Land/Wildlife Management Without Chemicals?

[Catscratch]

Lol, yesterday I did 2 gallons of spot spraying with gly, then this morning sprayed cleth... right after spouting off earlier in this thread that I don't use chemicals much! Guess all this talk of not using chems motivated me to be a hypocrite.


I live in the middle of nowhere KS. For 2 months straight every yr I watch aerial sprayers carpet bomb pastures around us. Not a inch left unsprayed, including water. They don't shut the spray off when they go over herds (cattle or deer). The mix is usually nasty stuff and they don't pay attention to restrictions. Chemicals are unavoidable in our food supply. It sucks.

 

[Howboutthemdawgs]

My farmer sprayer glyphosate/liberty mix yesterday on the beans. The deer were chowing down a couple hours later. I’ll be chowing down on them in a couple months. Sucks but that’s the routine in ag country

 

[Ben.MN/WI]

It is certainly a balancing act, but you can save a lot of manual or tractor labor time by using chemicals. I use some herbicides, but last night my sons and I spent some time pulling waterhemp by hand.

You only have so many hours of free time, so you have to decide if you want to weed acres by hand or use herbicides. Or just have a dramatically smaller food plot.

 

[Barndog56]

Potato fields around here get sprayed heavily, mostly by plane, for Colorado potato beetles. I pick them off my potato plants by hand and give them to the chickens. If I didn't they would defoliate them in a week. No way the big farms could do that.

Some potato farms also spray herbicide to kill weeds just before harvest, to make it easier for the harvest machines. I believe that's done a lot for wheat as well?

An airplane was spraying the green bean field near us this past weekend. I have no idea what they're spraying for as the green beans in my garden don't need anything.

 

[b116757]

It is a ton of work, but I will say the only real problem I have is wild grape. I have that every where. I cut and burn trailer loads every summer. If anyone has a natural way to get rid of it that would be awesome. Hand weeding the gardens is a pia but worth it in the end. Been trying different mulching methods but haven't found one I like yet.
Fields, I work just before planting, then mow where I can a couple times in the summer (this works for pumpkins early on) once everything starts going it kind of shades out the weeds. Still working on a better method, as the weeds kind of take over. I try to mow before that seed out and that helps ,but it's not ideal.

Seen guys use cardboard, old carpet and the commercially available weed barrier

 

[SwampCat]

It is a ton of work, but I will say the only real problem I have is wild grape. I have that every where. I cut and burn trailer loads every summer. If anyone has a natural way to get rid of it that would be awesome. Hand weeding the gardens is a pia but worth it in the end. Been trying different mulching methods but haven't found one I like yet.
Fields, I work just before planting, then mow where I can a couple times in the summer (this works for pumpkins early on) once everything starts going it kind of shades out the weeds. Still working on a better method, as the weeds kind of take over. I try to mow before that seed out and that helps ,but it's not ideal.

How many acres of food plots, gardens, and how many fruit trees do you have?

 

[SwampCat]

Neighboring 70 acres pasture - 25 head of cows on it. A lot of honey locust and green briar. They sprayed with the cows in the pasture. Killed all the broadleafs - including tons of white and med red clover. I HAD two big bee hives right next door that were feeding heavily on the clover. After the spraying - they both absconded - took their honey and left.

 

[Bill Loser]

How many acres of food plots, gardens, and how many fruit trees do you have?

Gardens, this year around 2 acres. With another acre of pumpkins, food plots maybe an acre combined right now. I have 6 acres of corn to the north And 8 more to the east.. food plots not really needed much. 14 apple trees , 4 pear trees, 2 cherry trees. No chemicals for 6ish years now. It's not great, still trying to find the best ways and weeds are non stop. Gardens are a constant fight to stay ahead. But to me it's worth it.

 

[omicron1792]

You nailed it for me @SwampCat. In the south you either have all weeds or use some herbicides. I do only use for summer crops so only spray once a year.

 

[SwampCat]

I purchased a Woods Seeder about ten years ago. I can use it similar to a no-till drill. It is a great tool for planting and greatly reduces erosion. However, to use it in no till fashion realistically requires a chemical burn down prior to planting.