Current European weed control methods and strategies against annual and perennial weeds in organic farming

Review of physical and cultural weed control methods for organic farmin

Current achievements and future directions of physical weed control in Europe

This paper reviews major results achieved with physical weed control methods and strategies especially adapted for horticultural and agricultural crops. Mechanical methods, such as weed harrowing and inter-row hoeing, have provided promising results in cereals, pulse and oil seed rape, particularly when they are part of a strategy that also involves cultural methods such as fertiliser placement or crop seed vigour. In row crops, intra-row weeds constitute a major challenge, and research has mainly aimed at replacing laborious hand weeding with mechanization. A number of investigations have focussed on optimising the use of thermal and mechanical methods against intra-row weeds. And new methods are now under investigation such as robotic weeding for row crops with abundant spacing between individual plants and band-steaming for row crops developing dense crop stands

INTERGRATING PHYSICAL AND CULTURAL METHODS OF WEED CONTROL – EXAMPLES FROM EUROPEAN RESEARCH

The most recent advances in European research on non-chemical weed control methods and strategies for horticultural and agricultural crops are presented

Mechanical weed control in transplanted sugar beet

Results from two years experiments with mechanical weed control in transplanted organic sugar beet

The importance of crop competition in physical and cultural weed control strategies

The prentation focussed on the importance of crop competition in physical and cultural weed control strategie

Danish research on physical weed control in bulb onion (Allium cepa L.) and leek (Allium porrum L.)

The paper summarises the Danish results and experiences with non-chemical weed control in leek and onion

Visit to Australia and New Zealand

The report summarises experiences from a study tour to Australia and New Zealand where numerous organic farms and research stations were visited by the Danish scientist Bo Melande

Development of tools for automated physical weed control

Tools are being developed for automated physical weed control in the close to crop area. The most promising weed control concepts are the so-called high precision tillage solutions and thermal weed control by pulsed lasers