How to Manage Pests

UC Pest Management Guidelines

Effective weed control in organic lettuce depends on an integration of good cultural practices, careful cultivation, and hand labor. Preventing the production of weed seed in the field before planting will reduce subsequent weeding costs during crop production.

The first step in developing a weed management program is to survey the planting site and identify the weeds that are there. Become familiar with each weed's growth and reproductive habits in order to choose the most effective management options. For help in identifying common weeds, see the weed photo pages that are linked to the weed list in the section COMMON AND SCIENTIFIC NAMES OF WEEDS.

Lettuce is produced in three distinct production districts (coastal valleys, San Joaquin Valley, and the desert) during the cooler times of the year (San Joaquin Valley and desert) and from spring to fall along the coast. It is typically grown on double row, 40-inch wide beds, but there is an increasing amount of acreage of 80-inch wide beds with 5 to 6 seedlines. In addition, baby lettuce is grown on 80-inch wide beds with 24 to 32 seedlines on the bedtop.

It is important to locate plantings in fields with low weed pressure or to use weed management methods that reduce weed pressure before planting. It is also important to keep areas near production fields free from areas infested with weeds with windblown seed. Some growers use transplants to give the lettuce crop a head start on the weeds. Transplants reduce the number of days to harvest and establish a canopy more quickly. They generally only need one weeding instead of two, as with direct-seeded lettuce, to get through the growth cycle. The goal of organic weed control techniques is to reduce weed pressure and/or give the crop an advantage over the weeds in order to produce the crop as economically as possible.

WEED MANAGEMENT BEFORE PLANTING
Crop rotations and field sanitation. The previous crop can significantly affect weed pressure in the lettuce crop. A previous crop that has had excellent weed control generates fewer weed seed that germinate in the lettuce crop. In addition, it is important to keep the areas surrounding the lettuce field free of weeds that have aerial dispersed seeds such as groundsel and sowthistle.

Preplant germination of weeds before bed shaping. Preplant germination of weeds (pregermination) involves the use of irrigation or rain to stimulate weed seed germination before planting lettuce. The emerged seedlings are then killed by shallow cultivation, flaming, an organic herbicide, or a combination of these treatments. Germinate and remove weeds as close as possible to the date of planting to assure that the weed spectrum does not change before planting the vegetable crop. Changes in the weed spectrum may occur as a result of changes in the season or weather. The time of year, irrigation system, and the interval between irrigation and weed control all affect the efficacy of this technique. Waiting 14 days after the time of preplant irrigation allows weeds to emerge and for the field to dry enough to permit use of shallow tillage to control emerged weeds. Done properly, this method removes up to 50% of the weeds that would have otherwise emerged in the subsequent crop. If time permits, repeat the preplant process to further reduce weed populations.

Preplant germination of weeds after bed shaping. Once beds are shaped and ready to plant, water can be applied to stimulate a flush of weeds, thereby depleting the quantity of weed seed in the top inch of soil. The flush of weeds can be killed by shallow cultivation, flaming, or applications of organic herbicides. Be careful to not till too deeply or additional weed seed may be brought to the surface from deeper layers. The crop can be planted immediately on these beds. This technique is called "stale" seedbed weed control and can provide substantial control.

Weed control after planting. Flaming or organic herbicide treatments can be used to kill the flush of weeds anytime between seeding the crop and its emergence. This technique is particularly effective on crops that have slow seed germination. It is not widely used on lettuce because it is generally quick to germinate (i.e. 4-5 days in summer) and does not allow enough time to conduct pre-crop emergence weeding operations. In addition, flaming and organic herbicides are effective on small (i.e. less than 2 true leaves) broadleaves but not effective on grass weeds.

Deep plowing. Deep plowing is a tillage technique that buries weed seed or propagules of perennial plants below the depth at which they can germinate. The viability of buried weed seed declines over time; longer intervals between deep plowing and subsequent deep plowing (i.e. 3-5 years) are preferred in order to avoid bringing up large numbers of viable weed seed back to the soil surface.

Cover crops. The use of cover crops is a key cultural practice in organic production. Cover crops provide a variety of benefits to crop production but can potentially both increase or decrease weed pressure in vegetable production systems. Unfortunately, annual weeds frequently become established at the time of the cover crop, and depending upon the species of weed, they can grow and set seed unnoticed in cover crops. Often weed plants decompose before the end of the cover crop cycle making their detection difficult. In such cases, the cover crops act as nurse crops to weeds, making substantial contribution to the seed bank. Slow-growing winter cover crops (legumes and cereal/legume mixes) can be particularly problematic in this manner; many allow substantial weed growth and seed set early in the growth cycle of the cover crop. Fast-growing winter cover crops, such as cereals and mustards, provide complete ground cover in the first 30 days of the cover crop cycle and are better able to compete with weeds. Competitive cereal and mustard cover crops varieties include Merced rye (Secale cereale), white mustard (Sinapis alba), and Indian mustard (Brassica juncea). An adequate seeding rate is also an important factor in providing for rapid ground cover. It is important to monitor your cover crops, particularly in the first 40 days following seeding, to make sure that they are not creating a weed problem for the subsequent lettuce plantings.

Soil sterilization. Soil sterilization is generally accomplished by heat generated from soil solarization, but it is not used specifically for lettuce production because of high costs and the relatively short cycle of the lettuce crop.

WEED MANAGEMENT AFTER PLANTING
Cultivation. Cultivation is one of the most effective postplant cultural practices that can be carried out. On double row, 40-inch beds it is possible to cultivate 80% of the bed (assuming a 4-inch wide uncultivated strip is left for each seedline). Direct-seeded lettuce is frequently cultivated at about the two to three leaf stage and again 2 weeks later. The first cultivation removes early emerging weeds and later cultivations remove weeds that germinate following thinning.

The goal of cultivation is to remove weed seedlings as close to the seed row as possible without disturbing the crop. New precision guidance systems for cultivation (i.e. EcoDan and Robocrop) can help improve the accuracy of cultivation operations. More precise cultivation allows for reducing the width of the uncultivated band and thereby removing a higher percentage of the weeds. Uncontrolled weeds in the seedline are removed by hand or other mechanical means. High density plantings of baby lettuce on 80-inch beds with 24 to 32 seedlines are difficult to effectively cultivate, and weed control in these systems relies on cultural practices in the previous crop to reduce weed pressure.

Removal of weeds from the seedline can be achieved by the use of specific weeding implements such as finger and torsion weeders. These devices are more suited to transplanted lettuce because their mode of action is more aggressive to the crop. They will not generally remove all of the weeds but rather remove an increased percentage of the weeds that will make subsequent hand weeding operations more efficient.

Hand hoeing. Hand hoeing is generally necessary in organic lettuce. Direct-seeded lettuce is thinned and weeded 30 to 40 days after seeding. At this time the plants are tender, and careful hand weeding is necessary in the seedrow to safeguard the crop. Typically the initial hand weeding and thinning operation is followed 2 weeks later by a final hand weeding before the crop canopy closes. The use of transplants will generally reduce the number of hand weedings to one time per crop. At present there are no successful techniques that can substitute for careful hand weeding of direct-seeded crops, but successful employment of the above mentioned techniques can help make hand weeding operations less time consuming and more efficient.

PUBLICATION

UC IPM Pest Management Guidelines: Lettuce
UC ANR Publication 3450
Weeds
R. F. Smith, UC Cooperative Extension, Monterey Co.
S. A. Fennimore, Weed Science/Plant Sciences, UC Davis/Salinas
M. LeStrange, UC Cooperative Extension, Tulare Co.
Acknowledgment for contributions to the weeds section:
D. W. Cudney, Botany, UC Riverside
W. E. Bendixen, UCCE Santa Barbara Co.
C. E. Bell, UCCE San Diego Co.
W. T. Lanini, Weed Science/Plant Sciences, UC Davis

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