Cut fallow to replace black fallow in an organic production system

Couch grass (Elymus repens) has large impact on yield and management strategies in temperate areas of the world. The control is to a large extent based on repeated soil cultivations in organic farming. Our aim was to investigate methods to improve the competitive effect of white clover by management. The hypothesis was that cutting (fragmentation) of the rhizomes by making slits in the soil by a spade (spading) would increase the number of couch grass shoots, thus improve the effect of repeated mowing. We conclude that Cross cutting to 10 cm could reduce the amount of rhizomes, but that the effect is variable. We also conclude that the cross cutting do not improve the effect of mowing. Cross cutting reduce the amounts of couch grass shoots