9.15am - Monday 16th May 2016 5,831

Controlling weeds organically is tough, especially when you're trying to rescue plants that you want to save. We have 1.4 acres of hops that have had a lot of weeds grow in over the last two years and it is time to finally fix it!

My plan for this year is to hand weed in the beginning to give the hops a head start over the weeds. After that I will flame weed where I can as well continue hand weeding until the hops are established.

Once the hops are established I will go behind them with Avengers Organic Herbicide on the remaining weeds. The hope is that by mid season/late season I will have the ground clear under the hops and I can use a mulch to help stop the weeds from coming back.

My options for organic weed management are:
- flame weeding
- hand weeding
- DIY at home herbicide
- purchased OMRI approved herbicide
- mulch
- steam
- cultivation

It's quite the project and we're making the best decisions we can based on the information on hand.

Here's a great link to the UVM weed management trials from 2015:
http://www.uvm.edu/extension/cropsoil/wp-content/uploads/2015-Hop-Weed-Management.pdf

Here's their general hops page which is packed with info:
http://www.uvm.edu/extension/cropsoil/hops

Here's me:
http://farmmarketingsolutions.com