False-seeding scalper to combat thistles in mechanical weeding

Case studies - Chambre d'Agriculture Occitanie - Aglae - Damien Carpene (2016) - Weed management

Field crops Permanent cover crops in field crops Mechanical weeding in field crops Weeding Weeding by cultural control

Gers (department)

40

2

Clay-limestone hillsides

Feedback from Damien Carpene, as part of the Aglae project. He presents his scalping false seedbed technique explaining how he adapted his vibroculteur to meet his needs.

Motivations

A few years ago when I was in conventional farming, my rotation system was mainly based on crops of wheat and corn to feed my poultry operation.

Gradually, I observed increasing weed infestations, particularly thistles and wild oats that were difficult to control and increasingly resistant to herbicides. When I decided to convert my farm to organic in 2016, I looked for alternative techniques to chemical weeding that were effective enough to combat these weeds in my fields. I have not plowed for about ten years, so I used my disc harrow but it was not sufficient to effectively destroy them before sowing. I therefore looked for another way to manage them and thanks to my advisor's recommendations, I found in the scalping false seedbed technique a good compromise to effectively fight these weeds before my summer crops.

Implementation

The scalping false seedbed : my method

The operation was carried out using a vibroculteur on which 32 goosefoot shares were adapted.

Several passes can be made if necessary, which allows cutting weeds at different levels and destroying them at different stages of development :

Speed : 2.5 to 3 ha/h

Vibroculteur with 32 goosefoot shares

Allows cutting weed roots, extracting them from the soil and exposing them
Cost of tool adaptation : 6 to 8 euros per share, about 225€

Crumbling roller

Width : 3m
Allows managing working depth

Benefits and points of caution for the "scalping false seedbed" lever

Benefits

Effective on wild oats and thistles
Adaptation of an existing tool on the farm
Results immediately visible
Avoids some passes with the hoe in case of successful false seedbed
Low implementation cost

Points of caution

Risk of clogging if the overall biomass of the weed flora is high

My tips for success

Work on flat ground
Work on a dry soil (test soil condition with a spade fork before false seedbed)
Choose the date of passage based on weather retrospectively (a few dry days after passage to avoid regrowth)
Adjust forward speed to avoid clogging
Combine this technique with other levers for greater effectiveness

Leviers évoqués dans ce système

My results

Agro-environmental

Decrease in weed pressure
Decrease in pest pressure
Stability of disease pressure

Social

Increase in working time
Stability of workload peak periods
Increase in observation time

Economic

Stability of mechanization costs
Stability of net margin
Stability of implementation cost

My perspectives

Regarding the tool : increase the number of shares to widen the tool to go faster and save time and add a harrow-comb behind to increase exposure of weed roots
Put more cover crops to reduce bare soil surface
Add rapeseed and flax crops in the coming years to lengthen my rotation
Test clover between rows in sunflower
Interested in strip-till to work only the necessary surface and leave permanent cover crops

Expert committee opinion

Evaluation according to the ESR analysis grid.

Efficiency

The objective is to increase the efficiency of available control methods through the development of technologies that improve their use or by better positioning. In this context, decision support tools and precision agriculture are included.