Mechanical Weed Control Using Mowing in Organic No-till.

Organic no-till uses a crimped cover crop to provide a weed barrier during the early part of the growing season. As the cover crop residue breaks down, both in-row and between-row weeds will emerge as the season progresses. To provide mid- and late-season weed control in organic no-till, a between-row mower was designed and tested at the University of Missouri. The four-row mower is powered hydraulically and mounted on a tool bar with a three-point hitch hook-up. This mower is based on earlier USDA research that showed successful weed control in conventional production using a herbide banded over the crop row and mowing for weeds in the between-row space. Three years of data at MU show that between-row mowing in an organic no-till system is competitive with weed control using cultivation in a conventional organic system.