Black Polyethylene Mulch-An Alternative to Mechanical Cultivation for Establishing Hybrid Poplars

The success of establishing hybrid poplar plantations from unrooted, dormant cuttings is largely dependent on the ability to control competitive vegetation during the root initiation period. Schreiner (1940, 1945) has demonstrated the inhibiting effects of sod on the growth and development of hybid poplar. Cover crops (Ford and Williamson 1952) or the use of simazine (Cunningham and Sowers 1962) to control unwanted vegetation proved unsatisfactory in establishing hybid poplars. These studies indicate that a prepared site, combined with mechanical cultivation during the first growing season, is necessary to establish hybrid poplars. Polyethylene mulches have proved beneficial in some agricultural crops, as illustrated by Moore (1963) in grape culture. Waggoner et al. (1960) conducted an intensive study on the principles and benefits of polyethylene films. Their results indicated that black films had the least modifying effect on soil energy budgets and had a high ability to conserve soil moisture. The black film by reducing light transmission also exerted the greatest control of unwanted vegetation. The object of this study was to evaluate black polyethylene mulch as an alternative to mechanical cultivation in establishing plantations of hybrid poplars.

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Author(s): Todd W. Bowersox, W. W. Ward

Publication: Tree Planters' Notes - Volume 21, Number 1 (1970)

Volume: 21

Number: 1