Cultivate to loosen the soil, facilitate drainage, cover the soil applied with fertilizer, and control the growth and establishment of weeds.

In organic sugar cane cultivation, the following methods help control weeds:

1. competitiveness of the sugar cane variety. It is high tillering and fast growing.
2. cover cropping or trash mulching
3. intercropping
4. mechanical or hand weeding
5. maintenance of complete crop stand

The period in which sugar cane is very sensitive to weed competition is the first three to four months from planting. This is the period where the root system and leaf canopy are developing. At this time, minimize the presence of weeds to promote absorption of nutrients and water and emergence and formation of tillers. Once the root system is well developed and the canopy closes in between rows, sugar cane can complete aggressively with the most noxious weeds

Cultivation Practices

The most common cultivation practices used are ridge busting and alternate off-barring and hilling up.