Hi Brandon, that's a great question! Weed management can be quite challenging in ornamental plantings and floriculture production. I'm checking with a few growers I know to see if they have any elegant solutions.

I can say that weed barrier or maintaining turf/cover crop in-between the lavender rows are common solutions. I'm hesitant to discuss herbicides because a mistake can ruin years of work. Some growers will use selective herbicides within their production system to manage grasses. Broad leaf herbicides may be limited to pre-emergent products. Even then, one has to be very careful.

I'll let you know what the growers suggest.

Brandon, here are some thoughts from several other commercial growers. I hope it helps!

• "We have fescue and white dutch clover between our lavender rows, and mow with a mower. We hoe and hand-weed the lavender extending the hoed area about 6 inches on either side of the lavender. I haven't done any experimenting to find out if our lavender grows bigger with landscape fabric between rows. Our rows are 8' apart and we planted tulips, daffodils and other spring flowers down the middle of the 8' alley so we open for U-pick spring flowers to extend the season. Our soils are doughty and do not support grass well, so we are going to interseed grass again in our alleys soon. Perfect soil for lavender"

• "Our main “weed” is dune grass. Luckily it has been moist enough this spring to easily handle weeding after every rain. We have weed barrier in one field and I am not a fan. It compacts soil, weeds still grow on top of the barrier and does not allow enough moisture underneath. We battled this area during the 6 week drought with no built in irrigation last year and it was not fun! As long as we walk and weed each field 2-3 times a week it is manageable. We have added bark mulch in between rows in some fields and like the results. Weeds still erupt but not as frequent without a barrier."

• "An issue to address along with the weeds is how does the lavender grow? In my experience, if grass or weed are within 2.5 to 3 feet of the lavender plant, the grass/weeds steal the nutrients from the lavender. In my experience, lavender doubled in size and yield when barrier cloth was laid down."

• "I use black barrier paper, we still get weeds but more manageable. I also do agritourism"

• "We plant on weed barrier and would never change. Weeds will still grow around the plant base. As the lavender matures and covers the hole with its canopy weeding as often greatly decreases. The first year our lavender was planted, we were weeding at least 4 times before bloom. This year 1 time. With just over 4000 plants, weeding is a very labor intensive job for 2 people. Weed barrier is here to stay on our farm.

• "The beauty of lavender farming is every farmer has their own preference. There is no right or wrong."
• "We started with weed cover on the rows and turf in between. The extra greenery was nice, but maintaining the turf was time consuming, so we eventually switched to full cover. Our only regret is not doing full cover sooner. Our weed competition has been reduced by over 90%, and we believe our plants are healthier because of it. Another bonus is that the plants are esthetically accentuated- green and purple against a black background stands out better than green against green."
• Weed cover may not be the answer for everyone, but it has definitely suited our needs and goals and we will never again go without it."