Dawson Melon Co. in Red Cliffs near Mildura, Victoria.
Soil Wealth ICP team members Umberto Calvo and Dr Kelvin Montagu (AHR) worked with grower Brad Dawson to trial wheat straw as an alternative to plastic mulch in rockmelons.
Good quality wheat straw was spread on the growing beds at different rates (tonnes/hectare). Some of the beds were treated with metham sodium and somenot, as the grower was trying to phase out this broad-spectrum soil fumigant.
The objective of the trial was to verify the weed suppression potential of different combinations of straw mulch density and metham sodium application.
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