Spray Throw Pray

[SD51555]

This about sums up my current plan to start a plot on the property this summer. Many of you have helped me through a lot of Q&A already. If this works out, I'll chronicle it here. I already did my soil sample earlier in the spring. General consensus was that I really only needed nitrogen to get in the game. P was good, K was very high. Acidity was "good enough." OM was at 7.7%. I've got about 8" of nice soil then it's pretty much solid clay.

I picked up my fertilizer today. I opted for ammonium sulfate because I won't be able to work the fertilizer in. AMS is a 21-0-0 if my understanding is correct. I plan to do a 1/5 acre plot. I did the math and if I want to hit 100lbs/nitrogen/acre, I have to have about 100 lbs of 21-0-0. So, I have to go back to the co-op and get another bucket and a half.

Ordered my seed from Milborn Seeds in Brookings, SD today. I ordered one bag of cereal rye, and a 5lb bag of tillage radish.

Current plan is to go up July 4th weekend and spray a gly solution of 4-5 oz/gallon water. I have to double check my label before I say for sure. Not sure what kind of grass I have. It's about 8 inches tall, very thin bladed, and lays over once mature. I'll let that dry and then broadcast my seed.

Seed rate for the plot:
Radish: 10lbs/acre (2lbs in this plot)
Rye: 50lbs/acre (10lbs in this plot)

This all has to come together, because I've only got one day to get it in. Pray for sun on July 5th.
The big objective for this year:

Kill the grass
Get some green rye out there for the deer in fall/spring
Start building some residual nitrogen in the biomass of the radishes
Start punching root channels into the clay subsoil

It's all bought and paid for now. No turning back. What do you guys think? If it works, I can build it out to a full acre if I can ever get rid of those stumps. Foggy, you for hire?

 

[wiscwhip]

Make sure you get a positive ID on that "grass". What you are describing sounds like it could also be some type of sedge. If it is, gly most likely won't touch it.

 

[wiscwhip]

As Stu can most likely verify, you can hit it with a hot dose of gly and it will thank you for the funny tasting drink and go on about it's business.

 

[phil@thesidehill]

i did a spray and pray plot last year. I mowed, sprayed twice, broadcast seed, fert and lime (field had been previously at half recommended rate). I felt the additional foot traffic would help push seeds down through the thatch. pic below is a before/after type pic.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii37/norwoodsman/photo_zpse977b35a.jpg

 

[SD51555]

It's gonna be close. Is there something I should spray instead of gly? The other option would be to move to a smaller area i know isn't covered by that.

 

[sandbur]

do you have a picture of the grass?

Maybe throw in a few radishes.

I would also consider packing the area after seeding. Drive on it with a 4 wheeler. I have even just walked around on small areas with flat bottom shoes. Maybe even drag a tree top across it if nothing else or a roll a log.

Try two areas if you suspect this one is sedge.

 

[SD51555]

i did a spray and pray plot last year. I mowed, sprayed twice, broadcast seed, fert and lime (field had been previously at half recommended rate). I felt the additional foot traffic would help push seeds down through the thatch. pic below is a before/after type pic.

http://i260.photobucket.com/albums/ii37/norwoodsman/photo_zpse977b35a.jpg

If mine looks half that good i'd be thrilled. Very nice.

 

[wiscwhip]

Until you have a 100% positive ID on it, it would be very hard to recommend "what" you should be spraying. There are herbicides like SedgeHammer that are specific to sedges, but what if it really is just some type of grass? Until you know for sure it will be a crapshoot.

 

[SD51555]

Sandbur, do you know if sedge grass is common up in those parts of the woods? I may get lucky and have a four wheeler up there. It depends if the other guys bring theirs up.

 

[OkieKubota]

I am doing the same thing with some Egyptian wheat, Spray, Spray, Throw, Mow, and Pray... The heat and no rain system is setting in so it may all be a wash. Not fertilizing until I have positive ID on germination because the nitrogen will just be lost to the atmosphere and if the grass ever gets back hold of the fertilizer it will choke out any EW that might try to come up...

 

[wiscwhip]

Nice buck stu, I thought you didn't have any nice deer in your part of MN?;) Do you think he made it through the winter? He would be a great one to have around this fall, he would definitely keep the interest up for a while.

 

[OkieKubota]

Yea, That is what we have to deal with here. Grasses coming back full bore on our plots if everything is not just perfect from a precipitation standpoint. I sprayed Sethoxydim with crop oil because I couldn't get any Cleth in our area because there is no ag and everyone raises cattle and horses and can't imagine why someone would want to kill grass! So far not impressed with it...

The picture I have attached is our woods plot on our North 80 and is doing great and it was all throw and grow with no spray but it was solid woods until the dozer cleared it and had no grass... It is Durana Clover, Barduro Red Clover, Millet, Milo, Corn, Sunflowers, and Soybeans... Will probably be a different story next summer...

 

[sandbur]

About the only plots I've done the last few years are spray/mow/broadcast/expect results. Here's one I put in last June, I used the brassicas to open/loosen the soil in this location for a garden this year. View attachment 1026 View attachment 1028Here's a buck eating in a spray/mow/broadcast plot that I put in last July, the stumps are still in this plot and likely will be until they rot away. I just work around them. The process works, it is however very rainfall dependent.View attachment 1029

Notice the buck slobbering! Must be brassica toxicity per the Deer Doctor!

Stu-I hope my tiny ptt plots up north are half that nice.

 

[sandbur]

http://plants.usda.gov/java/county?statefips=27&symbol=CAPE6

I would need Stu to make and ID, but I think I have it in some of the wetter areas.

 

[wiscwhip]

It will grow just about everywhere, but it doesn't mind dry, sandy, upland sites at all. Completely covers the forest floor in most of the sand country of central WI.

 

[Bill]

That is a nice one Stu, hope he made it.

 

[Doug Galloway]

Late may mow and overseed...which is opposite what most do....SIL has allergies so best I mowed first. Clover plot with heavy winter annual grass load....warm season annuals overseeded. Se what plant you can identify.

 

[MA VT Flatlander]

Unusual gly kills sedge like that. I have yellow nut sedge and have sprayed it with 41% gly a few times and all it does is turn it a little yellow and it keeps on thriving. This year I sprayed it with Sedge ender from Bonide last part of June it killed most of it but not all. I sprayed again a few week later and most of it is dead now but there are still some young plants poping up here and there. You sure you had yellow nut sedge?

 

[wiscwhip]

In that setting it is likely Pennsylvania Sedge, but it is really hard to tell from the pics. You sure it is sedge at all or just some type of grass? It looks a lot like grass in the pic?

 

[SD51555]

Flatlander must have been googling or digging in the archives. I don't think we had sedge. I only hit that with about a 5 oz/gallon gly treatment, and not a single thing survived that spraying. We haven't had any problems in that plot since. Still get a few token weeds, but it almost didn't need to be sprayed this year. And it was thick. I bet that was a solid 3' tall and I had concerns I wouldn't contact everything, but it all went down like a Ronda Rousey bout.