Weed control on acreage?

You are getting a wide range of thoughts here.

Talk to a local ag specialist, like the extension fellow. He will get you set up in the right direction.

It is _very_ difficult to establish that type of grass, and _very_ difficult to control the weeds. You let some go to seed? That is very bad. The cycle continues.... You need to control the weeds the right way. Tilling will only reseed the ripe ones, and stur up sleeping weeds, all to grow again.

You need a proper plan here to give yourself a good chance at getting a good field.

I think you are trying one disasor plan after another, without a chance to get a good field of grass.

Weed spray will do you a lot of good, but you need to understand it. 24d kills broadleaves, not grasses - so it won't harm the wheat next to you????? Timing of the spray is important to get good weed control tho. If you have stuff gone to seed, you are not going to have any good results at all.

Talk to the local specialist. You need to lay out what you want to accomplish, and you need someone to give you a plan on how to get there. My seasons & weed problems and rain patterns up here in MN are so different, my exact advice probably is not right for you.

What I would do to raise a grass pasture is mow the weeds down, or till them to mix in the new seeds. Wait 3-4 weeks, spray glysophate with AMS to kill off everything green (it gets broadleaves too, just don't be stingy, it's cheap). I'd wait 3-4 weeks, spray again if weeds crop back up. Then I'd have to wait until fall season before the rains & plant my grass seed into very firm soil, cover it less than 1/2 inch.

Hope the rains come.


Yuo need a very specific plan on timing of all this for you climate, your weeds, you grass type.

Goats are fine & all, but you want a pasture, not a mud hole of weeds. You need the deep-rooted weeds gone, not to come back & bother over & over. And so on.

Timing is _everything_ on this. Talk to someone familiar with your area & what you want to grow.

--->Paul

The local ag agent recommended bermudagrass when I talked to him a couple months ago, he said it's what's native to the area and it grows very well here. A LOT of people around here have it, even in my own immediate area. (2 of my neighbors have it in their lawns).

The ag agent just told me that there's a seminar coming up on the 17th about pasture management, where he said a lot of this stuff will be talked about. Seeing as how we're supposed to have freezing temps for the next few days (extremely unusual for this part of the country- we're 30-40 degrees below normal!!), I definitely won't be able to plant anything before then, anyway. The recommended dates for planting bermudagrass around here is April 15-May 30.

We were planning on getting a tank & boom sprayer for fertilizing, but my husband does not want to use it for herbicide because he does not want the trouble of trying to flush all the herbicide out of it, so it can be used for fertilizer. Nobody around here fertilized their bermudagrass, though, and it grows just fine, so I don't know if it's going to be a constant necessity or not.

I feel like such a greenhorn for not knowing anything about pastures. I grew up in southern New Mexico, in the middle of the desert, where we didn't worry about pastures because it was impossible to grow one! We all bought hay from people who lived next to the Rio Grande and were able to irrigate their fields.

Hey, speaking of planting grass... what about sprigging? It looks like it doesn't cost much more than seed (I found an article online that says in my county it costs an average of $95/acre... is that the price for both the sprigs and mechanical planting??) It's also supposed to provide quicker coverage and there are no seeds to be blown away.

Is sprigging better than seeding?

And how do I go about finding professionals to take care of weed control, sprigging, and that sort of thing?

Please don't do anything until you have gone to the pasture management course. I think you are talking about coastal bermuda, if you are, you can only plant it from sprigging. My pastures were sprigged with coastal, but now Bahia grass is rapidly taking over the coastal in this whole area, Johnson County. Google Texas A&M north Texas pasture grasses, and you will get the recommended varieties that you can plant from seed. Bermuda and Bahia take lots of fertilizer to really make high food value grass. Don't waste your money buying any equipment until you know exactly what you need. Not much fun to see unused equipment sitting in the fence row rusting away.

Good Luck.

Bob

I agree with Sand Flat Bob about not doing anything until after the meeting.

Without knowing how you will be establishing the stand, i.e. seeding or sprigging not too much can be said.

I would look at working the ground to kill the growing weeds IF you don't plan on using a glyphosate ingredient product. Glyphosate is the active ingredient in Roundup, Credit Extra and other brands of like product.

After the grass is established I would check into a relatively new product called Milestone. http://www.dowagro.com/range/products/milestone.htm

It seems as if it will be one of the safer products for rangeland and there are not even restrictions on grazing lactating dairy cattle on the sprayed ground. Having said that, labeling can vary per state due to soils, etc.

Application rate is somewhere in the range of 3-6 ounces per acre. Depending upon the weeds you are targeting. That means you should identify your pest weeds to save as much chemical and cost as possible.

Bottom line---follow label directions as per law. Use it wrong and your Bermuda kill may be 90%. Use it correctly and you shouldn't get damage.

Up here in the north, most fertilizer you buy as a granular, & put it on with a spinner spreader. Sprayers are for weed control. Tho there is more & more liquid fertilizers available, and you can get nozzles that flow enough to get enough liquid fert on.

For 15 acres or so, you should be able to find a farm ag coop or other such if agriculture is a real business in your area. They will be able to apply fertilizer, lime, or herbicides for you.

For fertility, a soil test is a wonderful thing. Find out where you start at. Cost about $20, could be free from the extension or the place that sells you fert sometimes. It will list your soil ph (if too low, no amount of fertilizer will help you, the plants don't take up fertilizer very well in low ph soils), your P, your K, and other funky numbers that help identify how good or bad your soil is. Perhaps there are better types of grass to plant if your soil is different than expected, that will grow better.

Again, up here in the north, 'native' grasses are _very_ hard to establish, but once there they are also very hard to kill off. So, don't feel bad if you are having difficulty. Real pros at it have failures too.

Asking questions, attending the meeting, and so forth. Good job.

Have you seen the FAQ on pastures on-line?

http://www.sheepscreek.com/rural/pasture.html

--->Paul

I had the soil tested last year. pH is 7.0 exactly. Don't remember what the other numbers were... I think we were low in potash, but the rest were good.

it looks like you have plenty of good advise .the pasture management seminar is a good place to start. the bottom line is how much of a hurry you are in and how much time and money you have. you would not hurt anything by burning off the field right now. sprigging is the fastest way to get started , but around here it is expensive. i've been converting our fields over to bermuda over the past few years , by seed . every winter i broadcast bermuda seed over a different field . i'm assuming that northern texas is quite a bit different than so. illinois , so you want to talk to someone in your area.on my fields i have to make sure i mow in may , because the bermuda doesn't start taking off until mid june and the other grasses can crowd the young bermuda out . proper ph, plenty of water and fertilizer the first year , are very important . on the bottom end you could get started for $200 and broadcast your seed or for 15 acres it would be a little over $3000 (like i said those are the prices around here) of course you will still have your fertilizer and lime costs no matter which way you go. my horses and goats really like the bermuda grass , hay and pasture . i've also found out that the growth of newly planted bermuda will be slowed tremendously if you allow it to be grazed on . i would be interested to know how your field turns out and which direction you decide to go .

It looks like for seed, it'll be around $400 for seed alone. I don't know how much the fertilizer will cost. I'm hoping that I can do it all for $2,000 or less. (Like I said, just about everybody around here has bermudagrass, so I think that once it's established, things will be a lot easier. The problem is getting it established!)

I was looking through our local weekly classified ads paper that comes in the mail, and there was an advertisement in there for a man who specializes in weed control, up to 100 acres. He said he does free consultations. I'm thinking about giving him a call.