(Above) Flame weeding equipment gets field-tested at UNL’s Haskell Agricultural Lab in Concord. (Middle, top) MME Professor George Gogos displays a weed’s leaves, before and after a flaming treatment. (Middle, lower) Gogos and Knezevic are consulting with weed scientists and archeologists to test flame weeding at several sites abroad, in a project funded by the European Union. “We’re starting with the ancient Agora in Athens, from the fifth century B.C. – right below the Parthenon,” said Gogos, who was born and raised in Greece. (Above, right) MME graduate student Brian Neilson works on flame weeding equipment in a UNL lab at Scott Engineering Center.
College of Engineering
Flame Weeding Benefits Farmers And Grows Nebraska Businesses By Carole Wilbeck
the farm in Saint Helena where he grew up. That routine
drive north of Lincoln.
errand changed his path; now a Ph.D. student, he is part of
Next came custom torch vaporizers and “an auto-
modern boost from UNL mechanical engineers and agri-
a start-up company and earned the prestigious Peter Kiewit
mated system with flame detection and re-ignition for each
cultural scientists. Agricultural Flaming Innovations is the
Student Entrepreneurial Award in 2010 for his work.
torch, as well as a pendant with LED panels the farmer can
Flame weeding is not a new idea, but it has received a
company formed by George Gogos, professor of mechani-
Bruening acknowledged “a growing concern in the
use to electronically monitor the entire system of torches,”
cal and materials engineering; Steve Knezevic, professor of
United States – especially in top crop-producing states
said Gogos. He estimated the purchase price for AFI’s four-
agronomy; and Chris Bruening, MME graduate student.
like Iowa, Illinois and Nebraska – with the degradation of
row flame weeding unit at $15,000.
A Nebraska engineering alumnus, Lanny Nissen, ’69, with
water quality due to pesticide runoff from fields.”
42 years of experience including 36 years with Kawasaki,
Tillage for weed control has its downside: turning the
Bruening said a season might require one to three flaming treatments to the field. With the device using an
soil reduces the moisture available to crops and increases
average of five gallons of propane per acre, the full season
the chance for erosion. AFI found that propane’s availabil-
cost would range from about $7 to $21 per acre, depend-
mental concerns with both herbicides and tillage, thermal
ity and its relatively safe and clean-burning nature make
ing on the number of treatments and the price of propane.
weed control methods have re-emerged. Gogos and Kne-
flame weeding viable for organic and even some conven-
For certain chemical control methods, the cost per acre
zevic envisioned a multi-torch farm implement that could
tional farmers.
ranges from $20 to $75 for a full season.
recently joined AFI as a co-owner. With plants’ adaptability to herbicides and environ-
treat four to six crop rows at a time. They began research at UNL’s Haskell Agricultural Lab in Concord. Knezevic knew several Nebraska crops – including corn, sorghum, soybeans and sunflowers – are great candidates for thermal weed control. Heat from an early
The mechanical engineers began designing the device’s
An April 2012 USA Today article documented Missis-
hood configuration, scaling up to four-row iterations
sippi Delta farmers’ weed control costs doubling, to $100
produced by Lincoln manufacturers Source One and Total
per acre in some cases, due to plants becoming resistant to
Manufacturing Co. Inc. (TMCO).
glyphosate, commercialized as Roundup.
Gogos presented the work to the Engineering Dean’s
Beyond lower treatment cost, removing chemical
season flaming treatment, when the crops’ growing points
External Advisory Board, and gained several alumni men-
herbicide from the environment offers significant value,
are still beneath the soil’s surface, would not be lethal
tors including Ken Jones, ’68; Kevin Schneider, ’85; and
Gogos said.
to those plants. Amid the crop rows, however, harmful
Jeff Zvolanek, ’86. Project funding by the Propane Educa-
broadleaf weeds like redroot pigweed, waterhemp, morning
tion and Research Council (PERC) and the Nebraska
Nebraska’s Behlen Manufacturing, MIS Engineering and
glory, velvetleaf, lambsquarter, kochia and ragweed – with
Engineering Research Fund (via donations to the NU
Moore-Built. Testing continued with eight demonstra-
growing points above ground and fully exposed to the heat
Foundation) also helped.
tion units strategically placed for the growing season with
– would be killed by flaming. “Flaming” is a misnomer. “There is no burning of the
AFI’s initial four-row implement was pulled by a typical farm tractor with a three-point hitch. With a tank
Summer 2012 was busy for AFI and its partners:
eight farmers in Nebraska, Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois and Missouri. This fall, AFI plans to manufacture multi-row units,
weeds,” Gogos said. “Leaf exposure to hot gases destroys
and supply network on a frame and eight torches directed
cell membranes, which initiates water leakage. Weeds wilt
under a low hood assembly, the configuration adjusts to
including a 12-row system. Conventional farmers are
shortly after treatment and die over the next few days.”
the row width and growth stage of the crop – with best
adding to the orders, with one farm in David City already
results in corn, sorghum and sunflower. Bruening tested
using a six-row unit.
Bruening became involved when he was asked to retrieve their research data from the Concord lab, near
this prototype with four organic farmers in Abie, an hour’s
engineering.unl.edu
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