ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Agron.
Sec. Weed Management
Volume 7 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fagro.2025.1688961
This article is part of the Research TopicInnovative Technology and Techniques for Effective Weed ControlView all 9 articles
Electrical Weed Control in Organic Highbush Blueberry: Influence of Operational Speed and Number of Applications on Weed Control
Provisionally accepted
- Oregon State University, Corvallis, United States
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Weed control remains a critical challenge for organic blueberry producers in the Pacific Northwest, where most U.S. organic blueberry hectarage is concentrated. Electrical weed control (EWC) offers a nonchemical alternative by applying high-voltage currents to plant foliage, disrupting vascular function through heat-induced tissue damage. This study evaluated how operational speed and the number of EWC applications influence weed control efficacy across five field studies in certified organic blueberry fields in Oregon, using two types of commercial EWC equipment. Slower speeds (0.5–1 km h-1; 69–35 kJ m-2) achieved the highest efficacy, providing >80% weed control at 28 days after initial treatment (DAIT) and reducing biomass by up to 73% compared to nontreated. Sequential applications were critical for sustained control: two applications at 2 or 4 km h-1 (17–9 kJ m-2 per application) provided 77–83% weed control at 42 DAIT. Species-specific responses were observed, with northern willowherb (Epilobium ciliatum) and Pennsylvania smartweed (Persicaria pensylvanica) being more sensitive to EWC with 85–100% control at 42 DAIT, while tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea) and sharppoint fluvellin (Kickxia elatine) required multiple treatments and higher energy doses (≥24 kJ m-2) to reach 67–73% control at the same period. In a combined methods study long-term efficacy declined with single-application treatments, with control dropping below 20% by 56 DAIT, whereas sequential applications sustained >40% control. These results demonstrate that EWC provides effective nonchemical weed management in organic blueberry production, with operational speed and sequential applications key to maintain high levels of weed control.
Keywords: energy dose, electrophysical weed control, Field efficacy, Highbush blueberry, Non-chemical weed management, organic weed management, Perennial weed control
Received: 19 Aug 2025; Accepted: 06 Oct 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Baccin and Moretti. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Luisa Carolina Baccin, baccinl@oregonstate.edu
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.