[APWG] Ecosystem dynamics and 100 percent suppression by straw application Allelopathic straw keeping weeds out & moisture in duringdrought

[Craig Dremann - Redwood City Seed Company]

Dear Wayne and All,

Thanks for your email.

The reason why I am reporting to the APWG readers the details about my
test plot here in Palo Alto, California, is that I want to encourage
everyone with similar weed problems, to try and have some fun with straw
mulch this year.   I believe everyone can get 100% suppression of all
annual weeds plus a few perennial ones, using straw mulch, just like I am
today.

I first learned about the allopathic effects of straw mulch by accident
almost 40 years ago.  The usual treatment for a bad weed here in
California for field bindweed (Convolvulus arvensis) is tilling or hoeing
or repeated application of herbicides, like you can read at
http://www.sunset.com/garden/flowers-plants/bindweed-convolvulus-arvensis-00400000014497/.

I was out hoeing bindweed all summer long,  38 years ago , when I noticed
that the bindweed was completely suppressed when a thin layer of straw was
left on the land.  Since then, I have always kept a straw layer on the
soil, and no more hoeing at all.

Since there are still dormant viable bindweed seeds in the soil--and will
still be there for the next 100 years--any place that I till in spring and
do not put down any straw mulch, a very nice, thick crop of bindweed
sprouts up again.

So bindweed could be 100% suppressed across the country, saving all the
wasted efforts of hoeing or tilling, and save the natural environment from
all those multiple applications of tens of thousands of gallons of
herbicide--just be adding a little straw mulch each spring.

Straw would especially be useful for weed control near streams where you
do not want any herbicide runoff, or for Endangered Species habitat
management, or along roadsides near riparian areas, or for organic farming
weed control methods.

I am very confident that anyone with a bindweed infestation, or a yellow
star thistle patch or an annual grass weed problem (like cheatgrass or
medusahead) anywhere in the USA, and you apply straw mulch as soon as the
weed seedlings germinate--like I am doing in Palo Alto right now--will
also get 100% suppression of those weeds.

I would love to hear from anyone who went out this winter and spring and
did some straw test plots and got 100% control.  The key is weed-seed free
straw--you do not want to add any new weed seeds to your already
weed-infested area.  And if any weeds pop through the straw, add more
straw.

Today’s Palo Alto test plot forecast: Italian thistle seedlings densities
w/o straw = 3 per sq. inch or 18.6 million per acre, and the annual weed
grass seedling densities w/o straw = 6 per sq.inch or 37.2 million per
acre, and straw mulched area = Zero seedlings per sq. inch or Zero weeds
per acre.

Sincerely,  Craig Dremann (650) 325-7333