Re: CULT: Weed Control

From: Bill Shear <BILLS@hsc.edu>

A mechanism for weed control that is useful in sunny climes and was
recommended to this group many months ago by Rick Tasco is solarization.

Soil that is to be used for an iris bed is thoroughly turned and tilled,
then covered with a sealed layer of transparent (not black) plastic, held
down around the edges by mounds of soil, rocks, logs, etc.

Over the course of several weeks or months, the temperature in the soil is
raised repeatedly to lethal levels for disease organisms and weed seeds.
If located close enough to the surface, rhizomes and roots of perennial
weeds are also killed, or are depleted as they emerge beneath the plastic.

Rick uses this method in California but I have found it equally effective
in Virginia.  Following solarization, careful hand-control of weeds keeps
them out.
One avoids the use of dangerous herbicides.

Rick runs a commercial nursery (Superstition Iris Gardens) so this method
would seem to be entirely feasible for a large planting, though it does
require that beds be rotated--which nearly all commercial growers and
amateurs with large collections do anyhow.

Search the archives for "solarization" for more information.

Bill Shear
Department of Biology
Hampden-Sydney College
Hampden-Sydney VA 23943
(804)223-6172
FAX (804)223-6374
email<bills@mail.hsc.edu>

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