Cultural weed management methods for high-residue/no-till production of transplanted broccoli (Brassica oleracea L Gp. Italica)

Research reported in this paper is part of an ongoing program to adapt high -residue/no-tillage farming systems for production of vegetable crops. Obje ctives of these experiments were (a) to assess the potential of two mechani cal methods (flail mowing and rolling) to kill selected cover crops and dis tribute and retain their residues uniformly over the soil, and (b) to deter mine the effects of these in situ mulches on weed suppression and yield of no-till transplanted broccoli. In mid-August of 1994 and 1995, 'Emperor' br occoli transplants were set into flail-mowed and rolled cover crop residues , using the Subsurface Tiller-Transplanter (SST-T). Data both years showed that flail mowing and rolling were effective in killing and distributing th e mature annual cover crops grown. However, rolling was esteemed to be the best method overall, because rolled residues persisted longer during the gr owing season and resulted in a more efficient transplanting than did flail- mowed residues. Equally high yields and low weed biomass were achieved in a ll treatments. These data illustrate that no-till broccoli can be successfu lly produced without using herbicides, when appropriate high-residue cover crops are effectively killed by flail mowing or rolling and broccoli transp lants are properly established and maintained in these evenly distributed i n situ cover crop mulches.