Re: CULT: Preemergent

On Jul 16, 2006, at 8:05 PM, ChatOWhitehall@aol.com wrote:
He observed that the label stated the plants had to
be rooted before its use, and he spoke of avoiding buildup in the soil. These
posts are in the archives. This was the same era in which Superstition was
into solarizing. It would be interesting to know what the situation is there
now.
I wrote to Rick and Roger and they responded as follows:
The chemical patent formula for surflan has now expired so anyone can make it. We buy a "knock-off" made by a local California company at about half the cost of surflan or any of its' former "names" such as Monterey Weed-Stopper, etc.

We have used surflan for probably a dozen years or so. We transplant our iris in Sept/Oct, then start applying the surflan when the winter rains begin, hopefully in Oct/Nov.

We don't have to worry about "build-up" because of the way we grow iris in our yearly ground rotation. We use a 2-acre plot, rotating an acre planted in iris each year. We grow the cover crop over the winter, then till it in the next Spring, then solarize that previously surflanned area the next summer--so there is an actual calendar year before we are back planting on that previously surflanned ground. We have seen NO ill effects of using surflan the way WE use it, rotating every year.

John                | "There be dragons here"
                         |  Annotation used by ancient cartographers
                         |  to indicate the edge of the known world.

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