Weed Control

Establishing a weed control program for orchards begins with site preparation. Prior to planting, any persistent perennial weeds should be treated and removed. Most of the herbicides labeled for tree fruit work well against annual weeds, but only a few can control perennial weeds. Therefore, you should clean up any problem perennial weeds before planting. Ideally, the site to be planted should be either fallow or row cropped for at least two years before planting. The most common practice is to rent out the land to a local farmer to grow crops such as corn or wheat. Both of these crops are cereal grains that do not support tomato ringspot virus.

Care should be taken in selecting herbicides for the rotational crops. Many common corn and wheat herbicides can persist and injure subsequent crops. Persistent herbicides can kill young trees, reduce growth, or injure root systems. Root system injury may not show up until later in the growing season, when the plants are under stress. Typical signs of root injury include the sudden collapse of the tree.

For more information, please see ths Penn State Tree Fruit Production Guide Web page.

Penn State Horticulture Department

For more information on this subject, Please visit the College of Agricultural Sciences Publications Web site.

Feel free to forward, post or reprint any of the "Solutions" in their entirely, but please credit http://www.solutions.psu.edu/ as the original source of information, and please do not change the content.