Weeds are one of the challenges a farmer has to deal with when growing crops and there are certain solutions that can be used to prevent the damage done by weeds. There are also many suppliers specialising in horticultural solutions that can help you with this.

Weeds can grow faster than the crops you cultivate and they tend to be more resilient.

 And as they produce a vast number of seeds, it can be quite challenging to deal with them. These seeds can actually remain dormant in the soil for a long time and once there are right conditions, the seeds will germinate. When you have both weeds and crops together, there is competition for water, sunlight and nutrients. And when this competition for resources starts, it can lead to stunted growth of crops and you can experience a reduced yield in crops. One of the ways you can minimise weeds is through crop rotation. Here, you will not be planting the same crops in the same field for every season. When you have different crops for different seasons, the nutrient requirements of them will be different. And this can actually disrupt the lifecycle of weed species.

You can also use a weedmat to suppress weeds from growing. Here, this will create a barrier for the weed seeds from reaching the soil. You can find these made from strong materials like polypropylene. And even though weed growth is prevented with the use of this mat, it still allows for air and water to pass through to the crop. Mulching does something similar. This also suppresses weed growth and it does so by blocking sunlight from reaching the weed seeds. You can use either synthetic materials or organic for mulching and this layer of materials will sit on top of the soil surface covering it. You can use wood chips, compost etc. on top of the soil as mulch. And this will be beneficial to the crops in other ways because this layer allows the soil to retain its moisture so you will not need to irrigate consistently. Also, when there are consistent soil temperatures which are something that can be achieved by mulching, you can help inhibit the growth of certain species of weeds.

You can also

Carry out mechanical cultivation where machinery or tools are used to disturb the soil physically. And this process will uproot the majority of weeds. This is something you need to do carefully so that you don’t damage the roots of your crops. When you flow the field regularly, it can disrupt the growth of weeds. But you need to achieve a balance as tilling too much can cause soil erosion. You can also use a manual or mechanical how to remove the weeds and this may be more of a targeted method. Then there is the use of cover crops. These are used to improve the health of soil and suppress weed growth. And these cover crops are grown in between seasons so you will have this planted in the field in off-season.