At the tractor
Biodegradable Mulch Film & Farm Equipment: Mulch Layer to Tillage
Published
The first question every grower asks about biodegradable mulch film is not about the soil. It is about the shed: will this run on my plastic mulch layer? Yes. The same raised-bed or flat-bed layer, the same water wheel transplanter, and the same tiller you already own lay būmigro film and finish the season. Here is what to adjust, what fits, and the removal pass you never make again.
Does biodegradable mulch film need special equipment?
No. Biodegradable mulch film is applied with the same equipment as traditional plastic mulch. Either a raised-bed mulch layer or a flat-bed layer works, and both tractor-pulled and hand-pulled layers are in use on biodegradable film today.[1],[2]
The reason is simple: a mulch layer does not care what the film is made of. It opens two furrows, unrolls film from a spindle between roller bars, presses the edges into the furrows, and covers them with soil from the closing discs. A soil-biodegradable film like būmigro is the same width, the same black, and nearly the same gauge as the PE it replaces. Extension programs that have run both films through the same machines for a decade describe the change as “slight modifications” to how the layer is set, not a different layer.[1],[2]
Plastic mulch layer settings for biodegradable film
Biodegradable film is mechanically weaker than PE at the same thickness, so the adjustments all point one direction: take tension out of the system. Several biodegradable film manufacturers recommend releasing tension on the mechanical layer so the film is not stretched or torn during laying, and Washington State University extension spells out how.[1],[2]
| Setting | PE plastic habit | Biodegradable film |
|---|---|---|
| Roll brake | Brake set to stretch the film drum-tight over the bed. | Back the brake tension off. The film should feed with little resistance. |
| Roller bars | Fixed or braked bars are common on older layers. | Bars must move freely and be clean so they never drag on the film. On older layers, make sure the rod holding the film lets it roll freely over the bed. |
| Guide / press wheels | Wheels pressed down to hold the film taut. | Wheels rest lightly on, or float just above, the film. They steer the edge into the furrow; they should not load it. |
| Tractor speed | As fast as the bed shaper allows. | Slow down. Too fast is a documented cause of ripping on biodegradable film. |
| Film tension on the bed | Tight. Wrinkles are a defect. | Slightly loose on purpose. If it is stretched tight it will rip. It tightens by itself within a day or two as the film relaxes and the soil moistens and dries. |
| Starting a bed | Bury the leading edge and go. | Same, plus have someone stand on the film as the tractor starts, then shovel soil over it where it passes under the wheels. |
The self-tightening point trips up first-time users. Film that looks slack when it leaves the layer is normal. WSU’s field guidance is explicit: the film is stretched on the roll, appears loose on the bed immediately after laying, and tightens up in a day or two due to the elastic properties of the plastic. Resist the urge to crank the brake back on.[1]
Why būmigro tolerates the layer better than you might expect
The failure mode on a layer is a nick at the roller bar or the disc that runs into a tear under tension. Two things push back on that. First, the settings above remove most of the tension. Second, būmigro’s film is specified to stretch rather than split: the spec floor on elongation at break is above 280% in the machine direction and above 720% in the transverse direction on ASTM D882. A film that can stretch several times its width across the bed forgives a clod or a stone that a brittle film would not. Gauge still matters on rough ground, which is why the thickness guide steers windy or stony sites to 1.0 mil.
Bed preparation: the film is only as good as the bed
Most “the film tore” stories start before the film. For plastic mulch to lay properly, the bed must be tight, firm, and well-formed. Clods and stones become pressure points under a film that is meant to hug the soil, and the closing discs cannot seal a crumbly edge. This is true of PE and slightly more true of a film you are laying loose.[1]
- Shape a firm bed. Raised-bed layers form a bed 5 to 9 inches tall in the same pass as the film; a bed shaper with press pan ahead of the film pays for itself in fewer tears.[1]
- Lay drip tape in the same pass. Both flat-bed and raised-bed layers put drip tape and film down together. Set the tape a couple of inches below the film with emitters up, exactly as you would for PE.[1]
- Work soil at the right moisture. Dry, cloddy beds puncture film; wet beds smear and will not hold the edge. Same rule as PE, tighter tolerance.
- Keep the closing discs clean. Soil and residue packed on a disc edge acts like a blade against the film edge.
Will būmigro rolls fit my mulch layer?
Almost certainly. Standard mulch layers are built around 3-to-5-foot film, and būmigro ships its biodegradable mulch film in 36-, 48-, and 60-inch widths, which is 3, 4, and 5 feet. Field rolls are 4,000 feet long, the same length as the longest common PE rolls, so you change rolls no more often than you do now.[1]
3–5 ft
film widths standard mulch layers accept; būmigro's 36, 48, and 60 inch rolls sit inside that range
4,000 ft
būmigro field roll length: about 2.2 rolls per acre on 5 ft bed centers, 1.9 on 6 ft
1 pass
film and drip tape go down together on raised-bed and flat-bed layers
| Layer class | What it accepts | The būmigro roll to pick |
|---|---|---|
| Tractor raised-bed layer | Example: Rain-Flo 2570 takes 3 or 4 ft film, forms a 3 to 7 inch bed on 60 inch centers, and wants a 70 HP FWD tractor minimum. Roll carriers have adjustable brake tension. | 36 or 48 inch × 4,000 ft. Back the brake tension off for biodegradable film. |
| Tractor flat-bed layer | Example: Rain-Flo 2370 lays 3 to 5 ft film behind a 30 HP tractor with 16 inch cover discs and adjustable brake tension. | 36, 48, or 60 inch × 4,000 ft. |
| Walk-behind layer | Example: the BCS plastic mulch layer takes 3 or 4 ft rolls on BCS 749-and-up tractors and is designed around a 2,400 ft roll for best handling. | The 48 inch garden roll (656 ft). A 4,000 ft roll is more weight than a walk-behind carrier is meant to swing. |
[1],[2],[3] Two practical notes on weight. Biodegradable film is denser than PE, so a roll of the same length and gauge weighs more: WSU’s distributor survey put plastic biodegradable film at 15 to 35 pounds per 1,000 feet against 9 to 29 for PE. A tractor-mounted carrier will not notice; a person lifting rolls onto a walk-behind will, which is why the shorter roll is the right call there. And check your spindle against the roll core before the first day: the standard cardboard tube in this industry has a 3-inch inside diameter.[1]
Rolls should be stored cool, dry, and out of direct sun, and used within a year. Biodegradable film is designed to start breaking down once it meets soil moisture and microbes, so a roll left on a wet shed floor is a roll you have started using.
Transplanting and planting through biodegradable film
A water wheel transplanter is the standard way to plant into mulched beds, and it works the same way on biodegradable film as on PE. As the tractor moves, spiked wheels puncture the film and soil at set intervals while water from the tanks is released into each hole, and workers riding the transplanter drop a seedling into the mud.[1]
- Match the wheel to the plug. Oversized spikes tear a slot; undersized ones force the crew to widen the hole by hand. Either way the hole edge is where wind gets under film. This is true on PE too, but PE hides the sloppiness better.
- Lay loose, plant tight. Film laid slightly loose has stretch left in it, so a spike stretches the film around itself and the hole stays round instead of running.
- Hand tools work the same. Bulb planters, dibbles, and propane hole burners all punch biodegradable film cleanly. Burners leave a sealed edge, which is a small advantage on a film that is designed to be weaker.
End of season: the equipment pass you skip
This is where the two films stop being interchangeable. PE plastic has to come out of the field; biodegradable film is tilled into it. Everything after harvest follows from that one fact.
Equipment passes per season: PE plastic mulch vs. biodegradable film
PE plastic mulch
- 01Shape the bed, lay film and drip tape
- 02Transplant through the film
- 03Grow and harvest
- 04Lift and pull the filmRemoval
- 05Haul and landfillRemoval
- 06Till for the next crop
Biodegradable mulch film
- 01Shape the bed, lay film and drip tape
- 02Transplant through the film
- 03Grow and harvest
- 04Pull drip tape, till the film in
Passes 1 and 2 use the same mulch layer and transplanter for both films. The biodegradable row ends in a tillage pass most farms make anyway; the PE row adds two passes, plus the trip to the landfill, before that tillage can start.
What PE removal actually involves
Pulling PE is a real operation. In fine-textured soil the buried edges have to be loosened first, or the film is cut down the center of the bed with a disc so each half can be pulled. Tall or spreading crops such as tomato, pepper, and pumpkin have to be chopped and cleared before the film can be lifted at all.[1]
Done by hand, cleanup runs 8 to 11 labor-hours per acre, based on three Tennessee farms and two Washington farms, and that figure excludes going back for the fragments left behind. A University of Georgia budget puts removal labor near $116 per acre and landfill disposal near $50 on top, and because used PE comes out heavy with soil and crop debris, recycling is rarely an option.[1],[2],[3]
Mechanizing it means buying another implement. A plastic mulch retriever lifts, gathers, and dumps film in one pass with two people and a tractor; a lifter-wrapper recovers a 2,000-foot bed at 3 to 5 mph, and one farm reported lifting 17 acres in 13 hours with one. Those machines are good at what they do. They also exist only because PE has to leave the field.[1],[2]
What biodegradable film asks of you instead
Honest accounting: till-in is not zero work. You pull the drip tape before tillage, which WSU and Tennessee researchers timed at roughly 1.5 to 2.4 labor-hours per acre depending on row spacing. Then you rototill or disc the film and crop residue into the bed. In a WSU field study the tillage pass took about 7 hours per acre with two workers, including an hour of downtime clearing film fragments off rototiller blades. Tennessee researchers found the rototiller’s field capacity was about the same as tilling bare soil, and that blade-wrap downtime was significant at one site and not noteworthy at another.[1],[2]
The key line from the Tennessee economists is this: most farmers till at the end of the season anyway, so incorporating the film “will not necessarily involve additional costs.” The removal pass, the hauling, and the tipping fee are gone; the tillage pass was already on your calendar.[1]
- Till when the film is ready. By harvest the film is already weathering. Tilling it in promptly puts the fragments where soil microbes can reach them.
- Rototiller or disc both work. The goal is contact with soil, not fine shredding. Fragments were about a quarter of their original size after one tillage pass in WSU trials, and one grower reported the film almost completely gone by spring after a fall till-in.[1]
- Expect some blade wrap on a rototiller. Stop and clear it. Sharp, clean blades and a film that has weathered a few weeks past harvest both reduce it.[1]
- Do not pull and landfill biodegradable film. It defeats the purpose and forfeits the savings. Its end of life is in your soil, where four years of continuous use in Tennessee and Washington trials showed overall positive effects on soil health.[1]
PE plastic mulch
- Lift and roll the film off every bed
- Haul it off the farm
- Pay landfill tipping fees
Torn fragments stay behind and accumulate as microplastics
Biodegradable mulch film
- Till the film into the soil
- Soil microbes digest it as a food source
- Field is clear for the next planting
Breaks down into water, CO₂, and biomass — nothing to remove
What that pass is worth on your acreage depends on your labor rate, your hauling distance, and your landfill’s tipping fee. The savings calculator builds the number from your ZIP or postal code and acres; the full method is in what plastic mulch removal really costs.
Field checklist: switching your equipment from PE to būmigro
- Confirm the spindle fits the roll core and the carrier is rated for the roll weight.
- Back the roll brake tension off. Free the roller bars and wipe them clean.
- Set guide and press wheels to float just above the film, not load it.
- Shape a firm, clod-free bed at the right moisture; load drip tape for the same pass.
- Have a second person stand on the leading edge as you start each bed, then shovel soil over it.
- Drive slower than you would for PE. Lay the film slightly loose and leave it; it tightens in a day or two.
- Size the transplanter wheel to the plug so holes stay round.
- After harvest: pull drip tape, then rototill or disc the film in. Skip the lifter, the trailer, and the landfill.
For the roll itself, pick width, gauge, and soil-life window on the product pages: mulch film for fields (4,000 ft rolls for machine laying) or mulch film for gardens (the short roll for walk-behind layers and raised beds). Need a width your layer is set up for that is not on the grid? Ask for a custom order. New to the material altogether? Start with the complete guide to biodegradable mulch film and how the film breaks down in soil.
Frequently asked questions
Can I use my existing plastic mulch layer for biodegradable mulch film?
What mulch layer settings change for biodegradable film?
Will būmigro rolls fit a standard mulch layer?
Can I use a water wheel transplanter with biodegradable mulch film?
Do I need a plastic mulch lifter with biodegradable film?
Will biodegradable mulch film wrap around rototiller blades?
What size tractor do I need to lay mulch film?
References
- 1.University of Tennessee Biodegradable Mulch Project (2021). How do you apply biodegradable mulch in the field? — biodegradable mulch is applied with the same equipment as traditional plastic mulch (raised-bed or flat-bed layer, tractor-pulled or hand-pulled); several manufacturers recommend releasing tension on the mechanical layer so the film is not stretched or torn during laying. Link
- 2.Washington State University Extension. Biodegradable Mulches (FS304E) — commercial plastic BDM is sold at 0.5–1.5 mil, the same range as PE, but tears more easily, so lay it slightly loose with free-moving rollers and let it self-tighten. Oxo-degradable films are not soil-biodegradable and should not be tilled in. Link
- 3.NC State Extension. Plasticulture for Commercial Vegetables — common ag mulch films run ~0.5–2.0 mil; black blocks light for weed control while clear transmits it and needs a separate weed plan; biodegradable film should be laid loose since it is mechanically weaker than PE. Link
- 4.Rain-Flo Irrigation. Model 2570 Raised Bed Mulch Layer (product page) — adjustable plastic width 3′ or 4′, bed height 3–7″, 60″ row centers with 4′ plastic, 70 HP FWD minimum tractor, adjustable brake tension on the plastic roll carriers, optional single or double drip attachment. Accessed 2026-09-08. Link
- 5.Rain-Flo Irrigation. Model 2370 Flat Bed Layer (product page) — lays 3′–5′ plastic mulch, requires a minimum 30 HP tractor, 16″ cover disks with dirt shields, adjustable brake tension on the plastic roll carriers, optional single or double drip applicator. Accessed 2026-09-08. Link
- 6.BCS America. Plastic Mulch Layer for walk-behind tractors (product page) — 3-foot rolls flat-lay over a 26″ bed; 4-foot rolls cover 30″ raised beds or 36–40″ flat beds; compatible with BCS models 749 and up; designed for a 2,400′ roll for best handling; optional drip tape layer kit. Accessed 2026-09-08. Link
- 7.Oliveira, L., McAvoy, T., Garcia dos Santos, R. & Barbosa, M. (2025). Mechanical Transplanters for Tree Fruit and Vegetable Seedlings (Bulletin 1576). University of Georgia Extension — water-wheel transplanters are mostly used on plastic beds: spiked wheels puncture the mulch and soil at regular intervals while water from the tanks is released into each hole, and workers riding the transplanter place seedlings into the holes. Link
- 8.Velandia, M. et al. The Economics of Adopting Biodegradable Plastic Mulch Films. University of Tennessee Extension (8–11 labor-hours/acre to remove and dispose of PE mulch). Link
- 9.Fonsah, E.G. & Shealey, J. (2019). Estimated Cost Per Acre of Removing and Replacing Plastic Mulch. University of Georgia Extension (removal labor ≈ $116/acre; landfill disposal ≈ $50/acre). Link
- 10.University of Tennessee. Plastic Mulch in Fruit and Vegetable Production: Challenges for Disposal — used PE mulch is heavily contaminated with soil and plant debris, making recycling largely impractical, so most is landfilled or burned. Link
- 11.Kennco Manufacturing. Farm Cleanup Equipment — Plastic Mulch Retriever: lifts, gathers, and dumps plastic mulch in one pass with two people and one machine; holds up to 6,000 ft of plastic mulch. Accessed 2026-09-08. Link
- 12.CropCare Equipment. Need to lift plastic mulch? No problem — a plastic mulch lifter/wrapper recovers 2,000 ft of plastic at 3–5 mph; one farm lifted 17 acres in 13 hours and reported saving at least 50 percent of its removal labor cost. Accessed 2026-09-08. Link
- 13.Shrestha, S. (2023). How is soil-biodegradable mulch treating soil? Washington State University Soil Health — BDM fragments were a quarter of their initial size after tillage; one grower reported BDM almost completely gone by spring after tilling it in the previous fall; four years of continuous BDM use in Knoxville, TN and Mount Vernon, WA showed overall positive effects on soil health and groundwater quality. Link
