05/17/07 Using DDG's On Weeds

Using DDG's On Weeds. I'm Greg Martin with today's Line On Agriculture. One of the interesting things I find in the whole ethanol production business is that the entire product is usable. By that I mean when it comes to using grain for ethanol production the left over grain is a usable by product called DDG or dried distiller's grain. This mash is most notably used as a feed for livestock but recently a group of scientists with the USDA's Agricultural Research Service began experimenting with other uses. Rick Boydston is a weed specialist at the ARS's Prosser, Washington site has been using DDG's with potted ornamentals and roses. BOYDSTON: We mixed it in the potting soil versus putting it on the surface of the potting soil. We found out that when we got to concentrations of 5% to 10% by weight then we start inhibiting the growth of plants if we planted into those immediately, if we transplanted the perennials into those, it was also inhibiting weeds quite a bit at those concentrations. But Boyston said better results came from applying the DDG's on the surface. BOYDSTON: Then on the surface  if we put it on the surface we found out that the transplant perennial plants they want to grow weren't hurt but the weeds were inhibited so that's what we ended up going with rather than mixing it into the potting soil. Where this might prove useful is with organic farmers but Boydston says commercial use of DDG's as a weed inhibitor would just be too cost prohibitive. BOYDSTON: In conventional systems it's probably going to be too expensive to replace the herbicide because we're talking about spreading one ton of material per acre in the field. You could possibly do a banded application just in the crop row and then cultivate between the bands. But there may be another ethanol byproduct that is even more effective. BOYDSTON: We're also looking at (something) that looks a little more promising probably for weed control is mustard meal after you extract the oil from certain mustard species, the meal that is left over after the oil extraction. The one we're really looking at is a white mustard. It could be used as a biofuel crop for oil and we're looking at these mustard meals that you can't really feed them to cattle. We're seeing they're pretty inhibitory to weeds and could maybe used in organic systems or in containers  ornamental containers that sort of thing. That's today's Line On Agriculture. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.