Source: modernfarmer.com
Herbicides are, unfortunately, a necessary product for most industrial farms, but given the rise in organic farming and the growing number of weeds becoming immune to the chemical poisons, other options have to be considered. Frank Forcella, a USDA agronomist, first had an idea to use apricot pits, considered an “agricultural residue,” as a weed killer when ground up with other waste and inserted in a sand blaster. He turned to his colleague Dean Peterson and together they bought a cheap sand blaster and started some simple experiments in a greenhouse.
Their initial work involved growing weeds next to a corn plant; when the corn was about six inches tall and the weed was about one to three inches tall, the researchers blasted both with a split-second application of grit.
It turned out that only the weeds got hurt. In fact, they vanished, while the corn plant was fine. This prompted a field experiment in 2012 with a bigger sand blaster mounted on an ATV. While Peterson drove, Forcella followed, crouched over with the sand blaster nozzle, blasting pigweed and other pesky sprouts.
Forcella’s “silly” idea turned into a feasible and successful solution for killing weeds.
Continue reading
Organikos 