Three weeding treatments were conducted at 16, 23 and 33 days after transplanting. The first treatment was timed to coincide with the “white thread” stage when weed seedlings are extremely sensitive to mechanical weed control. The last treatment was beyond that which would normally be considered realistic for a mechanical weeding operation. Thus these timings tested the system over and perhaps beyond the normal weeding window. In addition to the three machine treatments, weed-free (hand weeded) and untreated plots were included for comparison. The 45 m by 10 m experimental area was divided into fifteen 15 m by 2 m plots. Each treatment had three replicates randomly assigned to the experimental plots. All treatments were conducted at 1.8 km h−1. The toolframe was equipped with both inter-row and in-row cultivators so that both zones were cultivated in one pass (Fig. 4).