Plot rejuvenation spraying opinions

[Derek Reese 29]

So is like to talk about 2 plots here..one is at my grandparents farm..sprayed with gly and seeded heavily with a clover mix, brassicas and WR in late summer 2023. Was a killer plot that fall. Added some clover by overseeding spring 2024, then mowed in summer 2024. Plot got overtaken with weeds, both grasses and broadleaves. Plot did not perform as well as attractant at all in 2024. Complicating factor here is we only have 1 day to work on this, in mid April (or later in the summer)
Options for the spring:
1). Seed with more clover, spray gly, mow if its high, walk away till adding WR, brassicas in fall with a mow
2). Spray with IMOX and hope there’s enough clover remaining (maybe with a super late addition of clover while praying for rain)
3). Split plot and do half option 1 and half option 2
4). Let it go till fall, nuke with gly and mow to start from scratch as clover, brassica, WR plot
Thoughts?

Plot 2 is at my house, contains an aging clover and WR crop that is getting overtaken with weeds and at the bottom side has a good deal of smartweed. Will need to burn off with fire (being more careful this time) the smartweed thatch as it is like a foot deep in places. Complication factor is there are fruit trees in this field that I really don’t want to kill or damage with overspray.
Options for this field
1). Spray with IMOX in late April or so, do an early planting (like late June) of brassicas, clover and WR to get it to recover
2). Spray clethodim to get rid of the grasses, wait a bit to seed clover and maybe oats? then spot spray with imox to get the smartweed
3). Let it all go till fall, spray with IMOX, and or a combo of cleth, 2-4D to get everything outta there before planting clover, brassica, WR

Never used IMOX before but have used gly and cleth to great success.

How long should I wait to seed clover into a field sprayed with IMOX or can I frost seed now and have that “new” clover survive an April/May timeframe IMOX spraying?

Sorry for the long-winded post just trying to get my ducks in a row for the spring!

 

[RGrizzzz]

I vote to spray both with Imox in spring. Timing matters. Make sure the grass and weeds are growing and small/young. The Raptor label is more helpful than the generic branded Imox. (Same active ingredient)

Smart weed comes in later in the season, so can can decide how to deal with it later.

 

[omicron1792]

Imox with cleth.

 

[bigboreblr]

Do something when you have time to do it.

Someone on here had a good thread about 2 years ago. He basically lightly sprayed gly like early april time. About a pint an acre. Kills young annuals and average vigor perennials, but clover came back. I am doing this at camp early may. Just see what it does up there. Might toss in my remaining crimson clover after spraying.

Grasses n weeds too vague. You need to know your enemies. Learning this is next level foodplottin'. Yo could lay down a piece of plywood or two, or just not spray a corner and see the difference.

2,4db can control broadleaves while the clover does ok. The real trick is fight it while its young. Clehodim kills grasses, but you need to make sure what grass if it is grass at all. Folks who insist on nice stands of clover love that 2,4db.

smartweed is a tough critter. I got red aramath issues at home and try to embrace plantain and tolerate crabgrass. I've learned to embrace my weeds at camp. they mine nutrients better than about anything I can plant. They crowd out nastier stuff. I get a mix of golden rod and a similar plant to it. I can klil 95% of them in early august just by knocking them down. Probably 80% if I mow.

 

[Derek Reese 29]

Do something when you have time to do it.

Someone on here had a good thread about 2 years ago. He basically lightly sprayed gly like early april time. About a pint an acre. Kills young annuals and average vigor perennials, but clover came back. I am doing this at camp early may. Just see what it does up there. Might toss in my remaining crimson clover after spraying.

Grasses n weeds too vague. You need to know your enemies. Learning this is next level foodplottin'. Yo could lay down a piece of plywood or two, or just not spray a corner and see the difference.

2,4db can control broadleaves while the clover does ok. The real trick is fight it while its young. Clehodim kills grasses, but you need to make sure what grass if it is grass at all. Folks who insist on nice stands of clover love that 2,4db.

smartweed is a tough critter. I got red aramath issues at home and try to embrace plantain and tolerate crabgrass. I've learned to embrace my weeds at camp. they mine nutrients better than about anything I can plant. They crowd out nastier stuff. I get a mix of golden rod and a similar plant to it. I can klil 95% of them in early august just by knocking them down. Probably 80% if I mow.

I know I’ve got some old hay and Timothy, a little Johnson grass, some Carolina horsenettle, smartweed and a little crabgrass and assorted other broadleaf weeds

 

[bigboreblr]

I was wondering hat those little green tomatoes were in a few tree cages, horse nettle.

I think the consensus is timothy isn't a great thing in foodplot, although is it touted as a pasture grass. I have grown it at camp 5 years ago. Don't see it much in the snowmobile trail.

Look at a clethodim label or two, didnt see timothy anywhere. Its perennial, so its going to be harder to fight. Hard to find how to kill timothy. Most things on the internet are how to eliminate other weeds in timothy. It can withstand mowings. I recall it's a bit like aramath, itll just pop up another seedhead after you mow it, but shorter.

I find with smartweed and possible that horsenettle, it shows up after you spray with gly. Smart weed is a very prolific seeder. This is with apple tree cages.

A few places where timothy is talked about in AG is its almost more like a broadleaf than a grass in terms of herbicide. Might be good doing a double nuke. Use 2,4D and gly, then do buckwheat and add some clover. Nuke again in the fall before doing fall foodplot.

I n any scenrio, I would still do a early season light gly round. Last year I sprayed too early, or it was during a cold spell around my tree cages. I thought it didn't do anything. Then it warmed up about 3 weeks later and all the stuff started dying. But, it alteast needs to be actively growing to get into the roots. The way this spring and winter have been like, I think mid april is going to be a good time to do this.


It's on my to do list to deal with herbicide spray. A spray hood.

https://www.farmprogress.com/farming-equipment/willmar-introduces-redball-gen-ii-broadcast-spray-hoods

Herbicide Hood

This herbicide hood measures 14 inches in width. It helps reduce drift and overspray around sensitive areas when installed on the end of the spray wand. The hood includes a gray deflector fan nozzle, nozzle holder, and a tightening ring. Install the nozzle in the back hole for proper spray...

www.amleo.com

I kinda messed up my home foodplot, and possible at camp too. Fruits trees too close. Doing what I need to so soon. Spruce and apple trees were planted last year, so roots aren't too far away. I did run a towable discs withim 5ft of the trees last year. See what this year does.

My current spray nozzle setup is (2) 110 deg Fan nozzles about as wide as the ATV and at rear rack level. Used some 1/2" PVC water pipe to make a small frame for it. Likely go down to to fan spray, probably one flow rate down in size, I use the grey ones on a unregulated 1.1gpm cheapie 15 gallon tank pump. Going with a regulator and a filter too. Might make a hood that looks like a pool table light made out of 55 gal barrel material. Go to to the math. Looks like (2) 110 deg nozzles spread 2ft apart will do 4th path at only 10 inch height.

I use pond water with a house filter going through a 12v pump at camp, so I am worried about clogging more. I will be using both a main strainer and stainers that go in the nozzle hole.

I may end up just loosing a bit of plot, but gaining 2 sundance trees right nex to it too. One is m7, the other is m111, but just a 2ft whip. Can swap that out for another m7 if itll be more compact on roots.