ABSTRACT
All coconut producers face the problem of deciding how to handle the land area under the palms. Because coconut is such a long-term crop, there are only a few options available, ranging between uncontrolled growth of natural vegetation under the palms, controlling vegetation to the extent that nuts can be easily seen, or even cultivating to keep the soil surface bare and weed-free. All options in the range cause problems, but the extremes cause great difficulty. Uncontrolled vegetation growth is unacceptable because the understory becomes a "jungle" of brush and rampant weeds, thereby denying the producer access to his crop and virtually assuring that nut collection will be incomplete, difficult, and expensive. On the other hand, repeated cultivation or clean weeding will result in near-perfect nut collections, but can also result in soil erosion and rapid runoff of rainfall. Cover management and control will be necessary; the question is; what kind of cover management is best for the system?
