CHEMICAL WEED CONTROL IN ORNAMENTAL HORTICULTURE

In contrast, many growers of top and soft fruits are able to maintain large acreages in a virtually weed-free condition using herbicides alone. There are many similarities between the growing of fruit and ornamental plants. The latter often belong to the same families as fruit crops such as Rosaceae, Saxifragaceaeaand Ericaceae. Their growth habit is often similar and so also are the requirements for good root growth. Consequently where ornamental areas with low maintenance costs are required much can be learned from techniques already established in commercial fruit growing.

Some of the pointers from weed control in modern fruit growing which can be applied to ornamental horticulture are:-

1. Chemical weed control can be simplified if woody ornamentals are used rather than herbaceous plants;
2. A suitable programme for many woody ornamentals is overall spraying with residual herbicides plus spot treatments of surviving weeds;
3. With the high standards of weed control now possible with herbicides, soil cultivation can be eliminated on most sites with considerable benefits to the plants being grown.

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