Search Site   
News Stories at a Glance
Deere 4440 cab tractor racked up $18,000 at farm retirement auction
Indiana legislature passes bills for ag land purchases, broadband grants
Make spring planting safety plans early to avoid injuries
Michigan soybean grower visits Dubai to showcase U.S. products
Scientists are interested in eclipse effects on crops and livestock
U.S. retail meat demand for pork and beef both decreased in 2023
Iowa one of the few states to see farms increase in 2022 Ag Census
Trade, E15, GREET, tax credits the talk at Commodity Classic
Ohioan travels to Malta as part of US Grains Council trade mission
FFA members learn about Australian culture, agriculture during trip
Timing of Dicamba ruling may cause issues for 2024 planting
   
Archive
Search Archive  
   
Rotate tomatoes with corn, beans; cut down on weeds

By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH
Indiana Correspondent

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — Midwest tomato growers who rotate their crop with soybeans and corn are using a solid method to reduce weeds in tomatoes, according to one of the authors of a recently published study.

The use of a weed-suppressive crop, such as soybeans, before tomatoes helps keep weeds down during the tomato growing season, said Kevin Gibson, an associate professor in the Botany and Plant Pathology Department at Purdue University.

“That rotation of soybeans, tomatoes and corn should help keep the (weed) seed bank low,” he said. “And in Indiana, that’s already a typical rotation for growers growing tomatoes for production.”

One of the study’s goals was to look at how having tomatoes in a crop rotation affected the weed seed bank, Gibson said. The study found that tomatoes planted a season after less competitive crops showed tremendous increases in the weed seed bank, he said. It also showed that crops planted in a field after tomatoes, which are also less competitive, showed an increase in the seed bank.

“We were surprised how rapidly the seed bank changed using less competitive crops the season before,” he said. “We knew there would be an increase, but we were surprised how quickly the seed bank changed in just one season.”

The report, A Comparison of Threshold Strategies in Tomatoes and Soybeans, was published in the October-December 2008 issue of Weed Technology. The other authors of the study are Stephen Weller, a professor in Purdue’s Horticulture and Landscape Architecture Department, and Carlos Mayen, a graduate student.
“The goal of weed management is to decrease the number of weeds in a seed bank, or at least maintain them,” Gibson said. “You don’t want an outbreak of them any more than you want an outbreak of insects.”

The study also found tomato yields weren’t affected by whatever weed control method was used, he said.

“We’re also looking at other options, such as using a cover crop, or cultivation,” he said. “We’re looking at how we can get the right combination of crops to get the best out of them.”

Tomato growers in Knox County, Tenn., don’t do much rotation with tomatoes, said John Austin, Farm Service Agency director for the county.

“Most of the time, they’re on plastic,” he said. “They’re planted on raised ridges, and they’re irrigated and fed nutrients underneath.”
Some farmers do rotate, but that practice is pretty limited, he said. “In the past, some have rotated with tobacco, but that doesn’t rest the land very much,” he said.

In some areas, growers use a cover crop of wheat to help control the weeds, said Randall Pierce, a tomato grower in Grainger County, Tenn. “Weeds are always a problem in any field,” he said. “But the cover crop of wheat does seem to suppress them down.”
Growers might also plant rye grass or wheat in between the rows of tomatoes to limit the amount of weeds, he said. Pierce, who grows tomatoes for Food City supermarkets, grows 95-100 acres of tomatoes. Most farmers in his area average 10-12 acres, he said.
“They’ll rotate every couple of years, and maybe plant grass for cows to graze, or for hay,” he said.

Many farmers wouldn’t plant a crop such as soybeans because their acreage devoted to tomatoes is so small that it wouldn’t be practical, he explained.

2/6/2009