Abstract
Living mulch systems can provide multiple agronomic and ecosystem benefits, including reducing erosion and decreasing weed and pest pressure. However, inconsistent yields and lack of best practices for weed and pest management have contributed to their lack of adoption by farmers. In 2018 and 2019, living mulch practices for organic zucchini ( Cucurbita pepo L.) production were assessed in Wisconsin on certified organic land. Living mulches of Dutch white clover ( Trifolium repens ), annual ryegrass ( Lolium multiflorum ), and a mix of Dutch white clover and annual ryegrass were compared with full tillage cultivated ground and straw mulch controls for effect on yield, fruit marketability, weed and pest counts, and weed management time. Mixed species living mulch, cultivated, and straw mulch treatments were consistently higher yielding than clover treatments, while ryegrass had variable results. No differences were observed in the number of squash bug ( Anasa tristis ) egg clusters per plant across mulch treatments, but clover treatments had fewer adult squash bugs, with ryegrass and mixed species living mulches also trending lower. Lower counts of striped cucumber beetles ( Acalymma trivittatum ) were also observed in living mulch treatments. Ryegrass and mixed species living mulches were generally more weed suppressive than clover and cultivated aisles, although living mulch treatments generally had more weeds than straw mulched aisles, apart from comparable suppression of grass weeds for ryegrass in 2019. Time required for weed management was greater for the living mulch treatments than straw, while cultivated treatments took longer to manage than all other treatments in 2019 and longer than ryegrass and straw in 2018. Despite higher weed counts in clover than in cultivated aisles in 2019, all living mulches required less time for weed management than cultivation, indicating that managing living mulches with mowing can be more efficient than hand cultivation, even with higher weed counts. Our results support previous evidence that certain living mulch species may reduce pest and weed pressure, but also reinforces that living mulch systems can negatively impact yield depending on species selection and environment.
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Claims 12
Claim · model-written summary
Mixed living mulch, cultivation, and straw mulch yielded more than clover treatments.
- Taxon
- Cucurbita pepo L.
Cucurbita pepot0 - Treatment
- Mixed species living mulche0
- Outcome
- yieldinge0
- Direction
- highere0
- Comparator
- clover treatmentse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Mixed species living mulch, cultivated, and straw mulch treatments were consistently higher yielding than clover treatments”
t0“Cucurbita pepo L.”
Claim · model-written summary
Squash bug egg clusters per zucchini plant did not differ among mulch treatments.
- Taxon
- Cucurbita pepo L.Cucurbita pepot0
- Treatment
- mulch treatmentse0
- Interactor
- Anasa tristis
Anasa tristise0pest - Outcome
- number of squash bug ( Anasa tristis ) egg clusters per plante0
- Direction
- No differencese0
- Comparator
- mulch treatmentse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“No differences were observed in the number of squash bug ( Anasa tristis ) egg clusters per plant across mulch treatments”
t0“Cucurbita pepo L.”
Claim · model-written summary
Clover treatments had fewer adult squash bugs.
- Taxon
- Cucurbita pepo L.Cucurbita pepot0
- Treatment
- clover treatmentse0
- Outcome
- adult squash bugse0
- Direction
- fewere0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“clover treatments had fewer adult squash bugs”
t0“Cucurbita pepo L.”
Claim · model-written summary
Ryegrass and mixed living mulches also tended to reduce adult squash bugs.
- Taxon
- Cucurbita pepo L.Cucurbita pepot0
- Treatment
- ryegrass and mixed species living mulchese0
- Outcome
- adult squash bugse1
- Direction
- trending lowere0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“ryegrass and mixed species living mulches also trending lower”
e1“adult squash bugs”
t0“Cucurbita pepo L.”
Claim · model-written summary
Living mulches had lower striped cucumber beetle counts.
- Taxon
- Cucurbita pepo L.Cucurbita pepot0
- Treatment
- living mulch treatmentse0
- Interactor
- Acalymma trivittatum
Acalymma trivittatume0pest - Outcome
- counts of striped cucumber beetlese0
- Direction
- Lowere0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Lower counts of striped cucumber beetles ( Acalymma trivittatum ) were also observed in living mulch treatments.”
t0“Cucurbita pepo L.”
Claim · model-written summary
Ryegrass and mixed living mulches generally suppressed weeds more than clover and cultivated aisles.
- Taxon
- Cucurbita pepo L.Cucurbita pepot0
- Treatment
- Ryegrass and mixed species living mulchese0
- Interactor
- weede0weed
- Outcome
- weed suppressivee0
- Direction
- moree0
- Comparator
- clover and cultivated aislese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Ryegrass and mixed species living mulches were generally more weed suppressive than clover and cultivated aisles”
t0“Cucurbita pepo L.”
Claim · model-written summary
Living mulches generally had more weeds than straw mulch.
- Taxon
- Cucurbita pepo L.Cucurbita pepot0
- Treatment
- living mulch treatmentse0
- Interactor
- weedse0weed
- Outcome
- weedse0
- Direction
- moree0
- Comparator
- straw mulched aislese0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“living mulch treatments generally had more weeds than straw mulched aisles”
t0“Cucurbita pepo L.”
Claim · model-written summary
Ryegrass and straw mulch had comparable grass weed suppression in 2019.
- Taxon
- Cucurbita pepo L.Cucurbita pepot0
- Treatment
- ryegrasse0
- Interactor
- grass weedse0weed
- Outcome
- suppression of grass weedse0
- Direction
- comparablee0
- Comparator
- straw mulched aislese1
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“comparable suppression of grass weeds for ryegrass in 2019”
e1“straw mulched aisles”
t0“Cucurbita pepo L.”
Claim · model-written summary
Living mulch required more weed management time than straw mulch.
- Taxon
- Cucurbita pepo L.Cucurbita pepot0
- Treatment
- living mulch treatmentse0
- Outcome
- Time required for weed managemente0
- Direction
- greatere0
- Comparator
- strawe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Time required for weed management was greater for the living mulch treatments than straw”
t0“Cucurbita pepo L.”
Claim · model-written summary
Cultivation required more weed management time than every other treatment in 2019.
- Taxon
- Cucurbita pepo L.Cucurbita pepot0
- Treatment
- cultivated treatmentse0
- Outcome
- managee0
- Direction
- longere0
- Comparator
- all other treatmentse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“cultivated treatments took longer to manage than all other treatments in 2019”
t0“Cucurbita pepo L.”
Claim · model-written summary
Cultivation took longer to manage than ryegrass and straw in 2018.
- Taxon
- Cucurbita pepo L.Cucurbita pepot0
- Treatment
- cultivated treatmentse1
- Outcome
- managee1
- Direction
- longere0
- Comparator
- ryegrass and strawe0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“longer than ryegrass and straw in 2018”
e1“cultivated treatments took longer to manage”
t0“Cucurbita pepo L.”
Claim · model-written summary
All living mulches required less weed management time than cultivation.
- Taxon
- Cucurbita pepo L.Cucurbita pepot0
- Treatment
- all living mulchese0
- Outcome
- time for weed managemente0
- Direction
- lesse0
- Comparator
- cultivatione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“all living mulches required less time for weed management than cultivation”
t0“Cucurbita pepo L.”
The same questions in other papers
cover crop · yield · Cucurbita pepoResults agree
1 paper in the same direction as this paper
- positive
mulching · weed · Cucurbita pepoResults agree
1 paper in the same direction as this paper
- positive
mulching · Anasa tristis · Cucurbita pepoResults agree
1 paper in the same direction as this paper
- negative
Claims are grouped by organism, treatment and what was measured or targeted. A paper counts as positive when any of its claims in the group is positive.