Second year switchgrass question.

[Tyler]

Last spring I frost seeded around 5 acres of cave in rock switchgrass into what was previously a bean field. It came in nice although stunted as I made an error and applied too much simazine.

I am wondering what I should be thinking about doing going into year two. Is there anything I can do to assure weed suppression, fertilize to ensure maximum growth, possibly oversedd, etc. ?

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[Tree Spud]

Last spring I frost seeded around 5 acres of cave in rock switchgrass into what was previously a bean field. It came in nice although stunted as I made an error and applied too much simazine.

I am wondering what I should be thinking about doing going into year two. Is there anything I can do to assure weed suppression, fertilize to ensure maximum growth, possibly oversedd, etc. ?

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It was not stunted. First 1-2 years it is putting energy into roots. It is a multi-stemmed clump grass. It has very deep roots sometimes 10'-15' which allows it to with stand droughts. Year 2-3 you will see better top growth.

Fertilize?

Do you have weeds?

If it was a clean bean field and you did a soil based herbicide application, I wouldn't about weeds. My SG with it's 5'-7' height does a pretty good jog of suppressing weeds. I had one filed that got invaded by wild vining pea. I mowed mid last summer to know it down and will evaluate this spring to see if herbicide is needed.

Some weeds are actually good as they offer browse & diversity.

Below is a pic of my SG after year 3 in sandy loam soil. No fert, herbicide, etc ... nary a weed.

 

[Tyler]

Thanks for the reply. Not many weeds but some marestail.

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[scott44]

Like Tree spud said the first couple years the switch might not do much and then it takes off, probaly not stunted from your spraying. Here's some progression pics of some CIR that's used for visual screening on a fence line.

First years growth spring 2013

Summer 2015

2018

 

[Tree Spud]

^^^ Scott shows a great example of SG establishment. Depending of soil, rain, etc. 3-5 years before good top growth.

I would mow year 2-3 to see if you can knock down weeds. When I planted SG and had marestail, it went away.

 

[buckdeer1]

I didn't see any marestail in that picture.I am doing the opposite this year and lightly discing to stimulate weed growth.Another thing I do I mow my fire breaks in feb as short as I can and I use an old hay rake to throw cutting over in what I will be burning.Some places I will mow the whole area just to be safe.If you have a weedy area you don't want weeds mow to 12 Inches prior to seed production.

 

[H20fwler]

Like has been said I would mow it at least once and maybe overseed with some bluestem and indian grass.


Our four year old native grass pasture in loamy heavy clay.