Gardening in the dark

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Authors
Technical Centre for Agricultural and Rural Cooperation
Date
1991
Language
en
Type
News Item
Accessibility
Open Access
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Citation
CTA. 1991. Gardening in the dark. Spore 33. CTA, Wageningen, The Netherlands.
Permanent link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/10568/45521
Internet URL: http://collections.infocollections.org/ukedu/en/d/Jcta33e/
Abstract/Description
Gardening in the dark is not something that springs readily to mind when you think of land preparation. However, trials at the University of Erlangen in Germany suggest that cultivating land at night could reduce weeds and hence increase crop...
Notes
Gardening in the dark is not something that springs readily to mind when you think of land preparation. However, trials at the University of Erlangen in Germany suggest that cultivating land at night could reduce weeds and hence increase crop yields. In trials, land cultivated during the day in September was 80% covered in weeds by the following June whereas land cultivated at night was only 2% covered. Most seeds are triggered to germinate by light. Even a brief flash of light is sufficient to trigger germination of seeds up to 1cm below the soil surface. In order to reduce weed germination the researchers suggest that the soil must be cultivated one hour after sunset and one hour before dawn. Much more work is needed before the practical significance of this research can be assessed, but observations of this kind should never be overlooked. R Scheuerlein Erlangen-Nuernberg University Erlangen, GERMANY
Subjects
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AND NATURAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT;
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