UK growers are being reminded there is still time to sterilise land this spring as part of their weed control strategies for the coming season - an option which some growers think they missed back in the autumn.
Nick Ottewell, general manager for Vitacress in Kent, which grows more than 240 hectares of babyleaf salads equating to around 45 tonnes per week per season, said: “Due to our drilling pressures and cropping requirements, we carry out both spring and autumn soil-sterilising treatments using Basamid (dazomet).
“Wild rocket is our second-most popular leaf but at the moment there are no usable pre-emergence herbicides available for it, so unless we get good effective weed control and sterilise the ground before the crop goes in, we can have real problems.
“It’s very effective. In the first year following treatment we don’t need any herbicides on the crops at all - especially vital for wild rocket.
“We’re applying Basamid at 500kg/ha to a depth of 45cm and its working well for us. And a big plus is that we don’t have to use polythene sheeting to seal the surface.”
Certis’ sales manager Peter Shakespeare said that the methylisothiocyanate (MITC) gas released on contact with a moist soil offers growers control for a wide spectrum of soil pests, nematodes, fungal diseases as well as weeds and weed seeds.
Growers should be aiming to apply Basamid at the optimum moisture level of 60-70 per cent of water holding capacity. This will help ensure that sufficient MITC gas is rapidly released from the Basamid granules, according to Certis.
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