Spring Cover Crop

You think a weed wiper would help with invasive like bush honeysuckle regrowth? Honest question.

Anytime I’ve tried to rush the process I’ve been disappointed. I agree planting some annuals is fine. But I would plan on nuking the area several times and getting a good kill on the bad stuff over several growing cycles before expecting a good plot.
 
You think a weed wiper would help with invasive like bush honeysuckle regrowth? Honest question.
I think it could work great because the bush honeysuckle would be up above the clover. You'd essentially be doing a foliar spray without spraying. Here's a situation where they used one to treat other woody species in a grassland restoration. https://grasslandrestorationnetwork.org/2021/08/26/weed-wiper/
 
You think a weed wiper would help with invasive like bush honeysuckle regrowth? Honest question.

Anytime I’ve tried to rush the process I’ve been disappointed. I agree planting some annuals is fine. But I would plan on nuking the area several times and getting a good kill on the bad stuff over several growing cycles before expecting a good plot.

Yeah, i was wondering how good of a kill the wiper would get on them as well. I have a little hand wand wiper that is similar and have a hard time seeing a wand getting near as good coverage as spray.

I'm sure it'd work, but will it be as effective?

I had 5 acres of buckthorn jungle forestry mulched at home a couple years back and I expect years of fighting the seedbank from what was here even after killing all of the stump sprouts. If you didn't have much for seed producing plants, it might not be nearly as bad and maybe you can spot treat. From what I've read, buckthorn seed is viable for about 5 years after dropping.
 
I am going to guess this property ran its success, in mining (red clay spoils) from 1970 until i started on things last year. There was BH there that looked like hedgetrees- could literally drive a truck under some portions. Lots of berries. The same with MFR- some of the leaders were near1.5"+ across. Point being- many of these giant old trees were dead. just there and rotted. The NRCS folks sad some of what they saw was even unique to them. Theres a little Buckthorn and TOH around too- but no so much in the areas I have engaged.
 
^ ^ ^ ^ From personal experience - hammer those TOH now!!! They spread like wildfire. We used generic triclopyr mixed with diesel to hack & squirt them. Ours are dead - but we waited too long to get after them. Thousands of them to contend with when we finally attacked our TOH. Lots of time and labor we could have avoided earlier in the game.
 
I am going to guess this property ran its success, in mining (red clay spoils) from 1970 until i started on things last year. There was BH there that looked like hedgetrees- could literally drive a truck under some portions. Lots of berries. The same with MFR- some of the leaders were near1.5"+ across. Point being- many of these giant old trees were dead. just there and rotted. The NRCS folks sad some of what they saw was even unique to them. Theres a little Buckthorn and TOH around too- but no so much in the areas I have engaged.
One thing is for certain. They will come back. Have a plan to battle them. Forestry mulching is awesome and looks great right after. But without chemicals after it will be a jungle again shortly.
 
If you have a bushhog, you could keep it cut short and they may eventually go away all while keeping clover planted. It will definitely come back if something isn't done. Chemical control is probably your best bet, but I'd have food growing in that big of an area if it were me. But, mowing several times may beat it back far enough to where they give up or at least become less prevalent. The road department mulched my hillside border in 2023. It had TOH, princess tree, honeysuckle, etc. It's coming back, but they'll probably just mow it again. There's an underground fiber cable there. Here's a sequence from 2022, 2023, and then 2024.

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I'd do nothing for now until early summer. Guessing here, but think you need some plant control before you plant desired species. A round or two of gly.

What equipment do you have to work with? Tractor ATV implements sprayer seed or lime spreaders.

5.5 pH and clay, going to need atleast a ton/acre of lime if not 2. Atleast 2 or 3 years at 1/2 ton /acre.

Get any soil samples. Besides the pH, you might have something quite low. OVerall, do you think your soil is good, or is poor. What grases / weeds do you have there?

No reason you can't do spring or early summer rye.

Cheap implement for my ATV I love, tire drag. Bolt 3 pcikup truck tires together. Cut a hole or two around the tire bead so you can ratchet strap down 100-200lbs of logs on top. Geat cultipacker, plant knock down no-til tool. Get some 1.5" long 1/2" bolts, washers an nuts. About 8 a tire, scratches the soil a touch, knocks down high spots to level the plot a bit.

Brought mine home from camp, bolting on a metal bracket where I can slide in a metal rod that holds a sprayer nozzle.

Far as what to plant, your soil sample might help. See what can improve your soil, need phosphrus? buckwheat helps. Pottasium pretty low, then wouldn't use oat for awhile. Rye n medium clover. Something easy and cheap, so if you need t lime more or spray gly again you wont feel so bad.

Clovers I go for 4-6 different ones ladino, medium red, berseem, blasana. IF your going to respray the plot, dutch white might be pretty good for a year or two. Spray gly and 2,4d together before a fall plot will kill most of it. Control invasives, but some weeds are beneficial. Seen deer prefer certain nweeds vs what we would consider good stuff in the plot or on AG ground.
 
Make sure you got some tordon RTU, or some sort of weedkiller n diesel. When you cut the small trees down, pour some stuff ontop of it to prevent regen growth.

No till is nice but sometimes field work is needed to get things off to a good start. Leveling lumps, rocks, or tilling in a large dose of lime or too much tree leaf residue / humus mulch ontop. Renting or borrowing a set of discs or york rake might be worth it. Even using a front bucket and backdragging helps with the above issues.
 
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