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  • From: Chris Reid <chriscreid AT yahoo.com>
  • To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: [Market-farming] solarization periods?
  • Date: Fri, 30 Apr 2010 05:41:02 -0700 (PDT)

I have a heavily weed infested bed that I am thinking of solarizing.  What I
have read is you can increase temperatures with a second sheet of clear
plastic held above the first to make an air tent/buffer (can raise temps up
to 6 degrees), and that many weed seeds can be killed at under 100 degrees.

Wayne Schmidt (extreme melon growing page is a hoot) has a fun page on soil
solarization in which he details the results of his experiments on the topic:
http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/solarization.htm

He actually was more helpful than any of the formal stuff I was able to find
via google.

>From him I gather that 2 mil plastic is the best combo of sturdiness vs.
>price.

In composting, weeds supposedly are killed at 140 degrees for two days.  I
found an article on using solarization to disinfest potting soil and the
weeds did not come up in soil treated one hour at 140 degrees or a half hour
at 160 degrees.
http://solar.uckac.edu/PDF/697.pdf

In that case, the soil was piled 12 inches deep on top of plastic -- not
really feasible for for me.

But typical solarization times are weeks or months.

Has anybody tried it in the Northeast for less time with good results?

Trying to kill some vigorous annual invasive weeds above a pristine pond.

Thanks.

Chris Reid
Stamford, CT







  • [Market-farming] solarization periods?, Chris Reid, 04/30/2010

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