Night Farming -- Really!

By Jim Bauder
MSU Extension Soil and Water Quality Specialist

Kim Robinson
Graduate Research Assistant 

01/03/2001

         BOZEMAN -- This seems like it could be an "X-Files" story: Night farming! What would you think if you saw your neighbor one night plowing his fields in the dark, wearing a pair of night-vision goggles? Crazy? Well maybe, or he might just be pretty smart according to some weed specialists. We first heard of this from Pete Fay, former Montana State University Extension weed specialist, who is now blissfully night farming his Rocky Creek produce farm near Bozeman.

            According to an USDA website, weed control costs U.S. farmers $15 billion each year. Tons of time and money have been spent trying to develop methods to rid good farmland of these pesky weeds. Recent attention has been given to the practice of night cultivation as a way to deter the growth of weeds. The idea is based on the fact that the germination of many weed species will not be stimulated if cultivations are completed in the dark, because of the absence of red light, known as the phytochrome system. Ordinary daylight cultivation briefly exposes weed seeds to light before they are reburied. Often this brief exposure, which could be as short as a millisecond, can be enough to stimulate the seed to germinate. Most species that germinate in light are not deliberately cultivated, meaning they’re weeds. Most crop seeds on the other hand will germinate in complete darkness. Makes for tough competition, since daylight represents a good part of the year.

            Various studies have shown significant decreases in weed densities with nighttime tillage. Work done by USDA-ARS scientist Doug Buhler indicated that tilling soil in darkness can reduce the presence of small-seeded broadleaf weeds by 50 to 80 percent. Reductions ranged from 70 percent for common lambsquarters to less than 30 percent for Pennsylvania smartweed. Hartmann and Nezadal (1990) reported that weed cover in intensively cultivated land in Germany was reduced from 80 percent to 2 percent if cultivation was carried out during darkness.

            This type of "photo control" is not without its problems. For one, there are several weedy species which produce seeds which do not require red light in order to germinate. There is also the issue of the logistics of working in total darkness.

            While understanding the dormancy requirements of weed seed provides a new approach to managing weeds and offers potential, there seems to be a consensus that it should not be viewed as a complete solution to one’s weed problems. So, the next time you see your neighbor out there driving tractor in the dark, either take heed and head for the tractor seat yourself or change the channel on the television.

            The majority of the information in this article came from email correspondence between extension agents found at:

            http://www.une.edu.au/agronomy/weeds/organic/liks/tillage_emails.html

            If you are interested in doing a little more “digging” on this topic, here are a couple web references that might be useful.

            http://crsc.calpoly.edu/Steinmaus/405/CULTSEED.html

            http://www.cals.ncsu.edu/sustainable/peet/IPM/weeds/spec_pra.html            

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Send questions or comments to Carol Flaherty, MSU Communications Services, Bozeman, MT 59717 or email Bauder and Flaherty at carolf@montana.edu.

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