We have received funding from the Washington Red Raspberry Commission and Washington Commission of Pesticide Registration to begin investigating of the application of plastic biodegradable mulches (BDMs) for weed control and improved establishment of tissue culture (TC) red raspberry. The objectives of this research are:
- Evaluate weed incidence with BDMs in comparison to bare ground (standard, herbicide treated control) and polyethylene mulch (PE; non biodegradable control) in establishing TC red raspberry in both spring and fall planted systems in northwest Washington.
- Monitor surface and in-soil degradation of BDMs in spring and fall planted raspberry systems.
- Assess populations of root lesion nematodes (Pratylenchus penetrans; RLN) in the soils and roots of raspberry before and after using biodegradable and PE mulches; populations will also be compared across treatments.
- Evaluate growth and establishment of raspberry grown with BDM and PE mulch in comparison with bare ground.
These field experiments will be initiated in 2017 and we hope to expand this research by investigating how BDMs can be integrated into current and improved systems of soilborne disease management in raspberry production systems.
The investigators on this project team are:
- Huan Zhang, M.S. Graduate Student in Horticulture, WSU-NWREC, 16650 State Route 536, Mount Vernon, WA 98273; email: huan.zhang@wsu.edu
- Lisa DeVetter, Professor of Small Fruit Horticulture, WSU-NWREC, 16650 State Route 536, Mount Vernon, WA 98273, phone: 360-848-6124, lisa.devetter@wsu.edu
- Carol Miles, Professor of Vegetable Horticulture, WSU-NWREC, 16650 State Route 536, Mount Vernon, WA 98273, phone: 360-848-6150, milesc@wsu.edu
- Shuresh Ghimire, PhD Student in Vegetable Horticulture, WSU-NWREC, 16650 State Route 536, Mount Vernon, WA 98273, phone: 360-848-6136, shuresh.ghimire@wsu.edu
- Chris Benedict, Extension Educator, WSU Extension Whatcom County, 1000 N. Forest St. Ste. 201, Bellingham, WA 98225, phone: 360-676-673, chrisbenedict@wsu.edu
- Inga Zasada, USDA-ARS Plant Pathologist, 3420 NW Orchard Avenue, Corvallis, OR 97330, phone: 541-738-4051, Inga.Zasada@ars.usda.gov
NEW VIDEO – Huan Zhang’s (M.S. Student) video on data collection for the spring-planted BDM project