Angus 1895
5 year old buck +
I always looked at deer as very similar to goats.
They look at the whole herbaceous world as an all you can eat buffet!
But alas …….. “ Noxious weeds must die!”
I am excited about controlling weeds in clover!
Deer business wars?
- Thread starter SD51555
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They look at the whole herbaceous world as an all you can eat buffet!
But alas …….. “ Noxious weeds must die!”
I am excited about controlling weeds in clover!
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
You may be missing the point. I learned long ago that farms and magazine covers like nice clean monocultures. I was spending lots of time and effort fighting "weeds" until I found deer, bucks in particular, used my weedy plots more than my clean ones. During the summer, you couldn't even tell they were food plots unless you stood right in them and looked through the weeds. Now, I apply that time and money to other habitat projects. No doubt that there are a some specific noxious weeds that may need to be dealt with from time to time when they begin to dominate a healthy mix of weeds. However, they often dominate because of our herbicide use.
I'm not anti-herbicide. I use them judiciously, but I've found many "weeds" are a great addition of variety to a plot.
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
No offense intended or taken. Not suggesting right or wrong. Just passing on the experience...
I can't speak for the poster you asked the question of, but I spray my clover with Clethodim to control the grasses. Weeds, to others points, are one thing... grass is another IMO.
yoderjac
5 year old buck +
I did that for some years as well. I found it to be a losing battle. As the clover fixes N into the soil, it makes it more and more attractive to grasses. At best, I was getting a year or two extra life for a lot of time and cost. I eventually changed my approach. I start with a very clean field with a good burn down and a winter rye nurse crop. I mow the WR the first spring each time it get much more than a foot or 18" to release the clover slowly. That first year has nothing but clover in the field. After that, I let it go. Each year, I'll mow just before the season as the cool evenings favor the clover. It is amazing how it rebounds and takes over the field. There is always plenty of clover under the grasses and weeds in the summer for deer. Most of the warm season grasses are done by fall. They also help keep cool season grasses at bay by taking up resources.
However, each year, there are more and more cool season grasses that invade the plot in the fall. When I was planting ladino, it would take about 5-7 years and with the durana I use now, 8-10 years for the cool season grasses to dominate. At that point, it is time to rotate to an N-seeking crop to use up some of the banked N and start over.
If I don't have time to replant, I can always spray the field with 1 qt/ac gly in the fall with rain in the forecast. That will top kill my clover but totally kill the grasses. If I do that, I'll usually drill radish or something into the clover. That gets me an extra year or two but eventually you need to rotate.
Thanks,
Jack
Good input, Jack. Clethodim, and the time, isn't cheap. If someone does go down this path (of spraying), early season treatment is important.
I have tried the fall gly application, but didn't do it before a rain. I basically nuked my field. I may try that when it is time to rotate / replant.
Just for more insight, the main area that I do the spraying happens to be a tree planting of bur oak and walnuts that I did a few years back in a field that used to be ag tilled 20+ years ago. My main reason for controlling the grasses isn't actually the clover. It is for the trees and battling grasses for water. Other clover (or mixed clover/alfalfa) are left to their own devices. Mainly firebreaks around CRP fields.
Again, thanks for you input.
David