Establishing perennial ground cover species, as a management practice to suppress weeds in a pipfruit orchard’s “weed spray strip”

Can low-growing, perennial plants be established as a ground cover in pipfruit orchards, as a replacement for a traditional ‘weed spray strip’ management practice? In this trial, seven low-growing perennial species were established in the ‘weed spray strip’ on a Nelson pipfruit orchard:

1. Birds foot Trefoil – Lotus corniculatus
2. Narrow-leaved Plantain – Plantago lanceolata
3. Common yarrow – Achillea millefolium
4. Chicory – Cichorium intybus
5. Alyssum – Lobularia maritima
6. Sheep’s burnet – Sanguisorba minor subsp. Muricata
7. Strawberry clover – Trifolium fragiferum)

Two plantings were undertaken, one in Spring and one in Autumn. The species that ‘established well’ (covered the ground to varying degrees that helped to compete or shade out weed species, withstood foot traffic during harvest, continue thriving with litlle to no intervention and have not become a ‘pest’ plant) were Yarrow, Chicory, Sheep’s Burnet, Trefoil, Clover, and Plantain.