Abstract
Small farms play a crucial role in food security and agricultural diversity in the United States. Small-scale onion ( Allium cepa ) production faces unique challenges because of the crop’s susceptibility to weed competition. To address this concern, field trials were conducted at the Purdue Student Farm in West Lafayette, IN, USA, in 2023 and 2024 to investigate the effectiveness of silage tarps, S -metolachlor, and hand-weeding for weed management in small-scale transplanted onion production. The experiment tested tarping (tarped vs. nontarped) and S -metolachlor application frequency (zero, once, or twice) with or without hand-weeding. Tarping occurred after spring soil preparation, with tarp removal 5 weeks later and just before transplanting ‘Hamilton’ onions. S -metolachlor (1064 g active ingredient/ha) was applied at 2 and/or 4 weeks after transplanting (WATr), and hand-weeding was conducted at 7, 8, and 9 WATr. Tarping reduced early-season broadleaf weed emergence just after lifting the tarp compared with nontarped beds. Two S -metolachlor applications resulted in greater weed control compared with a single application when hand-weeding was not used. However, no additional benefits were observed with a second application when hand-weeding was used. Similarly, when hand-weeding was performed, there were no differences between one and two applications of S -metolachlor in end-of-season aboveground weed biomass (24 g/m 2 and 17 g/m 2 , respectively) or onion yield (7.52 kg/m 2 and 7.57 kg/m 2 , respectively). Tarping reduced early-season weed emergence, but the effects were transient. Tarping with herbicides and hand-weeding provided long-term weed control and maintained onion yield potential.
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Claims 6
Claim · model-written summary
Tarping reduced early broadleaf weed emergence compared with nontarped beds.
- Taxon
- Onions
Allium cepat0 - Treatment
- Tarpinge0
- Interactor
- broadleaf weede0weed
- Outcome
- broadleaf weed emergencee0
- Direction
- reducede0
- Comparator
- nontarped bedse0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Tarping reduced early-season broadleaf weed emergence just after lifting the tarp compared with nontarped beds.”
t0“Onions”
Claim · model-written summary
Two herbicide applications gave greater weed control than one without hand-weeding.
- Taxon
- OnionsAllium cepat0
- Treatment
- Two S -metolachlor applicationse0
- Interactor
- weede0weed
- Outcome
- weed controle0
- Direction
- greatere0
- Qualifier
- when hand-weeding was not usede0
- Comparator
- a single applicatione0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Two S -metolachlor applications resulted in greater weed control compared with a single application when hand-weeding was not used.”
t0“Onions”
Claim · model-written summary
With hand-weeding, the second herbicide application gave no additional benefit.
- Taxon
- OnionsAllium cepat0
- Treatment
- a second applicatione0
- Outcome
- additional benefitse0
- Direction
- no additional benefitse0
- Qualifier
- when hand-weeding was usede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“no additional benefits were observed with a second application when hand-weeding was used.”
t0“Onions”
Claim · model-written summary
With hand-weeding, one and two herbicide applications produced similar end-of-season weed biomass.
- Taxon
- OnionsAllium cepat0
- Treatment
- two applications of S -metolachlore0
- Interactor
- weede0weed
- Outcome
- end-of-season aboveground weed biomasse0
- Direction
- no differencese0
- Value
- 17 g/m 2e0
- Qualifier
- 24 g/m 2e0
- Comparator
- onee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“when hand-weeding was performed, there were no differences between one and two applications of S -metolachlor in end-of-season aboveground weed biomass (24 g/m 2 and 17 g/m 2 , respectively)”
t0“Onions”
Claim · model-written summary
With hand-weeding, one and two herbicide applications produced similar onion yield.
- Taxon
- onionAllium cepae0
- Treatment
- two applications of S -metolachlore0
- Outcome
- onion yielde0
- Direction
- no differencese0
- Value
- 7.57 kg/m 2e0
- Qualifier
- 7.52 kg/m 2e0
- Comparator
- onee0
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“when hand-weeding was performed, there were no differences between one and two applications of S -metolachlor in end-of-season aboveground weed biomass (24 g/m 2 and 17 g/m 2 , respectively) or onion yield (7.52 kg/m 2 and 7.57 kg/m 2 , respectively).”
Claim · model-written summary
Tarping with herbicides and hand-weeding provided long-term weed control and maintained onion yield potential.
- Taxon
- onionAllium cepae0
- Treatment
- Tarping with herbicides and hand-weedinge0
- Interactor
- weede0weed
- Outcome
- long-term weed control and maintained onion yield potentiale0
- Direction
- maintainede0
Not reportedComparator
Organisms pictured · Representative pictures of the matched species, not figures from the paper.
Verbatim
e0“Tarping with herbicides and hand-weeding provided long-term weed control and maintained onion yield potential.”
The same questions in other papers
metolachlor · yield · Allium cepa (onion)Positive and negative results
1 paper in the same direction as this paper · 2 in the opposite direction
- positive
- positive
- negative
metolachlor · weed · Allium cepa (onion)Results agree
1 paper in the same direction as this paper
- positive
herbicide · weed · Allium cepa (onion)Positive and negative results
71 papers in the same direction as this paper · 2 in the opposite direction
- negative
- negative
- positive
70 papers more in this group
See all 74 papers →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.