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market-farming - Re: [Market-farming] Bio degradable mulch

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  • From: Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net>
  • To: rob AT songberry.ca, Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Bio degradable mulch
  • Date: Thu, 8 Jul 2010 16:52:04 -0400


On Jul 8, 2010, at 3:57 PM, Rob Wallbridge wrote:

1) It's best to lay it in cool weather (early mornings work well).

I suppost most of the time we could pull that off if we tried hard. Sometimes the best way to fit the job into the rest of the week is to do it in the afternoon during a hot spell, though.

2) Plant it soon after laying it to maximize lifespan.

I like to lay all the plastic while the soil moisture conditions are good if possible. If it's too dry, we can run irrigation under the plastic before planting, though in a dry year it's good to save the moisture by laying plastic while there's some moisture there to save; but we often have long stretches of weather during the spring when our fields are too wet to work with equipment, but if the plastic's already down we can plant just fine. We plant by hand, and our planting is often interrupted by other work; also we plant in plastic some crops intended to go out sooner than others; so plastic can sometimes be down two or three weeks before it's planted. To plant it all right after laying it, we'd have to lay only a couple of rows at a time; which means that we'd have to keep mounting and un-mounting the mulch layer; and which also means that planting would often be further delayed because weather prevented us laying the plastic right before we wanted to plant.

3) The bed needs to be relatively firm and smooth to prevent tearing and
holes.

So we'd need to get rid of the rocks, and also need to buy a proper bedformer, and probably level the field in some areas before even using that.

4) Aggressive perennials like milkweed and quackgrass will push through.

Oh, we've definitely got those. Also Canada thistle.

5) If drip tape is in contact with the plastic, it will disintegrate and
tear where the tape is touching it.

Drip tape generally winds up in contact with the plastic all the way down the middle of the row. So I suppose we'd have to get a different mulch layer (possibly to go with the bed former), in order to bury the tape deeper; or else all our rows would split down the middle soon after planting, at which point the wind will pick the plastic up and land it on top of the small new transplants, probably doing considerable damage. (I had that happen once, years ago, when I was experimenting with an old version of supposedly biodegradable mulch.)

6) How well it holds up depends a lot on the weather (it breaks down
noticeably quicker in hot, wet weather).

Which is just when the weeds want to grow the fastest. And which here is sometimes followed by hot, dry weather; during which we want the water saving effect of the plastic mulch.

So I don't think we'll be using this stuff anytime soon. Maybe someday somebody will come up with a biodegradable mulch that a) is actually biodegradable, and doesn't leave the soil full of tiny bits of plastic for years with unknown effects on soil life and b) will nevertheless hold up long enough to last at least most of the season, without requiring near-perfect conditions in the field to do so. Doesn't sound like they've done it yet, though.

We mimimize the crops we use it on; but I think we're stuck with the old plastic mulch for a while.

-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale







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