Plastic Continued from Page 16
corporated, they should reduce the labor needed to remove the mulch,” De Vetter said. “The material did not stick to the tillage equipment.” Regulators are developing their defini- tions for plant-basedmulch, as this is an evolving field. Two years ago, the state of California enacted standards for mulch that can be labeled and sold as “biodegradable.” “There must be at least 90% biodegra-
dation in two years or less due to micro- bial activity in the soil,” De Vetter said. For the mulch to be labeled organic, it must also meet the further standard of having at least 80% bio-basedmaterials. Mulch producers are improving their plant-based tarps tomeet thesestandards, and to degrade in the soil more quickly. “No commercially available mulch meets the 80% standard, but the produc- ers say they can do it,” De Vetter said.
Additional work is needed to produce mulch that is at least 80% bio-based and meets the standardof 90%biodegradation in the first two years after incorporation. Ongoing trials in the Salinas area will evaluate the performance of bio-based mulches that are still being improved to hasten their degradation in the soil. (Bob Johnson is a reporter in Monterey Coun t y . He may b e c on t a c t ed a t bjohn11135@gmail.com.)
the search for alternatives to petro- leum-based plasticmulch during the an- nual University of CaliforniaCooperative Extension strawberry production meet- ing held online in February. Because the plastic nanoparticles do not break down, soil degradation could worsen without alternatives. The trials at Driscoll’s and Naturipe strawberry fields indicate that a corn- based mulch that is both biodegradable and compostable could be a practical al- ternative to polyethylene plastic mulch. Plant-basedmulchpassed the first test: It stopped weeds over the long season, which allowed the berries to produce. “The growers were pleased,” De Vetter said. “It lasts, andtherewasnolossof yield.” Application speed of the biodegrad- ablemulch was also roughly the same as for the plastic, and the material did not tear during the application. But when it comes towhich tarp to use and how to work with it, there could be a learning curve. “There was a higher likelihood of fis- sures at or shortly after application,” De Vetter said. “Thickness of the material matters and on-farmpractices matter.” De Ve t t e r c o - a u t h o r e d a 2 0 1 9 American Society for Horticultural Science study that included a survey of strawberry growers in California, the Pacific Northwest and the Mid-Atlantic region. It found that California farm- ers were more likely to have used bio- degradable mulch and that Western growers hadmore negative views of tra- ditional polyethylene mulch varieties than growers on the East Coast. DeVetter saidconverting tobiodegrad- able tarps will have higher costs. But she said that may be at least partially offset by being able to incorporate the mate- rial at the end of the season rather than remove it. “Because they are designed to be in-
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