Use of An Alternative Natural Weed Suppressant: Effects of Parboiled Rice Hill Mulch on the Growth of Container Weeds

Abstract

The Chattahoochee Nature Center (CNC) is one of the leading educational centers in Georgia about the ecology of the Chattahoochee River. Due to lack of man power, keeping down the weeds in the CNC plant nursery is one of those tasks that often gets left undone. The nursery becomes overgrown with invasive weed species. Understandably, they must sometimes resort to the use of herbicides, such as Roundup®, to keep the hundreds of native and endangered species of plants housed at CNC from being choked out by invasive weeds. This study tests the ability to suppress weed growth by use of Parboiled Rice Hulls (PBH), a biodegradable by-product of the rice industry used as an eco-friendly mulch or soil additive. As a result of this study the CNC has planned to implement the use of PBH as a mulch material to dramatically decrease use of herbicides.