Going planting.....

[BuckSutherland]

Gonna head up some time in the next few days to spray off the weed patches (i mean food plots). I mowed them off over 4th of July. Ten hours of labor, ten gallons of gas, and a gallon of ass sweat later they looked a little better than when I started. Some of this shit was approaching 8 feet tall. Took 2 passes to get it looking half-assed. Thistles were unreal. I am done with rye. Planting all brassica right behind the sprayer and plan to seed dicamba soybeans next year.

 

[Bill]

I hate days like that, but they seem to pay off.
That's a lot of work.

 

[DDC]

Wow that looks like a lot of work

 

[Natty Bumppo]

That is definitely a lot work that I think we can all appreciate.

 

[sandbur]

Buck- hang on to your hat. There might be big changes in Cass County after the positive CWD deer in Crow Wing County.

 

[BuckSutherland]

I hate days like that, but they seem to pay off.
That's a lot of work.

Yeah, it was fun for a few hours and then it got really old and I got really pissed. Was very hard on the wrist. I mowed an acre of plots at about 1mph then I mowed all the trails, then I mowed all the "sidewalks" that I created for the deer to use. The belts on the mower were brand new when I started and I should probably get new ones and a new blade after that experience. Got nauseated by the smell of burnt rubber.

 

[BuckSutherland]

Buck- hang on to your hat. There might be big changes in Cass County after the positive CWD deer in Crow Wing County.

I fully expect our zone will be at least hunters choice this year. Our area manager is a raging idiot.

 

[4wanderingeyes]

Damn that looks thick! If you plant WR again, go a little thinner on the seed, it will still provide cover, create OM, keep weeds down, but it will be much easier to manage. I have started last season with 50 pounds WR, 50 pounds oats per acre, and I think the deer use it much more then all WR.

 

[S.T.Fanatic]

The pictures above are exactly what i'm dealing with. I may just mow and till this year and next year see if the mature triticale is more manageable than rye for a throw and roll/mow application. I may have seeded the rye to thick but I just dont see how i'm going to be able to get a good spreading of seed with rye that tall.

It is a small area that i'm dealing with so I may try holding a small hand held spreader over my head and see how it goes. Still not sure.

 

[bueller]

Forget mowing tall maturing rye. Spray it with gly and roll/drag it down or let it fully mature and fall down on it's own.

 

[SmallChunk]

Yep, rye is way too hard to mow/weed whip. I weed whipped some about two weeks ago in a clover patch....will be either letting it stand or roll it down in the future!

 

[Crimson n' Camo]

Why do anything at all to it right now?? Are you guys already planting up north?

 

[SmallChunk]

Tis the season for brassica!

 

[BuckSutherland]

Forget mowing tall maturing rye. Spray it with gly and roll/drag it down or let it fully mature and fall down on it's own.

If it would have been just rye I would have been fine without mowing. Only about 20% of it was actually rye. Had an amazing amount of thistle that was starting to bloom. Then there were all the ferns, clover, and misc weeds. Not to mention that I have to spray this with a hand held sprayer and a wand and I really want to get good coverage for once.

It will have about 2 weeks of regrowth on it so I hope to get a really good kill with some powermax and 2-4d. You guys are correct though, rye mows like crap.

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

I think you could use an ATV, pull behind brush hog and an ATV sprayer. I attempted to do the weed wacker, lawn mower and hand sprayer method for a year or two and decided that wasn't for me. I found a used swisher brush cutter and pulled it behind an old crappy Polaris 2x4 250 with no brakes and doing that stuff went from horrible to fun. I will say that your plots look nice after you mowed them though.

Are you going to plant some brassicas in a couple weeks or what is your plan after spraying? How is your pH there? I usually see ferns more frequently in areas with acidic soil, which is why I'm asking.

 

[BuckSutherland]

Are you going to plant some brassicas in a couple weeks or what is your plan after spraying? How is your pH there? I usually see ferns more frequently in areas with acidic soil, which is why I'm asking.

I want to spray and plant the same day sometime in the next 7. Not sure when I can get up there. PH is around 6 I think. It has had lime in the past, but it still needs a lot more. Should have been put on at 3 ton/acre, but I dont think we even got a ton on yet. Never enough time to get it all done.

Radishes, rape, turnips, and one other brassica going in. Will fertilizer after its up and growing.

 

[BuckSutherland]

Well I got up late Sunday night so I could do the plots Monday before the rain. Got a cool video of a huge bear right off the edge of the road on the way up. What a fat bastard.


Anyways. I waited until about 10am Monday morning to mix up chemicals (2qts/acre Round-up Powermax and NIS) and start spraying. Got done spraying around noon. Broadcast my brassica shortly after, and then used my homemade harrow to try and knock the seed down to the ground through some of the grass clumps and shit piles.

At 630 we got about .45" of rain. Think it worked good. Chemical should have been on long enough and I had damn good coverage cause I sprayed it all twice. I will know in a few weeks. Seed 10lb/ acre. Still have 3lbs leftover in case plot has any holes. Shouldnt have those either as I spread the brassica twice.

It was warm and the horseflies can suck my ass!

 

[BuckSutherland]

I keep missing this one by a few hours.

 

[Bill]

Hopefully after all that you get some good timely rains. Choot that big bear :)

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

Nice bear. Are you going to get a bear tag and try to shoot him?