"How To" Organic Gardening: Strawberries & Ants

"How To" Organic Gardening: Strawberries & Ants: STRAWBERRIES AND ANTS WEBSITE: DIY ORGANIC GARDEN Ants in your strawberry patch can be very destructive.  I don't mind a ...

Strawberries & Ants

STRAWBERRIES AND ANTS

WEBSITE: DIY ORGANIC GARDEN

Ants in your strawberry patch can be very destructive.  I don't mind a few taking on a snack but when over half of the strawberries I picked had large ant holes then it was time to take action.  My harvest had gone from 3 pounds of strawberries a day down to maybe a pound and one-half.

Picture on left is what I was seeing on a large majority of my strawberries.  Large holes and ants.  It is sickening to see that berry wasted on ants.

I tried onion water as a deterrent but it did nothing.  So then I remembered my cabbage plant that had an ant mound under neath it.  Soap.  I applied soapy water to the root area and the ants vacated the cabbage roots, so I decided to try my soap solution.  I am not big on killing everthing that bothers my garden, I would rather chase it away or use other insects to fight off the issues.  Suggestions of hot water, dish detergent as soap, vinegar, sugar with cinnamon or grits were solutions for killing the ants.  I really didn't want them dead I just wanted them to find a different food source.  NOTE: even if suggested NEVER use dish detergent, it is not good for the garden.  Use only organic soaps.

Earlier in the year(in the winter) I was preparing organic pest solutions and one of those was soap water.  I purchased an organic bar of soap from the Dollar Store, Yardley oatmeal and Almond, slivered the soap and put it in a gallon of saved rain water and let it soak, shaking it up every week of so.  I intended to dilute one to one but have since found out it will go much farther than a one to one mix.

I found that I could add about 2 cups of soap water to every two gallons of rain water for a great pest solution.  I then went into my strawberry patch in the morning and started to pick my berries.  Every time I was a berry covered or bitten by ant I gave the plant a douse of soap water.  I took about 8 gallons of soap solution to finish the patch.

In the evening of the same day I went out to see if it was working and It was.  Some of the ant mound that I identified and gone away, the ants just moved out.  I still found some ant chewing away on my strawberries so I either missed that area or they need another douse.   Now I was up to 12 gallons of soap solution and the gallon of soap solution I had stared with was still going strong (plenty left).

The second morning I went out to pick strawberries and voila most of the strawberries I pick were good to go and those that were still bothered by ant got another douse of soap solution.

I was happy with the results.  Soap is the remedy for my ant problem.

Other solutions suggest prevention by putting charcoal dust around the perimeter of the patch but since I didn't want to confine my ant I wanted to chase them away I will use a perimeter solution once I think my ant have vacated my patch for good, maybe preventing the same problem for next year.

This colander should have been full to the brim with berries, over half of my berries were destroyed by ants.  This is the picture on the first day before soap solution.

This colander (right) is the berries I picked the day after the soap solution.  Much better.

My patch of strawberries is in the background.  For how I plant and maintain my strawberry patch see PLANT STRAWBERRIES.

Go to for more information on Strawberry types and general information

STRAWBERRY SOLUTION RECIPE:

Prepare soap solution:

I bar organic soap(oatmeal, almond, lavendar, mint)  unscented is good.

1 gallon rain water, or spring water, just don't use city tap water.

Shave the soap bar into small piece and put in 1 gallon of water.  I use a gallon milk jug.  Let sit for at least two days and shake to desolve the soap shaving.

Divide gallon soap into two 5 gallon buckets and fill with rain water.  Stir thoroughly.  Pour soap solution in a pour can, I use a 2 gallon sprinkler can with the sprinkler nozzle off.

Pour this solution around the base of the strawberries and on any trouble areas with ants.  I sprinkles down the paths of my strawberries the first day and then just applied to missed area or on areas still experiencing ants.

I put remaining amount of soap solution back into one gallon milk jugs.

"How To" Organic Gardening: Planting Strawberries

"How To" Organic Gardening: Planting Strawberries: PLANTING STRAWBERRIES WEBSITE: DIY ORGANIC GARDEN I plant my strawberries using the Matted Row System .   I bought Earliglo...

Planting Strawberries

PLANTING STRAWBERRIES

WEBSITE: DIY ORGANIC GARDEN

I plant my strawberries using the Matted Row System.  I bought Earliglow June bearing strawberries about 8 years ago and started them in a tiered system.

I could never figure out how to manage the runners and so the weeds took over and I had to clean out the spot and start over. Luckily the strawberry plants were still there so I did not have to buy more. I simply had to reorganize the beds into something I could manage.

To the left is a picture of how over grown it had become with weeds.

To the right is a picture with it cleaned out but still having some trees roots that need digging. I dug all the tree roots out and then replanted my strawberries in row about 5 foot apart.

To the left is my cleaned out patch with strawberries about 5 foot apart giving me ample space with walking and picking strawberries. I laid down two pieces of newspaper over lapping with a hole cut to slip the strawberry plant through and then covered with about 6 inches of shredded paper. This mulch process will suppress most of the weeds, decompose to always add additional organic matter(fertilizer to my plants).

I now will take my runners from the strawberries and add to the left side of my rows thus growing the row left.  As the original row dies (in about 3 years) that will create the new path for picking.  When the newly created rows meet the "old row" I will start planting my runners to the right going back to the original row position.  This will go back and forth in a 6 to 10 years cycle giving me new plants to replace the old and keeping the strawberry patch fresh.

To the right are new rows of strawberries I have created by cutting some of the runners last year to grow a new larger patch of strawberries, this time using straw and news paper under the straw as a mulch and weed bearer.

The planters you see in the front of my strawberries also contain strawberry plants.  These are there just in case we move, then I have strawberry plant ready to trans port at anytime.  Some of my planter have asparagus (this is an experiment) in growing asparagus in containers.

PLANTING:

If you have purchased bare root strawberries (plants not in a pot) the roots will be long and stringy.  Dig a wide, 3 inch deep hole and spread the roots out and cover up to the crown.  This will bring dirt up to just below the leaves of the strawberry, and cover.  

I am harvesting about 1 to 3 lbs of strawberries per day from an estimated 4 dozen plants .  In the Louisiana, MO area?  Stop by the Garden and buy some.  Very tasty. 

If you have purchased strawberries in a pot, dig a hole the size and depth of your pot and place in the ground matching the soil depth and cover.

"How To" Organic Gardening: STRAWBERRIES

"How To" Organic Gardening: STRAWBERRIES: Growing Strawberries Information taken from: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/strawberries/growing.cfm  WEBSITE: DIY ORGANIC GARDEN Typ...

STRAWBERRIES

Growing Strawberries Information taken from: http://urbanext.illinois.edu/strawberries/growing.cfm  WEBSITE: DIY ORGANIC GARDEN Types June bearing(this is what I have) or spring bearing, everbearing and day neutral are the three types of strawberries grown in Illinois. Fruits of day neutral plants and everbearers are usually smaller than June-bearers fruit. June bearing strawberries produce a crop during a two-to-three week period in the spring. June-bearers produce flowers, fruits and runners. They are classified into early, mid-season and late varieties.  Mine start produceing the last weeks of May and continue until Mid June with sporadic berries after that. Everbearing strawberries produce three periods of flowers and fruit during the spring, summer and fall. Everbearers do not produce many runners. Day neutral strawberries will produce fruit throughout the growing season. These strawberries produce just a few runners. Everbearing and day neutral strawberries are great for gardeners who have limited space. They can be grown in terraced beds, barrels or pyramids. They can also be used as an edging plant or a groundcover. When to Plant Plant strawberries as soon as the ground can be worked in the spring. This is usually in March or April allowing the plants to become well established before the hot weather arrives. Do not work the soil if it is wet. Wait a few days until it dries. Planting Depth Try to plant strawberries on a cloudy day or during the late afternoon. Set the strawberry plant in the soil so that the soil is just covering the tops of the roots. Do not cover the crown. Matted Row Systems This system is the best for growing June-bearing cultivars. In this system, the strawberry plants should be set eighteen to thirty inches apart in rows three to four feet apart. Daughter plants are allowed to root freely to become a matted row no wider than two feet. I use the matted row system.  See my Strawberries for how this is done. Spaced-Row Systems This system limits the number of daughter plants that grow from a mother plant. The mother plants are set eighteen to thirty inches apart in rows three to four feet apart. The daughter plants are spaced to root no closer than four inches apart. All other runners are pulled or cut from the mother plants. Even though more care is needed under this system, advantages include higher yields, larger berries and fewer disease problems. After four or five weeks, the plants will produce runners and new daughter plants. Hill System  This is the best system for growing day-neutral and everbearing strawberries. In this system all the runners are removed so only the original mother plant remains. Removing the runners causes the mother plant to develop more crowns and flower stalks. Multiple rows are arranged in groups of two, three or four plants with a two foot walkway between each group of rows. Plants are set about one foot apart in multiple rows. During the first two or three weeks of growth, the planting should be weeded; then the bed should be mulched When purchasing strawberries by the pound, one-and-a-half pounds equal one quart. This will yield about four cups of sliced strawberries.  RECIPES The University of Illinois has some good recipes

"How To" Organic Gardening: PEST MANAGEMENT, HELPFUL RESOURCES

"How To" Organic Gardening: PEST MANAGEMENT, HELPFUL RESOURCES: PEST MANAGEMENT, HELPFUL RESOURCES WEBSITE: DIY ORGANIC GARDEN Here are some resources you might find helpful: Gaining Grou...

PEST MANAGEMENT, HELPFUL RESOURCES

PEST MANAGEMENT, HELPFUL RESOURCES

WEBSITE: DIY ORGANIC GARDEN

Here are some resources you might find helpful:

Gaining Ground: Making a Successful Transition to Organic Farming

(Canadian Organic Growers, 2005)

Covers the essential topics of organic farming, from soil building and planting to weed and pest management, certification, and marketing strategies.   Also includes a one-year membership with the Canadian Organic Growers network.

The New Organic Grower

By Eliot Coleman

(Chelsea Green Publishing, 1989)

The new generation market gardener's bible.   Although some details have been improved upon by others, this sets the standard for meticulous, well-planned small-scale organic vegetable production

Successful Small-Scale Farming: An Organic Approach

By Karl Schwenke

(Storey Publishing, 1991)

A good introduction to the pitfalls and potential of making a living from the land. 

Cover crops and crop rotations

Guide to the Expert Farmers' DACUM Chart for ManagingCrop Rotation Systems

(Northeast Organic Network, 2002)

The NEON project gathered 12 experienced organic vegetable farmers, put them in a room and produced this stunning chart outlining real-life, practical 4- and 5-year crop rotation sequences with multiple variations. A real head-scratcher, in the best possible way.   (free download, . PDF format)This is a good one to look at.

Organic Weed Management
By Steve Gilman

(NOFA Organic Principles and Practices Series, 2000)

Short and sweet. A useful summary targeted at diversified vegetable growers in the Northeast. 

"Principles of Sustainable Weed Management for Croplands"

By PrestonSullivan

(NCAT/ATTRA, 2003)

A bulletin discussing the basics of weed ecology, cropping system design to minimize weed pressure and alternative weed management methods such as flameweeding and weeder geese.

Insect, Disease & Weed I.D. Guide

Edited by Jill Jesiolowski Cebenko and Deborah Martin

(Rodale Press, 2001)

A handy all-in-one pest and beneficial species identification book, with excellent full-color drawings, life-cycle notes and prevention and control recommendations.

ATTRA's Pest Management Resources Page

Includes many valuable short publications on specific disease management issues, including "Organic Control of White Mold on Soybeans," "Notes on Compost Teas," "Use of Baking Soda as a Fungicide," "Downy Mildew Control in Cucurbits," and "Organic Alternatives for Late Blight Control on Potatoes." A longer, more general ATTRA publication is their resource on Biointensive Integrated Pest Management. 

 

Biological Control: A Guide to Natural Enemies in NorthAmerica
(Cornell University, 2007)

A comprehensive guide to biocontrol and IPM, offering individual pages on over 100 natural enemies of insect, disease and weed pests. (free online resource)

Manage Insects on Your Farm: A Guide to EcologicalStrategies

By Miguel A. Altieri and Clara I. Nicholls with Marlene A. Fritz

(Sustainable Agriculture Network, 2005)

Contains a number of strategies for controlling pest insect populations through the management of beneficial predator populations, and stresses increasing above- and below-ground diversity, enhancing plants' natural defenses, and managing soil as means to this end

  

 

Pest Management Part 2

Pest Management part 2, TSP part 11

 WEBSITE: DIY ORGANIC GARDENING

Well balanced/managed soils and healthy crops can stand up to some pest pressure.

In part one we spoke of having flowering plants to attract beneficial insects.  We also need to plant the grounds of the land with perennial type of flowers the will start flowering as soon as possible in the region we live in and will continue all year or until first frost.

Make a chart of the flowering, trees, shrubs and flowers you have in the immediate area of your garden.  You will need name of flowering plant, when it starts to flower and when the flowers cease.  Once the chart is done you can see the holes you need to fill in to complete the flowering cycle of your garden/farm.  People living on 5 acres or more will use the flowering vegetation directly connected to their property.  Those of use that live in Urban or City areas will consider the flowering vegetation within one to two block radius of our garden.  If you have neighbors putting in gardens then consider moving your parameter closer to your garden as your neighbor may get more benefit from the flowering shrubs in their back yard than you will.  In Urban/City area it is a guessing game.  Do the best you can to put the beneficial plants in your own yard, maybe even your neighbor wouldn’t mind if you cultivate an area of their yard if you promise to keep weeded etc.

Example chart. On charts page of DIY Organic Garden

Find innovative ways to solve the situations. Washington growers Eric and Deanna Strandberg transitioned their 400 acres of apple and pear orchards to organic in part because they noticed that the conventional way of dealing with pests by spraying often just created more pest problems, requiring more spraying. Organic pest management, in contrast, seeks to protect beneficial organisms for the services they can provide.

In their first transition year, Eric asked neighboring householders with fruit trees if he could put crumpled up newspapers in the crotches of their trees to catch earwigs, which feed on the eggs of the pear psylla, the worst pear pest worldwide.”  The earwigs ue the newspaper during the day for a home and come out at night to eat the psylla..Case study by Rodale Institute.    

Pictures at Pinterest

 “Organic farmers have long maintained that synthetic fertilizers and pesticides make pest problems worse. Recent research has begun to support those observations. Plant susceptibility to insect feeding has been linked to high plant nitrogen levels, which in turn are related to the high soluble fertilizer inputs typical of non-organic agriculture. Free amino acids, again associated with high N applications, have also been reported to increase pest attacks. Compost-fed plants have lower soluble nitrogen levels and are thus less attractive to pests.” Rodale Institute.

“Systemic acquired resistance: Do plants have immune systems? Some scientists think the answer is yes. The term "systemic acquired resistance" refers to physiological changes that occur in plants in response to initial insect feeding or disease infection. These changes can help the plants stop the infection or slow insect reproduction rates. There's even evidence that crop plants under insect attack emit volatile scent signals to protect themselves or to communicate with insect enemies of the attackers.

 

Plant immune responses may also increase crops' nutritional value.    Researchers in California have found that unsprayed organic fruits produce higher levels of antioxidants—prized by health-conscious consumers—in response to insect and pathogen attacks.” Rodale Institute

Biodiversity has proven to be the best pest protection.  Creating environments for beneficals to live, selecting crops appropriate to your area and staying away from synthetic pesticides seems to work better all the way around.

“When choosing insectary plants, consider these criteria:

•        Select plants for their attractiveness to beneficial insects

•        Choose plants with an early and long bloom period

•        Select plants with low potential to host crop viruses or attract pest species

•        Choose plants with low potential to become weeds

•        Consider low seed cost and easy establishment

Many members of the Umbelliferae (coriander, dill, Queen Anne's lace), Compositae (goldenrod, yarrow, sunflower), Brassicaceae (sweet alyssum, wild mustard) and Leguminosae (sweet clover, alfalfa) plant families offer good floral resources for beneficial insects.

Among California vegetable growers, a popular insectary plant mixture is sweet alyssum, coriander, buckwheat and a cereal grain. (The cereal acts as a windbreak and as a host for alternate prey of the beneficials.) “ Rodale institute

"How To" Organic Gardening: PEST MANAGEMENT, PART ONE

"How To" Organic Gardening: PEST MANAGEMENT, PART ONE: Pest Management part 1, TSP part 10   WEB SITE: DIY ORGANIC GARDEN Pest management in Organic Systems requires a leap of faith. ...

PEST MANAGEMENT, PART ONE

Pest Management part 1, TSP part 10

 WEB SITE: DIY ORGANIC GARDEN

Pest management in Organic Systems requires a leap of faith.  Again, it is not surprising that soil health and conservation management are the main ingredients to managing pests.  Not all bugs and organisms are problems with crops and the more a person enhances their environment the more beneficial bugs and organisms move in to help the gardener/farmer with pest control.  Even chemical herbicides will not totally eliminate the destruction of enemies to your money crop.

Consider nature without the intervention of man.  The prairie grasses, grains and fruit tress fared well in the world before man started manipulating the environment for his own needs.  Organic methods simply advocate a return to nature; mimicking a natural environment for the benefit of your crop and in turn creates an environment that helps greenhouse gases, nutrition, pest management and the pocket book.  It is a Win Win.

One of the easiest ways to start off the process is to add winter cover crops to your garden.  These crops nourish your garden/fields, and can create over winter habitat for beneficial insects and animals.

As with weed management, identifying the pest is the first step.  Once you have identified the pest (destructive bug), identify it’s enemy (beneficial insect) and what the habitat is of the beneficial insect.  Add the beneficial habitat and watch for the results.

Many parts of the nation have aphid problems.  If you do, then identify the predator that eats them.  One such predator is the lady bug beetle.  You can buy a source of lady bugs or encourage them to stay year after year by creating habitat for them to stay in.  Ladybugs like woody areas, sticks, tall stands of grass or maybe that winter rye you just planted for a cover crop.  The tall ornamental grasses, instead of cutting them back for the winter leave them alone to create a safe haven for your over wintering bugs.

Lacewing are similar to lady bugs in what they devour and over winter in similar ways. Lacewings like Asters, cosmos, sunflowers, flowering dill and cilantro.  Lacewings also dine on aphids and other small larva.  Insects like ladybug and lacewings enjoy a snack of pollen related flowers that are small, flowers with small to no petal area with large pollen areas like the sunflower.

Wasps are another great garden guest.  The parasitic wasp will lay their eggs in larva and insects.  The eggs hatch and eat the larva from the inside out.  If you can keep a mud available to the mud dauber wasp they catch insects to feed to their young. Other wasp types like the small flowers.

Colorado State University, extension, beneficialinsects and other arthrodos.

Smaller flowers such as the alysum attract smaller insects such as syrphid flies to pollinate crops and are planted in rows around lettuces to help control aphids see cover crop alyssum.  In the picture are 3 rows of flowers to every 20 rows of lettuce.  Syrphid flies plant one or two eggs per plant, so they inoculate a large field of lettuce with aphid eating helpers.

Greater diversity of a complex landscape, higher percent of woody or herbaceious plants support a greater number of spiders…says carol O’meara of Colorado State University

Wheat fields in Germany with mulch created a habitat for spiders which reduced the cereal aphid population by 25%.

Spider are a great advantage to your crops and you can also change pest behavior, called spider caused abandonment, which causes cucumber beetles, Japanese beetles, moth and butterfly larva, leaf hoppers, plant hoppers to abandon that plant if they detect spiders.  Spiders kill more insects than then consume.

You will have more pests in un managed weedy areas but managed hedge rows and native perennials will inhabit more beneficial insects. Native annual and native perennial are more than likely to host beneficial insects where un managed weeds may be invasive weeds that attract pests.

See it in action on Pinterest.  Here I am creating a pictorial of plants and their benefits and how farmers are incorporating these plants into their crops or creating hedge rows to harbor the beneficials

There are tools available to predict flowering periods of native insectary plants in Missouri

or a .pdf file to download (44 pages)

Do a search on (State) native insectary plants for your state.

Pest management will continue in Part Two.

"How To" Organic Gardening: WEED CONTROL, PART 2, TSP PART 9

"How To" Organic Gardening: WEED CONTROL, PART 2, TSP PART 9: WEED MANAGEMENT, TSP PART 9, WEED CONTROL PART 2 WEBSITE: DIY ORGANIC GARDEN Pre-emergent cultivation/ blind cultivation. ...

WEED CONTROL, PART 2, TSP PART 9

WEED MANAGEMENT, TSP PART 9, WEED CONTROL PART 2

WEBSITE: DIY ORGANIC GARDEN

Pre-emergent cultivation/ blind cultivation.

“The point of blind cultivation is to stir the top half inch of soil, adding air and causing the millions of tiny germinating weed seeds to dry out and die. The larger crop seeds are below the level of the cultivation and remain undamaged. Weed seedlings are at their most vulnerable at this stage. Effective blind cultivation will give you the biggest possible crop/weed size differential.” Rodale Institute

Other methods, such as timing can reduce weeds such as “Ohio organic grain farmer Dean McIlvaine waits until May or even early June to put in his corn crop. At this time the soils are warmer and plants grow more quickly, out-competing weeds. A delayed planting also gives McIlvaine time to make an extra trip with a disk or field cultivator to kill more germinating weeds.”

 Vegetative and synthetic mulches

“Mulches can be very effective at controlling weeds. Mulch changes the environment around the soil surface, making it difficult for weed seeds to germinate and grow. Vegetative mulches, such as rye straw, can also suppress weeds by allelopathy. Research shows that rye mulch can reduce weed seed germination by 75 to 95% while leaving large-seeded crops such as corn, peas, cucumbers or beans unaffected.   

Natural or non-synthetic mulches such as straw or leaves can have the additional benefit of boosting soil organic matter over time, and even adding fertility. Be careful whenever you import mulch (or compost) materials such as leaves, loose straw or grass clippings that you avoid potential contaminants or debris. Avoid glossy inks from newspaper inserts and magazine waste.

"Living mulches" are cover crops of clover, grasses or other species used to suppress weeds in orchards and some other types of cropping systems. These can be mowed regularly or seasonally to maintain the stand.”  Taken from Rodale Institute Organic Transition

“Livestock: Intensive rotational grazing is widely recognized for its effectiveness in limiting perennial weeds in pasture. But in some specialized systems, farmers have developed additional ways to use livestock for weed management. Chickens confined to small pens and rotated through fields have been shown to be effective at eradicating yellow nutsedge. Geese preferentially eat grasses, and so can be used to weed strawberry fields without damaging the crop. Some tree-crop farmers use sheep to graze the alleys between rows of trees or coffee bushes.” Organic transition, Rodale Institute

Research at the Rodale Institute, moreover, “has shown that organic crops actually have a greater ability to tolerate weeds than non-organically managed crops do. In almost 30 years of side-by-side trials, our organic plots have consistently yielded as well as our non-organic plots, even though the organic plots usually have heavier weed pressure. It may be that the organic crops suffer less competition from weeds because soil quality is better, making nutrient and water resources more plentiful.”

NonGMO base synthetic material is acceptable in Organic production but Organic farmers must prove that the two methods of

1. Cultural(crop rotation, sanitation, seed variety) Mechanical or physical (exclusion, beneficial insect habitat, lurs, traps, repellants, mulches, flame)
2. Natural biological, botanical or mineral inputs

did not work and it must be documented to prove they were ineffective.

It all goes back to soil health and conservation planning.  Know your weeds and which crops, cover crops and rotation cycles are needed to control the problems.

A good video put out by ATTRA not only addresses crop rotation but weed control in doing it. Youtube video  Organic Crop Rotation: Conservation Benefits

Additional standards (material/information) for crop rotation section IV eFOTG Conservation Practices,

·        Alley Cropping (311),

·         Conservation Crop Rotation,

·        Cover crop Standard (340)

"How To" Organic Gardening: WEED CONTROL, TSP Part 8

"How To" Organic Gardening: WEED CONTROL, TSP Part 8: WEED MANAGEMENT, PART 1, TSP PART 8 WEBSITE: DIY ORGANIC GARDEN Weed and pest management if always of major concern to all gardener...

WEED CONTROL, TSP Part 8

WEED MANAGEMENT, PART 1, TSP PART 8

WEBSITE: DIY ORGANIC GARDEN

Weed and pest management if always of major concern to all gardeners/farmers/ranchers.  Organic Gardeners and prohibited from using synthetic mean of destroying pests and weed so other methods are developed to reduce or control weeds and pests.

.The code governing weed and pest control is 205.206.  To review; these regulations are in the Code of federal regulations, Title 7: Agriculture, PART205—NATIONAL ORGANIC PROGRAM, SubpartC—Organic Production and Handling Requirements

§ 205.206   Crop pest, weed, and disease management practice standard.

(a) The producer must use management practices to prevent crop pests, weeds, and diseases including but not limited to:
(1) Crop rotation and soil and crop nutrient management practices, as provided for in §§ 205.203 and 205.205;
(2) Sanitation measures to remove disease vectors, weed seeds, and habitat for pest organisms; and
(3) Cultural practices that enhance crop health, including selection of plant species and varieties with regard to suitability to site-specific conditions and resistance to prevalent pests, weeds, and diseases.
(b) Pest problems may be controlled through mechanical or physical methods including but not limited to:
(1) Augmentation or introduction of predators or parasites of the pest species;
(2) Development of habitat for natural enemies of pests;
(3) Nonsynthetic controls such as lures, traps, and repellents.
(c) Weed problems may be controlled through:
(1) Mulching with fully biodegradable materials;
(2) Mowing;
(3) Livestock grazing;
(4) Hand weeding and mechanical cultivation;
(5) Flame, heat, or electrical means; or
(6) Plastic or other synthetic mulches: Provided, That, they are removed from the field at the end of the growing or harvest season.
(d) Disease problems may be controlled through:
(1) Management practices which suppress the spread of disease organisms; or
(2) Application of nonsynthetic biological, botanical, or mineral inputs.
(e) When the practices provided for in paragraphs (a) through (d) of this section are insufficient to prevent or control crop pests, weeds, and diseases, a biological or botanical substance or a substance included on the National List of synthetic substances allowed for use in organic crop production may be applied to prevent, suppress, or control pests, weeds, or diseases: Provided, That, the conditions for using the substance are documented in the organic system plan.
(f) The producer must not use lumber treated with arsenate or other prohibited materials for new installations or replacement purposes in contact with soil or livestock.

Listed in the eFOTG, section IV, Conservation Practices

NATURAL RESOURCES CONSERVATION SERVICE, CONSERVATION PRACTICE STANDARD is

CONSERVATIONCROP ROTATION(Acre)CODE 328

A part of that code is: Additional Criteria to Manage Plant Pests (Weeds, Insects, Diseases).  Design the crop sequence to break pest life cycles and/or to allow for the use of a variety of control methods. Remove susceptible crops and alternate host crops from the rotation for the period of time needed to break the life cycle of the targeted pest.

Resistant varieties, listed in appropriate university publications or other approved sources, shall be selected where there is a history of a pest problem

This simply mean that planting the same “family” of crops in the same place year after year will promote additional pests and weeds.  By creating a “new environment” through crop rotation weeds can be suppressed and controlled.

“Reducing the weed seed bank in your soil is important. Some weeds can produce as many as 100,000 seeds per plant, with the seed remaining viable for 40 years or more.”

From: Weed Management for Organic Crops (.pdf file) (University of California, Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources, 2000).

It was found that the common field mouse can consume over 40% of the weed seeds produced in a field and by provide a habitat for these natural creatures you have an natural predator working 24/7 on reducing your weed problem.

“Iowa State University researchers have found that weed predation by field mice can reduce weed seed populations by 40% in just one night. Maintaining unmown, biodiverse borders around your fields provides habitat for the mice and provides you with some free weed-control service.

Free weed-control service: Mice

The first thing is to identify your weeds.  An essential part of reducing your weeds come from identification, how they grow, what they need to grow, how they propagate.  Identify your weeds and you identify ways to reduce or eliminate them

Weedsof the Northeast, by Richard Uva, Joseph Neal and Joseph DiTomaso (Cornell University Press, 1997).

Weeds of the West, by Tom Whitson (Western Society of Weed Science, 2000).

Common Weed Seedlings of the North Central States (North Central Regional Extension Publication No. 607)

Two inexpensive weed manuals relevant nationwide are Common Weeds of the United States, originally published by the USDA in 1970
 All About Weeds, by Edwin Rollin Spencer (both available from Dover Press). See the box at right for some good regional guides.

Most state extension offices give away short weed-identification guides or bulletins. Those that focus on weed seedling identification are particularly useful. You can also access weed identification tools online:

UC Davis Weed ID Photo Gallery

Weed Science Society of America

NRCS Plants Database