New Alternatives to Synthetic Herbicide Techniques for Treating Roadside Vegetation. Part 5 Final rept. 1 Jan 04-31 Dec 04

摘要

Herbicides have been widely used to control vegetation on roadside rights-of-way because they are perceived as more cost effective than other treatments. However, as knowledge of environmental systems has developed along with a growing social perception of health and environmental issues, a need for alternative methods to synthetic herbicide use for vegetation control along roadsides has become a prominent issue. Earlier phases of this research indicated several promising physical, cultural, biological/ecological, and chemical controls. A small subset of these treatments, which included three barriers (two mulches and one soil solidifier), four natural herbicides, and one mycoherbicide, were selected for more detailed review. These alternatives were detailed in terms of: (1) treatment type, (2) product name; (3) manufacturer; (4) website; (5) general information; (6) efficacy and effectiveness; and (7) recommended techniques for future testing. A brief treatise on research methods for testing the effectiveness of these new techniques for controlling roadside right-of-way vegetation was developed based on expert opinion and experience of the authors.