New bale unroller design deemed effective
John Wilhoit and Timothy Coolong from the University of Kentucky have introduced a new technology that can make the application of organic mulches more efficient. The research team from the University of Kentucky premiered their new invention in the August issue of HortTechnology. The team altered a conventional round-bale unroller and designed experiments to document its efficiency. "We modified an unroller so that the new design would be offset a sufficient distance for the tractor to straddle the row of plastic and unroll the bale in the space between adjacent rows of plastic," explained Wilhoit and Coolong. "Then, we tested the efficacy of the modified unroller with several types of organic mulches for between-row weed control in organic watermelon. Mulching between rows can be an effective practice for controlling weeds; our modification makes mulching with round bales of hay or wheat straw more efficient."