There s a lot less hand-weeding to do now. It s a treatment of last resort, but one that s justified because of its immediate and long-term benefits. That striking cost figure helps him critically evaluate other approaches that meet his personal goal and his organic certification mandate of a no-herbicide system. It also motivates his early season management. Another piece of his organic approach is to optimize a broad range of nutrient levels based on lab tests of soil samples.
Optimum fertility tied to crop needs gives crops early vigor to outcompete weeds.
De Wilde believes that his attention to applying calcium, sulfur and trace minerals has added to the crops advantage. He uses a moldboard plow 4 to 6 inches deep every two or three years of the crop rotation to incorporate a rank cover crop of rye, hairy vetch and red clover, but chisel plows 8 inches deep for primary tillage whenever possible. Limiting pre-plant tillage to the top several inches minimizes how many weed seeds are stimulated by movement and light. When the first flush of weeds sprouts in a week or so, he makes a pass with a combination of a light disk or cultipacker and steel drag. He repeats the pass if he has to wait for a second flush to emerge.