Tomato strings and stakes must be removed, and, after the last crops are mowed, the plastic mulch has to be picked up. Tractor-pulled  “lifters” loosen the edges of the mulch, making it easier to pick up.  However, we don’t have to pick up all our plastic because we’re using a lot of degradable mulches, which can be left in the field until they break down to carbon dioxide and water. (The only trouble is, they don’t make a degradable silver mulch.) Then we run the “bedsplitter”, which does just what it says: splits the beds open, allowing easier access to the drip tape, which must also be picked up.  Both the mulch and tape are rolled up and put into dumpsters. 

The soil is disced  to mix in the leftover crops and weeds to allow them to be broken down by soil microorganisms.  Unlike many other parts of the country, growers here rarely use a plow such a moldboard. Our sands are loose and usually turn easily, so we really just need to cut up the plant material and turn it over several times.

Then we plant a cover crop. The most common one used here is a sterile (non seed producing) sorghum/ sudangrass hybrid. This crop grows quickly in the summer heat and adds a lot of organic matter to the soil when it is tilled in. Another reason we use it is that it can take up fertilizers that are left in the soil and store them so they are not washed into the water table in the summer rains. That protects the environment and saves some fertilizers for us. We are constantly trying to find tropical legumes that will work as cover crops for us. Sunn hemp grows the best, so far.

The cane windbreaks are mowed, and sometimes burned, if time and weather allow. Then the cane is fertilized.