For many small fruit and vegetable farmers, finding cost-effective strategies to control weeds is a never-ending struggle. In Virginia, one producer found that using locally available chipped wood for mulch helps manage weeds while increasing yield, improving soil health and cutting irrigation costs.
To help farmers better manage weed pests, Patrick Johnson of Neighborly Affiliations for Naturally Idealized Health (NANIH) Farm received a Southern SARE Producer grant to study the efficacy of using wood chip mulch as a weed suppressant in a market-vegetable production system. Johnson’s research demonstrated that covering soil with wood chip mulch effectively controlled weeds. As an added benefit, the mulch also reduced moisture evaporation and contributed to steady soil hydration, which ultimately improved Johnson’s yields. Bolstered by the support of the SARE grant, Johnson presented his results at conferences and farmers markets to hundreds of other farmers and agricultural professionals.
“Water doesn’t evaporate as fast when the ground is covered,” says Johnson. “Moisture was steady throughout the entire experiment, and we did see an increase in overall production resulting from the use of wood chips.”
By documenting that a variety of additional benefits can be realized by using wood chip mulch to reduce weed pressure, the project improved the operation's environmental, economic and production sustainability, while boosting production.
A recent post-project evaluation of SARE projects awarded between 2016–2019 found that SARE’s integrated approach to research and education was crucial to the project’s success.
Visit https://www.sare.org/sare-impacts-FS18-308 for more information on this project.
Evaluating the Effectiveness of Locally Available Woodchips for Weed Control is part of a series of 23 case studies produced by Insight for Action as part of a post-project evaluation of SARE's regional grant programs. Visit https://www.sare.org/sare-impacts for further details.
For information on grants and resources available from SARE, visit www.sare.org.