Research Progress Report 108 March, 1964
The Use of Flame Cultivation For the Control of Weeds in Field Crops
]. B. Liljedahl, J. L. Williams and K. J. Albrecht, Departments of Agricultural Engineering and Botany and Plant Pathology
Summary
The 1963 results gave additional information directed toward the primary objectives of the research project: (1) to study the sensitivity of weeds and crops to flaming, (2) to study the interrelationship of flame cultivation with other cultural practices, (3) to determine the cost of flame cultivation. Although the results have established certain points, additional research is needed to establish the merit of flame cultivation. The results to date are not conclusive enough to establish recommendations for flame cultivation in crops at this time.
The following observations are made from work completed in 1963.
1.	Results of two years of experimental work have shown the best treatment was flame cultivating at 4 mph when the corn was approximately 12 inches and 18 inches high.
A lower speed of 2 mph can be used after the corn is 18 inches tall. A third flaming does not appear to be useful unless the weed growth persists.
2.	A more expensive, but just as effective, treatment was flaming 3 or 4 times at 6 mph beginning when the corn was 1 inch high or 6 inches high. The flamings were spaced a week apart. This treatment seems only to be feasible when there is an early and heavy infestation of grassy weeds.
3.	Rotary hoeing when corn was 1 to 4 inches high controlled some of the early small weeds and tended also to level the soil around the corn plants thereby facilitating the flame cultivation which followed.
4.	A conventional sweep cultivator was more effective for controlling weeds between the rows than full flaming.
5.	Annual grasses, such as Giant Foxtail, are more readily controlled than broadleaved weeds by the use of a flame cultivator. Annual
grasses were most easily killed by flame when they were 1 to 2 inches tall. Larger grasses can be controlled only by flaming at a slower speed that results in additional damage to the corn.
This project is largely supported by the Committee on Agricultural Research and Development of the LPG Associations from Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Illinois. The Purdue Agricultural Experiment Station also contributes to this project.
PURDUE UNIVERSITY • Agricultural Experiment Station • Lafayette, Indiana