Mulches: Organic and synthetic

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Mulches Organic and synthetic

• Harsimran Rosie Gill and R. McSorley
• University of Florida

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Mulches and Organic Amendments

• Mulch
• Material applied to soil surface
• Amendment
• Material mixed into soil

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Organic materials used as amendments
(biodegradable)

• Crop residues, green manures
• Cellulose (wood chips, sawdust, paper, etc.)
• Municipal solid waste (sewage sludge, etc.)
• Animal manures
• Processing byproducts (food waste, oil cakes,
  etc.)
• Seaweed, crab chitin, fish emulsion, etc.
• Peat moss, leaves, etc.

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Types of mulches

• Organic materials (crop residues min.
  tillage)
• Living mulches (intercrop crop planted into
  established cover crop like clover, other legume)
• Paper
• Plastic

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Synthetic mulches
Organic mulches
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Organic mulches

• Organic mulches- living, containing any kind of
  organic material like hay, straw, pine needles,
  shredded bark, and sawdust, etc.

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Benefits of Mulches

• Many of the benefits of surface crop residues in
  minimum tillage, including
• Moisture conservation (evaporation much reduced
  if mulch is thick)
• Reduced erosion
• Improved quality of surface water, moderate soil
  temp., etc.

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Contd.

• Many of the benefits of surface crop residues in
  minimum tillage
• Soil fertility and structure --- improves over
  time, but depends on extent to which mulch is
  incorporated into soil
• Weed management depends on thickness of mulch

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Objective

• To determine the impact of organic mulches on
  soil surface insect community

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Materials and Methods

• Location - Plant Science Research and Education
  Unit, Citra, FL
• Main crop- Roma bush beans (TOS- 4th Oct, 2007)

www. plantscienceunit.ifas.ufl.edu
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Pine bark
Sorghum- sudangrass
Cowpea
Sunnhemp
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CN Ratio
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Experimental plot design
8 ft
15 ft
C- Control, PB- Pine bark, SH- Sunnhemp, SO-
Sorghum sudangrass, CP- Cowpea
10 ft
10 ft
15 ft
15 ft
10 ft
Treatments- 5 Replications- 5
15 ft
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Cowpea Mulch Low CN ratio Breaks down quickly
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Observations

• Pitfall sampling of insects- 1/Plot

• Total traps in field- 25
• Traps kept every 15 days
• Number of sampling dates- 5

• Wooden board sampling- 1/Plot

• Total boards in field- 25
• Board kept every month
• Number of sampling dates- 3

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Result Pitfall Data
Coll- Collembola
a
ab
ab
bc
c
Insects and Date
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Results- Pitfall Data

• Insects of many different orders and families
  found in pitfall traps

• Collembola, Spider, Mites
• Beetles (Gyrinidae, Elateridae, Chrysomelidae,
  Coccinelidae, Staphylinidae)
• Grasshoppers, and Crickets (Gryllidae, Acrididae)
• Flies (Dolichopodidae)
• Ants, Wasps, and Parasitoids
• Leaf hoppers (Cicadellidae)
• Other insects (Aphididae, Noctuidae, Muscidae,
  Labiduridae, Delphacidae)
• Pictures at http//edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in876

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• Synthetic Mulches

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Synthetic Mulches - Plastic

• Seal in Fumigants
• Reduce evaporation, conserve water
• Reduce weeds
• Solarization
• H. Gill solarization experiments

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Objectives

• Compare plastic sheets from different companies
  in terms of

• Durability to sunlight
• Weed growth

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Materials and Methods

• Location - Plant Science Research and Education
  Unit, Citra, FL
• Replications - 5
• Plot size - 35 ft8 ft

www. plantscienceunit.ifas.ufl.edu
Best time - First week of July
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Contd.

• Treatments

• ISO (ISO Poly Films, Inc., Gray Court, SC)
• VeriPack (VeriPack Inc., Framingham, MA)
• Poly Pak (Poly Pak Plastics, Medford, MN)
• Bromostop (Bruno Rimini Corp., London, UK)
• White plastic (Rodeo Plastic Bag Film,
  Mesquite, TX) Control

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Experimental plot design
8 ft
WP- White plastic, PP- Polypak, VP- Veri pack,
BS-Bromostop, ISO Tractor applied VP, PP, WP
Manual ISO, BS
35 ft
5.5 ft
10 ft
Treatments - 5 Replications - 5
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Data collected

• Identification and counting of weeds
• Number of tears (Durability) and size of tears

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Large
Small
Extra large
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Small tears in different plastic sheets
a
ab
a
bc
a
a
ab
bc
b
b
15-Aug
22-Aug
28-Aug
6-Sep
Date
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Tears area in different plastic sheets
22-Aug
28-Aug
6-Sep
Date
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Nutsedges in different plastic sheets
1-Aug
15-Aug
6-Sep
20-Sep
2-Oct
Date
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Comparison of other weeds in different plastic
sheets
P- Purslane, Cw- Cudweed, Hi- Hairy Indigo, G-
Grasses, Bl- Broad leaves
a
a
b
a
a
ab
a
ab
ab
ab
a
b
b
ab
ab
b
b
b
Weed type and Date
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Take home points

• Tear numbers, weed numbers, - highest in White
  Plastic (WP)
• Tears area most in Bromostop (BS) followed by
  White Plastic (WP)
• Durability Poly Pak (PP) and ISO gave excellent
  performance