Switch Grass Planting & Timing

[Tree Spud]

Well after 3 years of leasing out some Ag land to a neighbor, and 3 uses of excuses for short payments, I am pulling the ag land out of production.

I have about 35-40 acres to work with and my plan is to convert some to food plots, would like to plant ~15 acres in thermal cover such as spruce. On some I would like to plant switch grass.

As this land is all prepped, could I still frost seed yet this winter/spring?

How difficult is SG seed to broadcast?

I was considering either cave in rock or forrestburg varieties, any thoughts?

In addition to switch grass, any other grass or flower suggestions for diversity?

Would appreciate any feedback.

 

[j-bird]

I have minimal experience with it. I drilled mine in early summer and worked all summer to reduce competition to allow it to establish. Switch will broadcast fine, but it's a small seed. I drilled a mix and only the switch has done well, but I have allowed native weeds and the like to grow between the rows to add diversity. The first year it is planted is the most critical - it has to get established. After that as long as you have cool season plants under control it will do just fine. I have a few posts on my habitat thread (J-birds place) - you can take a look and see how mine has done. I use mine as field buffers and the deer like to bed on the edge between the grass and the timber. Others I am sure have far more experience with it than I do and will hopefully provide you more info. I planted a product called bedding in a bag - from Real World wildlife products. Its a 1/3 mix of switchgrass, big bluestem and indiangrass - only my switchgrass did worth a crap, but I am happy with what I have now. With yours being in ag you may be able to get some CRP dollars and some financial assistance as well.....contact your local NRCS office and see if what they offer is of interest to you.

 

[scott44]

When I planted my fields of switch I sprayed the fields the summer before 2-3 times with gly and broadcast into the dead grasses late Jan. and after the cool season grasses greened up I hit them one last time the following spring before the warm seasons took off. Most of my switch is cave in rock but I do have a southlow field too, this year I am trying a mix of cave in rock and kanlow for a screen on one side of a food plot.

Here's a link to Paul's (Dbltree) swithgrass thread on Outreach Outdoors.
http://www.outreachoutdoors.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=396

 

[Bill]

You should be good if the field was farmed the last three years. Plenty of time to broadcast for frost seeding. I have drilled and broadcast switchgrass. I prefer broadcasting as you don't get rows. I also prefer to broadcast into snow on a warmer sunny day. This allows you to see how much your broadcasting. IME the seed starts sinking into the snow pretty quickly. Maybe steer clear of a forecast sudden warm up where your seed might run down hill. I'm a do it when can person. So I did and I prefer snow.

I'm not sure anymore how many lbs per acre LC recommended. I think 5. That is a good rate but the last field I did at 2 to 3 lbs/acre. I like this filed the best. It left room for lots of natural stuff to come up. It was old pasture so I got a lot of clover, daisy's etc in there. It's a bed and breakfast.

I'd say line up a sprayer to hit it with 4 Qts Atrazine and what ever the gly lable says per acre in early April.
Then go back in a few years and plant some of those bigger NS you use here and there.

 

[Tree Spud]

You should be good if the field was farmed the last three years. Plenty of time to broadcast for frost seeding. I have drilled and broadcast switchgrass. I prefer broadcasting as you don't get rows. I also prefer to broadcast into snow on a warmer sunny day. This allows you to see how much your broadcasting. IME the seed starts sinking into the snow pretty quickly. Maybe steer clear of a forecast sudden warm up where your seed might run down hill. I'm a do it when can person. So I did and I prefer snow.

I'm not sure anymore how many lbs per acre LC recommended. I think 5. That is a good rate but the last field I did at 2 to 3 lbs/acre. I like this filed the best. It left room for lots of natural stuff to come up. It was old pasture so I got a lot of clover, daisy's etc in there. It's a bed and breakfast.

I'd say line up a sprayer to hit it with 4 Qts Atrazine and what ever the gly lable says per acre in early April.
Then go back in a few years and plant some of those bigger NS you use here and there.

Bill ... thanks! That's what I was thinking with seeing the seed on the snow to get a feel for distribution.

What do you use to broadcast spread the seed?

What do you purchase the Atrazine?

 

[Tree Spud]

When I planted my fields of switch I sprayed the fields the summer before 2-3 times with gly and broadcast into the dead grasses late Jan. and after the cool season grasses greened up I hit them one last time the following spring before the warm seasons took off. Most of my switch is cave in rock but I do have a southlow field too, this year I am trying a mix of cave in rock and kanlow for a screen on one side of a food plot.

Here's a link to Paul's (Dbltree) swithgrass thread on Outreach Outdoors.
http://www.outreachoutdoors.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=31&t=396

Scott ... thanks for the link, great info!

.

 

[Bill]

Bill ... thanks! That's what I was thinking with seeing the seed on the snow to get a feel for distribution.

What do you use to broadcast spread the seed?

What do you purchase the Atrazine?

I have a spreader on the 4 wheeler with an electric spinner.
Atrazine is restricted use so you'll have to hire that out. Although LC recommended Simazine as an equal replacement for switchgrass. That can be purchased through http://www.keystonepestsolutions.com

For sure read through Scotts link. I think LC even pointed out how many seeds per square foot should be used. Easy to tell in the snow.

 

[Mortenson]

SG is pretty heavy and spreads well. I started out with a bag spreader and when it broke I had to finish up with a little hand garden spreader. Mine was done on 6 acres and I went both directions. 8 lbs of CIR and 2 lbs of Kanlow turned out being too many lbs per acre, in my opinion. Be real careful if you use an electric spreader that it doesn't dump it out too fast. I'd shoot for Feb with a little snow on the ground as well. Definitely spray well this April with Atrazine (and gly if there's green stuff). This was mine at 1st year after seeding with good grass control...



And this was last week, 2nd year after seeding, still standing pretty well. We had a few heavy snows this year but overall not a lot of snow. Heavy snow will flatten it but as you can see it springs up...

 

[Tree Spud]

SG is pretty heavy and spreads well. I started out with a bag spreader and when it broke I had to finish up with a little hand garden spreader. Mine was done on 6 acres and I went both directions. 8 lbs of CIR and 2 lbs of Kanlow turned out being too many lbs per acre, in my opinion. Be real careful if you use an electric spreader that it doesn't dump it out too fast. I'd shoot for Feb with a little snow on the ground as well. Definitely spray well this April with Atrazine (and gly if there's green stuff). This was mine at 1st year after seeding with good grass control...

View attachment 12162

And this was last week, 2nd year after seeding, still standing pretty well. We had a few heavy snows this year but overall not a lot of snow. Heavy snow will flatten it but as you can see it springs up...

View attachment 12163

I have a spreader on the 4 wheeler with an electric spinner.
Atrazine is restricted use so you'll have to hire that out. Although LC recommended Simazine as an equal replacement for switchgrass. That can be purchased through http://www.keystonepestsolutions.com

For sure read through Scotts link. I think LC even pointed out how many seeds per square foot should be used. Easy to tell in the snow.

I have tried simazine in the past, had some probelms with spray nozzles clogging.

What does atrazine do? Is it a pre-emergent herbicide?

 

[wiscwhip]

Be careful with the atrazine Spud. Not sure where you are exactly in Marquette Co, but atrazine is banned in portions of many counties in and around southern and central WI due to it contaminating drinking water wells.

 

[Bill]

I have tried simazine in the past, had some probelms with spray nozzles clogging.

What does atrazine do? Is it a pre-emergent herbicide?

Yes it's a pre-emergent. Both are and both are kind of thick. It takes a lot of agitation. Forget spraying it out of a pump sprayer. Based on wiscwhip's post you may be better off hiring that job out. I think LC's thread on outreach may offer other alternatives.

 

[DJL]

First off, I am new to this sight and miss the old QDM forums. It seems like you all try to be helpful and considerate and not a bunch of whiners like some unnamed sites. I will try to contribute where I can.
I have 4 acres that was in corn last year that I am wanting to convert to cave in rock switch the end of this month. Compass makes a neat looking backpack spreader for 100 bucks I am thinking of trying. It looks like the thing is adjustable to limit overseeding so may be a nice alternative to the old hand fiddle? What you guys think?

http://compassgameworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/ProModel.png

 

[Tree Spud]

Yes it's a pre-emergent. Both are and both are kind of thick. It takes a lot of agitation. Forget spraying it out of a pump sprayer. Based on wiscwhip's post you may be better off hiring that job out. I think LC's thread on outreach may offer other alternatives.

Sorry, but a couple more questions ...

Should the pre-emergent be sprayed before the SG ermerges or can you spray once it has emerged?

When do you spray glysophate? Is SG resistant to it, if so, what rate?

 

[Bill]

Sorry, but a couple more questions ...

Should the pre-emergent be sprayed before the SG ermerges or can you spray once it has emerged?

When do you spray glysophate? Is SG resistant to it, if so, what rate?

Don't be sorry. I don't know much, but like to help when I actually do.

SG is not affected by the pre emergent other than I wouldn't spray on very young just germinated SG. Sooner is better as it works through the soil to keep weeds and certain grasses from germination. You could have it sprayed any time from now up until planting.

SG is not Gly tolerant. That needs to be sprayed soon after the cool season grasses green up. SG doesn't germinate until soil temps get pretty warm. I think 65 degrees, but don't take that to the bank. So the window for spraying is much smaller. Cool season needs to be growing but not warm enough for the switch to be. Mid April is the cutoff in MO.

Since your field was cropped it should be pretty clean and you should way ahead of the game.

One other herbicide to remember is 2-4DB for broadleaf weeds. I wouldn't bother year one or even two. But I did spray what I thought was a failed stand in the early summer of year 3. It turned out great.

 

[Bill]

one after thought. Often pre-emergents are mixed with crop oil as they sometimes have a post Emergent affect. Atrazine does on young foxtail per the label.

Crop oil may kill or stunt SG.

Best to spray early.

 

[Tree Spud]

Don't be sorry. I don't know much, but like to help when I actually do.

SG is not affected by the pre emergent other than I wouldn't spray on very young just germinated SG. Sooner is better as it works through the soil to keep weeds and certain grasses from germination. You could have it sprayed any time from now up until planting.

SG is not Gly tolerant. That needs to be sprayed soon after the cool season grasses green up. SG doesn't germinate until soil temps get pretty warm. I think 65 degrees, but don't take that to the bank. So the window for spraying is much smaller. Cool season needs to be growing but not warm enough for the switch to be. Mid April is the cutoff in MO.

Since your field was cropped it should be pretty clean and you should way ahead of the game.

One other herbicide to remember is 2-4DB for broadleaf weeds. I wouldn't bother year one or even two. But I did spray what I thought was a failed stand in the early summer of year 3. It turned out great.

one after thought. Often pre-emergents are mixed with crop oil as they sometimes have a post Emergent affect. Atrazine does on young foxtail per the label.

Crop oil may kill or stunt SG.

Best to spray early.

Bill ... thanks ... all is very helpful! As stated, the fields are already prepped so I will watch early emergents to hit with gly. I like the idea of broadleaf control with 2-4DB.

Not sure if I want a pure SG stand. Would like to add some tall wildflowers to add diversity and seed source for small chicks.

.

 

[swat1018]

Plain 2,4-D should be fine, I believe.

 

[Bill]

Plain 2,4-D should be fine, I believe.

Yes it will. Somehow I always add the B cause it's what I use on clover.

 

[Coop]

I've successfully planted stands of Switch a couple times with the following formula in zone 4.
1) Kill everything, plant RR beans for a season. I've done Switch with & without this step... Works much better with RR beans.
2) Drill Switch as near to May 10th as possible.
3) Wait 10-14 days then spray Gly & Atrazine or Simazine together.
4) Pray for rain.
5)The following spring, spray area with Gly, killing all cool season grasses as near to May 1st as possible. This should be done years 2 & 3. Fire serves the same purpose.

I prefer establishing stands of Switch only due the simplification of a challenging process (timing & herbicide). If you want forbs & flowers, drill them into sod after year 4 or 5 fire.

P.S. - The deer at my place LOVE the thick/tall monoculture of Switch. They use the more diverse grass mixtures but much less frequently.

 

[Tree Spud]

Be careful with the atrazine Spud. Not sure where you are exactly in Marquette Co, but atrazine is banned in portions of many counties in and around southern and central WI due to it contaminating drinking water wells.

View attachment 12166

Whip ... are the red strike out areas where it is banned?

.