Cleth in brassica

[SmallChunk]

Hey guys, I have a new flush of grass coming up in my brassica/bean plots that I would like to get rid of. I have a 4 gallon backpack sprayer and am wondering what my mix should consist of. Right now I have liquid ams and the generic cleth. Should I get some crop oil? The acreage will be just under an acre, so 8-12 oz of cleth should be good, correct?

 

[wiscwhip]

Crop oil could potentially damage the foliage of the brassicas and set them back, if it is a new flush young newly germinated grass, perhaps you could get away with a non-ionic surfactant such as dish soap, but I have never tried it on brassicas. I would think you would have to keep the crop oil rates low, see the clip below from the UMass website on growing vegetables:

Postemergence
clethodim (Select 2EC): 6 to 8 oz/A (20 dh, REI 24h, Group 1). Apply to actively growing grasses. See label for grass height and herbicide rate. Always use a crop oil concentrate at a rate of 1 gal/100 gal spray mix. See both container label and any supplemental label available from dealer.

Remember, ALWAYS read your herbicide labels from top to bottom before applying it to any crop.

 

[bbcoach]

I sprayed a half acre of clover a couple weeks ago with clethodim. I didn't have any crop oil so I used liquid dish soap. It did a great job. I used about 15 gallons of water, mixed 6 oz of clethodim and several squirts of liquid dish detergent. I'll continue to use the liquid dish detergent as my surfactant.

 

[bueller]

I have successfully used cleth with dawn dish shop to eradicate grass from a brassica plot

 

[yoderjac]

You didn't post pics or say where you are located. I'm just going to use this opportunity to ramble a bit about my evolving view of weeds. I'm south of many folks on this forum in central VA. Weeds are truly an issue for my warm season annuals. Between browse pressure and weed competition, deer often won't let many warm season annuals establish themselves so they only get a bite instead of a continuing meal all summer. I had to turn to RR crops. Sufficient acreage and the relief from weed competition during establishment made a big difference for me.

I take quite a different tact for fall crops. Fall is a bountiful time for us. Given I have good warm season annual crops to cover summer, browse pressure is not a big deal for establishing my cool season crops like brassica. Of course I try to start with a weed free field when I plant brassica. That gives it a good head start. Once brassica is germinated and ahead of weeds, I ignore the warm season grasses. They just don't have that long to live and by the time browse pressure increases later in the year, they are a non-problem.

This isn't to say that this is the right answer for you. Different locations have different issues. I'm just trying to stimulate thought. When I first started food plotting, I wanted clean monoculture fields that looked like a farm field. I'm learning over time that our objectives are different enough from farmers as food plotters that my attitude toward many weeds is becoming more tolerant.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[bbcoach]

I try to stay on top of weeds. Here in Eastern NC, with the average rainfall the last few years in the 60" range and the heat we get, you can bet if you don't utilize chemicals and mowing several times a year you will be fighting 5-6 foot tall dog fennel and grass that will get out of control quickly and over take your plots. I normally spray around the 15th of May and normally have to do it again around the end of August. I mow my clover multiple times to keep most of the weeds at bay. Broadleaf weeds and grasses LOVE our hot humid summers.

 

[yoderjac]

I try to stay on top of weeds. Here in Eastern NC, with the average rainfall the last few years in the 60" range and the heat we get, you can bet if you don't utilize chemicals and mowing several times a year you will be fighting 5-6 foot tall dog fennel and grass that will get out of control quickly and over take your plots. I normally spray around the 15th of May and normally have to do it again around the end of August. I mow my clover multiple times to keep most of the weeds at bay. Broadleaf weeds and grasses LOVE our hot humid summers.

That is exactly what I used to do, I've stopped. I now mow once in the spring and once right before the season. Sometimes I'll mow areas around cameras in the mid summer just to improve pics. I found that many of my broad leaf weeds are great deer food and may perennial clover is shaded from the summer heat. When I mow in the fall and the cool nights and seasonal rains come, the clover bounces right back just when needed and a field of 5' weeds in the summer turns back into a great clover plot for the fall.

Again, it depends on your application and location. What I do may not work well for you and I'm evolving to it. For me, RR soybeans cover the summer stress period. Clover is only lightly used in the summer and deer are either eating it or something because I find them in my clover/"weed" fields as well.

I don't have ag nearby, just pasture, so my beans are the best game in town during the summer. I'm beginning to look at clover fields as less a monoculture food plot and more a wildlife opening that is full of native foods as well as clover during the summer. It is definitely a contrarian approach to most of what we see pitched.

Thanks,

Jack

 

[SmallChunk]

East central, MN. I guess I just want to get the grass under control since this is a first year plot and was sod prior to planting. I want it to be easier to kill/plant next spring!

 

[yoderjac]

East central, MN. I guess I just want to get the grass under control since this is a first year plot and was sod prior to planting. I want it to be easier to kill/plant next spring!

If you are tilling, you will bring up new weed seeds when you till in the spring.

 

[SmallChunk]

Well it's a good thing I plan on no-tilling beans into it next spring!

 

[yoderjac]

Well it's a good thing I plan on no-tilling beans into it next spring!

Sorry, I missed the beans in the original mix. That is an interesting mix. It wouldn't work well in my area. I need to get beans planted in May and I wouldn't plant brassica here until about mid August. Here, my brassica would canopy and the cool weather would end annual summer grasses. To pair with beans you would have to cut back the rate to give the beans room.

So, if you plan to no-till beans, I presume you are drilling them. Are they non-RR beans? Also, what brassica did you use? We often through that term around like it is one plant, but it covers a pretty wide range.

I'm just trying to understand how much of the differences are associated with our respective regions and how much are me not fully understanding your methodology.

Thanks,

jack

 

[Boll Weevil]

I'm beginning to look at clover fields as less a monoculture food plot and more a wildlife opening that is full of native foods as well as clover during the summer.

Same here. I see no more use (by deer) of a pristine clover or turnip patch than one with a few weeds and grasses interspersed. Conversely, I observe far MORE use of "weedy" patches by additional wildlife species like turkeys, rabbits and quail. It took re-evaluating input costs and plot management time vs. real value to wildlife before making the transition.

 

[browndog]

I sprayed this radish/kale plot just over 1 week ago. Grass was coming in fairly thick and was about 2" high. Wish I would have taken a before pic. I sprayed it by hand with 1oz of cleth per gallon and no crop oil or dish soap. Grass is toast.

 

[HabitatMGR]

What is the rate of dish soap you are using? I normally spray 10 oz of cleth and 10 oz of crop oil per acre (20 gallons per acre of water). Would you use 10 oz of dish soap? Thanks.

 

[bbcoach]

I just use several long squirts (I didn't measure it). 10 ozs of soap should be plenty. Just make sure you add the soap after you fill the sprayer or you'll deal with tons of suds.

 

[wiscwhip]

Great advice bb! I wish I would have had someone tell me that when I first tried it many years ago. LOL, it's funny now, but man was I PO'd when I did it. Didn't really think about it at the time and I had to wait about 45 minutes to finish filling it all the way. I had to shove the hose into the bottom of the tank and just turn it to a trickle to keep it from foaming up again. A lesson you only need to learn once.........ONCE!