container nursery crop production. To eliminate weed competition, nursery producers in the Southeastern U.S. utilize 3 to 6 applications of preemergence herbicides each year. Despite frequent use of broad-spectrum preemergence herbicides, not all weeds are adequately controlled. Emerged weeds must be removed by hand, costing an estimated $500 to $4,000 per acre per year. Consequently, improved weed management is consistently ranked by growers as a high priority for research. Specifically, weed management practices that reduce the man-hours required for hand weeding have the greatest potential to reduce overall weed control costs. Two strategies that have been shown to reduce overall weed removal costs are improved herbicide performance and efficient sanitation practices. Our research has demonstrated that optimum herbicide selection can reduce, but does not eliminate, the need for hand weeding. Herbicide performance can be improved by uniform and accurate applications, but our research has demonstrated that granular preemergence herbicide treatments in container nurseries routinely result in as much as 250% variation in dose applied within a treated block of plants. A second strategy to reduce weed control costs is to implement sanitation practices to limit the reproduction and spread of weeds. A typical container nursery weed management practice is to apply preemergence herbicides shortly after potting, then hand weed as needed . Such as needed hand weeding is done when the crop is weedy about 6 to 8 weeks after herbicide application. However, many common nursery weed species can have multiple generations within eight weeks. Thus, weed populations increase over time, requiring more time to hand weed. Hand weeding frequently to limit seed production and population increases has been shown to reduce overall cumulative hand weeding costs by as much as 50% compared to current grower practices. These proven practices of more uniform application, optimum product selection, and removing weeds before they can reproduce and spread, reduce weed populations and overall costs of weed control in container nurseries. But these practices have not yet been adopted. A regional educational program to encourage adoption of these simple yet effective practices is needed. In this project we propose to develop training resources, train regional county agents, and establish on-farm demonstration tests to document research-based findings and educate growers on these practices. A conservative goal of 25% reduction in overall weed control costs could return over $500,000 annually in savings in NC alone. Objectives: The objective of this project is to develop a demonstration and education program that will result in growers improving herbicide application uniformity and adopting sanitation practices that reduce weed control costs. Specific objectives are: 1. Train the trainers one to two county agents in each of the participating states will participate in webinars on the principles of weed management and will receive educational materials to utilize in training their clientele on these principles; 2. Facilitate and enable these county agents to establish one or two demonstration sites that will be used to demonstrate and document; (a) the impacts of improved herbicide selection, (b) application calibration and uniformity, (c) non-crop sanitation and (d) frequent weed removal impacts on overall weed control efficacy and costs. 3. Disseminate the information to additional Extension specialists, growers and allied industry professionals. |
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Final Report: |
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Outputs * On-farm tests were established in NC, VA and FL nurseries to demonstrate cost-effective weed control practices. * Educational field days were conducted at these sites to train Extension agents and growers on strategies to improve weed control and reduce overall weed control costs. * Cost-saving strategies included: --Increased frequency of hand weeding results in an average reduction in labor costs of 36%. --Granular herbicide application uniformity can be improved resulting in better weed control and less crop injury -- Selecting the best herbicide for the crop and weed spectrum can improve efficacy and reduce hand weeding costs. *Resources were developed to support these educational goals. These include Extension fact sheets and web content. * Results were reported to peers via two peer reviewed Extension fact sheets and three peer-reviewed papers. |
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Outcomes 50% of field day participants indicated they were highly likely to adopt practices that could reduce hand weeding costs by an average of 36%. Herbicide applications in container nurseries are inherently non-uniform. Only 19% of respondents were currently calibrating their spreaders, but 50% intended to adopt the practice as a result of attending this training Only 20% of the field day participants indicated that they were currently using plant bed widths to accommodate the optimum swath width of the application equipment. Based on the educational resources and training offered, an additional 24% of the participating growers indicated that they were highly likely to implement this procedure. However, 37% were only moderately likely to adjust swath width in their nurseries. This suggests additional educational measures will be needed to overcome barriers to implementation. |
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