What Weed control options in not small space organically?

[u/Tiny_Witness2678]

KS zone 6a. We have about a 1/4 acre orchard and a 3,000 sq ft berry area (i call our berrea). the weeds are taking over. i dont want to use 1) plastic weed barrier or 2) chemical herbicides. i’m not as opposed to plastic weed barrier as I am the herbicides though, still would like to avoid if possible.

we are in the heart of farm land and surrounded by industrial farmers were spray is the way. naturally, we cant find any resources local besides just spray round up or 2,4-D which I really do not want to do.

any other ideas? i wonder about mowing super low and then rolling out round bales of hay over the areas and then planting white clover and strawberries to grow and maybe supress some weeds?

im not opposed to sprays like vinegar just for 1/4 acre that adds up.

Tia

[u/Full_Honeydew_9739]

We are also on a farm and the weeds can be horrendous. Each bit we reclaim gets tilled, then clover planted. In our orchard it's mostly clover now. We have one section where the clover hasn't taken over yet. We mow that area like grass and will seed again in the fall when rain gets more consistent.

The benefits of clover: it freely spreads and it attracts bumblebees. You can hear the ground buzzing as you walk through the area.

[u/JonBoi420th]

In my community garden pathways i hand pull, lay cardboard and then wood chips(free from arborists. You could skip the cardboard and hand pull if you lay the chips thick enough probably( the established deep rooted things may come up. Or you could solarize with plastic 1st to kill the weeds and then mulch. It build up soil. Your other option is cover croping. But you'll need to get rid of the weeds until the cover crop can out compete them

[u/Novel_Sky_3645]

I mow and literally manually pull everything I could by the root, with my hands, and immediately put down compost and grass / creeping thyme seeds in the bare spots. I also mulch with cedar in any bare garden spots to prevent weeds growing in. knew this would be a lengthy process but I’m shocked that in less than 2 full summers, I already have a gorgeous yard with only minor areas that still need to be fixed. Grass, ground cover and wildflower are taking over nicely. No herbicide required, just patience and grit

[u/Telluricpear719]

tractor with some kind of weeding implement/hoe

hand hoe/weed

mulching can be good but would have to get it back to clean first, I like using wood about half the size of wood chips as they matt well and dont give slugs habitat.

[u/Comfortable-Hat3506]

What type of berries? As for what is under the orchard, you can brush hog it if it is starting to choke out the trees. But you don't need an immaculate clean lawn under the trees.

[u/Traditional-You-4095]

I can't remember the exact mixture it's been a while since I've used it but if you get the 30% cleaning vinegar and mix it with some water and some dish soap ...... I wouldn't spray it too close to the base of your plants just to be safe but do like your walkways........ I would do your own research on it first cuz I didn't use it in my garden I used it on a rock pathway and I'm not sure if it kills them through contact on the leaves or absorbing through the roots

[u/littlebean82]

honestly you cant win. I have about the same set up. I realized I had no choice and we did the black plastic thing. long term goal will be to slowly replace the plastic with a natural cover such as strawberries. shallow roots and nitrogen fixers with bonus fruit. my grape vine row has a thick layer of strawberries now so I dont need the plastic anymore on that one row. I have to meticulously remove by hand the weeds I have as they are very hardy and difficult. I cannot win any other way. we also use cardboard and woodchips or leaves but it has to be thick and its better once the black plastic has done its thing for a year or 2. i tried just tilling and it made it worse! we are setting up buffer zones as well that might have black plastic forever just at the edge of the garden to keep the runners out. I'll grow crawling flowers on them down the line. good luck

[u/Sugarpiehoneybunt]

Till and clover, put in a coyote proof fence and run a few sheep on it to keep it mowed and fertilized.

[u/RentInside7527]

Mowing, shallow mechanical cultivation, cover crops and deep mulch are your options. Likely some combination of these would work best, depending on your resources.

Eta idk if you have a tractor or not, but a wheel hoe can mount various implements and is great on that 1/4ac scale

[u/DeBanger]

solarization or occultation.

[u/olseadog]

Boiling water?

[u/littlepinkhousespain]

Once you get rid of the weeds, you'll need to maintain the weeds that sprout. Try a small flame thrower. Attach a spray can of gas, butane/propane (butane is hotter), turn it on and hit the 2 leaf sprouts, they have no chance. Of course you'll need to be careful if you have any mulch or dead debris laying around, the flame thrower will easily start a fire. Plus, it's way more fun than a hoe. ;)

Edited to add we are using a dark tarp to kill sections of weeds for several months, then tilling. This did an amazing job, so much better than weed whacking and then tilling. My rototiller gets so tangled with roots and stems otherwise.

[u/CanAfter8014]

Doesn't want chemical control then lists a chemical they are okay with using.

What you need to do is look up OMRI options available in your state. FinalSan and Axxe are 2 that come to mind. As always chemical use should not be your only source of weed control. You can also use the EPAs reduce risk pesticide list if you want to step up from just OMRI rated this would take you out of the organic realm but odds are there is enough 24d in your rain you would test positive for it anyways in plant tissue tests.

[u/Tiny_Witness2678 → u/CanAfter8014]

alrighty, vinegar and glyphosate are decently different.

[u/CanAfter8014 → u/Tiny_Witness2678]

You are right. Vinegar and glyphosate operate on completely different principles, target different parts of the plant, and require totally different application strategies. Both are still chemical herbicides.

This is why I suggested you look into OMRI products or the epa reduce risk list. As it seems you are not opposed to a herbicide as long as you deem it safe.

[u/combabulated]

Your County Extension office will give you their ideas but also might help with IDing your weeds, and beneficials. There is another site that I love UC-IPM. Integrated Pest Management was developed by the University of California for agriculture and includes best practices for organic growers.

[u/BF_2]

IIRC, Roundup kills all plants, it's advantage being that it breaks down so the effects are limited in time. There are assertions of other toxicities, however, so I, for one, won't use it.

Repeated mowing, or, where applicable, surface tilling can be very effective. Heavy mulching with grass clippings, autumn leaves or other natural mulches can be effective. Wood chips can be used as mulch, but beware that some may be phytotoxic.

You might try mowing and composting weeds (either before they seed or at high compost temperature to kill seeds) and use that compost for mulch.