Capital Press interviews Gallandt for field day preview

Capital Press interviewed Eric Gallandt, a professor of weed ecology at the University of Maine, for a preview of a mechanical cultivation field day. Gallandt’s recent discoveries have the potential to significantly improve weed management in organic vegetable production. “Once of the more promising discoveries we’ve found in the last couple of years is that by using multiple tools in a single pass, or using multiple tools in sequence, is that you often get more than additive improvements in the percentage of weeds you kill. We have evidence of synergy,” Gallandt said. He found that using one tool that yields 30 percent weed control with a tool that yields 20 percent weed control does not result in 50 percent weed control, but something closer to 75 percent, Capital Press reports. Gallandt is also researching longer-term weed management strategies, including the use of cover crops. He will speak at the Oregon State University Mechanical Cultivation Field Day at the university’s vegetable research farm in Corvallis on Aug. 16. The field day will be held from 10 a.m.—5 p.m., and registration is requested online, according to the article.