Non-chemical weed management

Non-chemical weed management covers all management practices that influence weeds except herbicides. This chapter summarises the major achievements in European research, as well as work undertaken in North America. Research groups from both continents have interacted strongly on the topic over the years and shared common interests on the development of non-chemical tactics. The chapter encompasses preventive, cultural and direct weed control methods, explaining the basic principles and the integration of these tactics in weed management strategies for agricultural and horticultural crops and in some cases amenity areas as well. Preventive methods reduce weed germination, cultural methods improve crop competition and direct physical weed control reduces weed survival. Non-chemical weed management is mainly adopted in organic crop production, as conventional growers still perceive it as more costly and less reliable than herbicide-based weed control programmes.