Downy Brome / Cheat

[T-Max]

In my land tour thread I have a hillside I have removed the tree canopy from and the hope was it would fill in with native grasses. It looked nice and gnarly for a few years, but has since been taken over by downy brome or cheat as we call it. The thing about this hillside is it is a decent grade and pretty rocky so everything will have to be done by hand. It is not a terribly large area, so it won't be too bad. I am thinking of spraying the cheat with gly early to try and tame it. I have some leftover switchgrass seed I was thinking of broadcasting over it and see what happens. I have simazine I could spray to try and help the switch along. I won't have the opportunity to burn this for a few years until we burn the pasture again. I could also apply Plateau, but I understand that can be hard on the switch. I could do Plateau and forego the switch and see what is in the seedbank. Thoughts?

 

[Mortenson]

Did you see the pics over at IW some weeks back where IBH1983 showed his pasture that looked like that, and he sprinkled switch into all the openings? Said it was loaded with deer. I'm thinking of doing the same.

 

[T-Max]

Did you see the pics over at IW some weeks back where IBH1983 showed his pasture that looked like that, and he sprinkled switch into all the openings? Said it was loaded with deer. I'm thinking of doing the same.

I didn't! I hate to mention other forums on this one. Can you PM me a link to the thread? Or is it pretty easy to find?

 

[Mortenson]

I know. I'm too old to know the protocol on that anymore. I figure most the guys here know that place and vice versa, but I'd not do that again if people (Bill) didn't approve. It was in the Switch thread, which is under Dbltree's Habitat Corner. Pg. 110

 

[T-Max]

I know. I'm too old to know the protocol on that anymore. I figure most the guys here know that place and vice versa, but I'd not do that again if people (Bill) didn't approve. It was in the Switch thread, which is under Dbltree's Habitat Corner. Pg. 110

Nice! A wealth of information there. IBH1983 gives good info IMO. Thanks!

 

[Mortenson]

We have some places that look like yours, kinda half open, half cedars and brush. I tried plugging MG rhizomes into a few yrs back. I was mostly just experimenting to see how it grew and to learn where it won't grow, for future projects. It's neat to look at, but I think switch in these places would be the ticket. Wish I could get thin stands of it established in there without killing off the grass. Don't really need places like that to be thick switch IMO.

 

[T-Max]

Here is the area I am looking to seed in.

 

[Telemark]

I am thinking of spraying the cheat with gly early to try and tame it. I have some leftover switchgrass seed I was thinking of broadcasting over it and see what happens.

That's what I would do. I'm more and more convinced that a light dose of switch is the ticket for cover and staging areas. The more I look into it, the more I see people having extremely good success with it.

 

[Turkey Creek]

What is your goal for the area? You could also probably establish native shrubs in there if you are looking to increase bedding area.

 

[Catscratch]

Just throwing stuff on the wall to see what sticks... what do you think of spraying gly now to get rid of the cool season stuff you have growing then doing a burn in August or Sept? Maybe a round or two of gly later this spring if the cheat comes in strong? Would this bring on some native forbs?

 

[Brian662]

Craig Harper says the time to kill cool season grass is in the fall, fwiw. From what I recall he states that killing in the spring is only ~30% effective long term and fall kill is ~90% effective (numbers from memory, may be off).

 

[T-Max]

What is your goal for the area? You could also probably establish native shrubs in there if you are looking to increase bedding area.

I planted some american plum in 2 separate thickets last fall. There are cedars in there. I would rather have a tall NWSG in there and it seems the cheat is choking it out.

 

[T-Max]

Craig Harper says the time to kill cool season grass is in the fall, fwiw. From what I recall he states that killing in the spring is only ~30% effective long term and fall kill is ~90% effective (numbers from memory, may be off).

Agree. I sprayed some smooth brome in preparation for a NWSG buffer strip last fall and it nuked it. I just noticed how bad this was the day I took the pic. If spraying now has any effect, I'll take it. I am mainly concerned with seed to soil contact. I like Cat's idea of burning, but this area is impossible to get equipment in and there are seemingly a million places for fire to creep through undetected that it scares me.

 

[Brian662]

Agree. I sprayed some smooth brome in preparation for a NWSG buffer strip last fall and it nuked it. I just noticed howe bad this was the day I took the pic. If spraying now has any effect, I'll take it. I am mainly concerned with seed to soil contact. I like Cat's idea of burning, but this area is impossible to get equipment in and there are seemingly a million [places for fire to creep through undetected that it scares me.

Fire in general is scary to me. Too much liability for my liking.

 

[T-Max]

Fire in general is scary to me. Too much liability for my liking.

Yeah. We burn a LOT. But I would rather burn 300 acres than 1 any day.

 

[Catscratch]

If burning doesn't scar the hell out of you... you shouldn't be burning. That's my philosophy anyway.

There will likely be a point this spring where I can burn 800 acres with no worries as I'll be surrounded by 10,000 acres of already burned pasture.

 

[T-Max]

If burning doesn't scar the hell out of you... you shouldn't be burning. That's my philosophy anyway.

There will likely be a point this spring where I can burn 800 acres with no worries as I'll be surrounded by 10,000 acres of already burned pasture.

We always work with the neighbors. If they can't or won't burn, neither do we. When everyone can come together though, we can burn within the confines of roads and creeks and it makes it so nice. I have been a part of several burns for others where they have to burn for some reason (CRP mainly) and we gotta help the mow a break and use what seems like 10,000 gallons of water to burn against. With the right wind even that is doable. But a little tiny piece like mine has 360 degrees to escape.

 

[Catscratch]

We do the same with neighbors. The last time they burned was 2020. They burned everything north, east, and south of us (plus they burned some of ours). It would have been a good time to do a lot of our stuff but the FIL didn't want to. The drought made conditions less that optimum since then.

I understand completely on not wanting to burn your little chunk. So easy for something to slip up.