Roll and Mow cause Mullein like a Hydra

[rocksnstumps]

So a little background. Had a small plot of beans last year that got decimated and did not canopy much. So late in the summer threw out some rye and some clover. Fast forward to this year and let the rye mature and waited to roll over it with the cultipacker to lay all the thatch down and let the clover grow through it. I wanted to try rolling it vs. mowing since I really did not want all the rye there to reseed itself. Figured it would be too thick with 2nd crop. Well before rolling it had a bunch of mullein that was mixed in with the rye starting to flower so hand picked or clipped a few hundred of the unwanted rascals.

Rolling the rye worked well as not much of the seed broke free and can germinate easily and expect the birds to clean up some. What I did not expect was the mullein would start to prop itself back up and restart all sort of flower heads. Well got the cutter out and set it real high and shredded them bad boys.

A pic of the rolled field but mullein standing back up (Kinda) after a couple of weeks. I already had done a few mowing passes on the edges in this pic.



After mowing


A little better look at the rye from being rolled down and clover coming thru. Being mowed high a couple weeks later it kept the thatch laying down well.



So time will tell if this roll first and mow later gives me a thick clover stand by this fall or too much rye or maybe weed city. Just another experiment to try something without going back to square one and disking or spraying the crap outta everything.

 

[Bassattackr]

Very cool! Keep us posted!

 

[Bowman]

I have had some mullein plants. It is a biennial. Fortunately, have not experienced the spread, regrowth like in the .pdf. If you mow your clover, I do not think that you will have a problem with an infestation, but that is based on my experience. Good luck. https://www.invasive.org/weedcd/pdfs/wgw/commonmullein.pdf

 

[rocksnstumps]

Checking back in after a 2nd mowing. Clover fairly decent. Bit of weeds, but the rye is not dominating like I feared would happen if I mowed this area first instead of just rolling it. Rolling and mowing clover does not phase it at all. We have had decent rains, actually too much but on a hill so all good.

Bowman, yes not worried about mullein this year as you mentioned a bi-annual and been dealing with it for many years. Have another adjacent plot that is getting a bunch of the rosettes in it now but keep it mowed and will be fine. It's when you switch over to beans or brassicas it can get a toe hold going into next year as pretty much can't mow all summer.

 

[Tree Spud]

Checking back in after a 2nd mowing. Clover fairly decent. Bit of weeds, but the rye is not dominating like I feared would happen if I mowed this area first instead of just rolling it. Rolling and mowing clover does not phase it at all. We have had decent rains, actually too much but on a hill so all good.

Bowman, yes not worried about mullein this year as you mentioned a bi-annual and been dealing with it for many years. Have another adjacent plot that is getting a bunch of the rosettes in it now but keep it mowed and will be fine. It's when you switch over to beans or brassicas it can get a toe hold going into next year as pretty much can't mow all summer.
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That looks good and is why a combo of WR 7 red clover in the fall is a great way to get green forage in the spring.

 

[Bowman]

Do not know what clover you planted, but you may have plenty of nitrogen by next year if you want to plant some brassicas.