Recently a report published by the Propane Education and Research Council (PERC) … featured a field implement designed to be pulled by a tractor and inject steam into the soil to kill weed seeds where they’re lying in wait ….
The report cited results from a project undertaken by two U.S. universities that PERC funded. The implement used propane as an energy source.
“The banded applicator injects steam along the seed line before planting,” [the report] reads. “Researchers say heating the soil to 150 to 160 F for 15 to 20 minutes controls more than 90 per cent of certain troublesome weeds.”
Other research reports, however, have been skeptical of the value of using a mobile steam application to kill weed seeds in the soil. Also, the idea isn’t new.
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“It’s been around for a while,” says University of Saskatchewan professor Steve Shirtliffe. “We’ve done a little bit of research (on it) with a company that was starting up.”
That research effort found getting the soil up to a high enough temperature to kill weed seeds proved very difficult with a mobile implement.
