Oakes Irrigation Research Site
Carrington Research Extension Center * North Dakota State University
P.O. Box 531, Oakes, ND 58474-0531, Voice: (701) 742-2189, FAX: (701) 742-2700, email: rgreenla@ndsuext.nodak.edu

NEWSPAPER MULCH STUDY, 1996

Richard G Greenland

It is estimated that 40 to 50% of the garbage that goes into landfills is paper. Much of this paper could be recycled to make new paper or reused for other purposes. One possible use of the paper is as a mulch to aid in vegetable production. This has many advantages. The paper would add organic matter to soils, which would increase aggregate stability, cation exchange capacity, and water holding capacity, while decreasing erosion and compaction. The mulch has also been shown to control weeds. Immobilization of soil N by the mulch is a possible disadvantage. The effect of a chopped newspaper mulch on tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, sweet corn, cabbage, and buttercup squash was observed in this study.

Results summary

Table 70. Previous crop, planting, and harvest information.

Table 71. Seedbed preparation.

Table 72. Fertilizer, pest control, and harvest dates.

Table 73. Soil nitrate-N and soil organic matter responses to added newspaper.

Table 74. Soil nitrate-N and soil organic matter responses to previous crop.

Table 75. Vegetable crop yield responses to newspaper mulch.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Soil: Embden sandy loam. Soil samples taken of top 6 inches on April 23 and 24.
Previous Crops: See Table 70 for 1995 and 1994; 1993 - field corn.
Planting: All vegetables were direct seeded except tomatoes, which were transplanted. See Table 70 for information on dates, rates, and row spacings.
Plots: Plots were 6 ft wide by 20 ft long. The study had 4 reps and was arranged as a randomized complete block. Each vegetable was a separate experiment.
Fertilizer: On April 17, broadcast 14 lbs N/acre and 70 lbs P2O5/acre as 10-50-0, 16 lbs N/acre and 19 lbs S/acre as 21-0-0-24, and 94 lbs K20/acre as 0-0-60. Additional fertilizer applications are given in Table 72.
Irrigation: Overhead sprinkler irrigation as needed.
Paper mulch: Treatments were 0, 2, 4, and 6 tons of paper mulch/acre. Applied to all crops on July 1.

RESULTS

Adding newspaper mulch for two years did not affect soil organic matter content or soil nitrate-N level. Soil nitrate-N was lower when sweet corn was the previous crop. Soil organic matter was higher when carrot or cabbage was the previous crop. This may be misleading for carrots because all of the carrots were not harvested from the plots in the fall of 1995. Using newspaper mulch did not affect the yield of any vegetable except cabbage. The higher the rate of newspaper mulch the lower the cabbage yield.

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Table 70. Previous crop, planting, and harvest information for the newspaper mulch study 1996.
Vegetable Previous crops1 Planting date Planting rate Row spacing Harvest date
cabbage tomato
sweet corn
May 1 56,000 seeds/acre (later thinned to 28,000 plants/acre) 16 inches Sept 26
carrot squash
potato
May 16 500,000 seeds/acre paired rows (3" apart)
on 16" centers
Sept 25
sweet corn cabbage
tomato
May 21 50,000 seeds/acre (later thinned to 34,000 plants/acre) 24 inches Aug 26 &
Aug 30
potato carrot
quash
May 13 1 piece/ft 3 feet Oct 21
squash potato
carrot
May 21 1 seed/ft (later thinned to 1 plant/3 ft) 6 feet Oct 9
tomato sweet corn
cabbage
May 30 4 plants/3 ft double row (2 ft apart)
on 6 ft centers
Aug 12 to Aug 29

1First crop listed is 1995, second is 1994.

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Table 71. Newspaper recycle study seedbed preparation.
Vegetable Date Operation Purpose
All

April 26

disk initial tillage of entire newspaper recycle study
carrot

April 24
May 1

subsoil
disk(twice)
breakup hardpan and make channels for root growth
incorporate fertilizer and herbicide
cabbage

May 1

disk(twice) incorporate fertilizer and herbicide
squash

May 21

disk incorporate fertilizer
tomato

May 30

disk incorporate fertilizer
potato

May 7

disk incorporate fertilizer
sweet corn

May 20

disk incorporate fertilizer

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Table 72. Fertilizer, pest control, and harvest dates for the newspaper mulch study.
Vegetable

Fertilizer

Pest control
Date

Rate

Date Control

cabbage

April 29
June 21
July 1
35 lbs N/acre as 28-0-0
75 lbs N/acre as urea
55 lbs N/acre as urea
May 1
May 1
June 17, July 1
June 11
July 12, 26, 31
Treflan (1 pt/acre)
Devrinol (2 lbs/acre)
hand weed
Poast (2 pts/acre + COC)
Asana (8 oz/acre)

carrot

April 29
June 21
July 1
35 lbs N/acre as 28-0-0
75 lbs N/acre as urea
55 lbs N/acre as urea
May 1
July 1
June 11
July 12, 26, 31
Treflan (1 pt/acre)
hand weed
Poast (2 pts/acre + COC)
Asana (8 oz/acre)

sweet corn

April 29
June 21
July 1
35 lbs N/acre as 28-0-0
75 lbs N/acre as urea
50 lbs N/acre as urea
May 21
June 18

July 1
July 9, 12, 31
Dual (2 pts/acre)
Atrazine (0.6 lb/acre +
      Lentagran (1.9 lb/acre)
hand weed
Asana (8 oz/acre)

potatoes

April 29
July 1
35 lbs N/acre as 28-0-0
110 lbs N/acre as urea
May 21
June 10, 17
June 4

Jun 26, July 8, 12, 31
July 16, 24
July 16, Aug 6
July 34, Aug 21
Dragged off
Hilled
Prowl (1.8 pts/acre), Dual
    (2 pts/acre), Matrix (1 oz/acre)
Asana (8 oz/acre)
Sevin (2 qt/acre)
Manzate (2 lbs/acre)
Bravo (1.5 pts/acre)

squash

April 29
July 1
35 lbs N/acre as 28-0-0
71 lbs N/acre as urea
June 17, July 1
July 9, 12, 31
hand weed
Asana (8 oz/acre)

tomatoes

April 29
July 1
35 lbs N/acre as 28-0-0
90 lbs N/acre as urea
May 31
June 11
June 17
July 30

July 12, 31
Treflan (1 pt/acre)
Poast (2 pt/acre + COC)
hand weed
Fusilade (1 pt/acre) +
    Penetrate II (1 pt/25 gal)
Asana (8 oz/acre)

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Table 73. Soil nitrate-N and soil organic matter responses to added newspaper.

Newspaper treatment Nitrate-N Organic matter
tons/acre ppm %
0 34 2.3
2 29 2.4
4 30 2.3
6 32 2.3
C.V. (%) 41 4

Note: newspaper treatments did not cause any significant differences in nitrate-N or organic matter.

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Table 74. Soil nitrate-N and soil organic matter responses to previous crop.
1994 crop 1995 crop Nitrate-N Organic matter

ppm

%

tomato cabbage 37 2.6
squash carrot 29 2.6
carrot potato 41 2.1
potato squash 35 2.3
cabbage sweet corn 18 2.1
sweet corn tomato 29 2.3
LSD (0.05) 9 0.3
C.V. (%) 41 4

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Table 75. Vegetable crop yield responses to newspaper mulch.
Newspaper treatment Cabbage Carrot Potato Sweet corn Tomato
tons/acre tons/acre tons/acre cwt/acre tons/acre tons/acre
0 66.2 a1 27.7 344 10.5 16.5
2 62.6 a 36.8 270 9.5 17.9
4 58.0 ab 44.7 259 10.5 18.8
6 49.1 b 32.8 302 9.9 20.8
C.V.(%) 15 18 19 24 18

1Values in this column followed by the same letter are not significantly different at the 0.05 level. Columns without letters indicate that there were no significant differences between values in that column.

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