what to plant for spring/summer weed control?
- Thread starter momark
- Start date
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
Cereal and clover are the fastest to establish for me. You could pick either cereal rye or wheat......and add some red clover for spring green up. Also any of the white clovers can be added for a longer term plot. Shorter term and you could use crimson clover.....after frost time has past. All would surpass weeds and provide good nutrition.
Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
Winter rye has allelopathic characteristics releasing chemicals which suppress grasses & weeds. Add something like red clover which will also suppress weeds. Plant in late fall and you will have good green up in spring providing food, fawning cover, and weed/grass suppression.
FarmerDan
5 year old buck +
For your purposes, probably - under normal climatic conditions. The root system won't have a chance to do much development and, therefore, dryness/drought could wipe it out. I guess same could be said for fall planting except there's been a growing season to get roots deep into the soil where there might be moisture if the top couple of soil inches goes toast. Having said that, I wouldn't worry about it too much. I guess it goes without saying, but if yield is the goal for green tonnage, straw, or grain, then no.
Tree Spud
5 year old buck +
Seems all of the farmers in our area fall plant cereals.
Wind Gypsy
5 year old buck +
Barley is typically planted in spring to my knowledge. I wanted to get some cover on the ground this spring in some plots that were pure brassicas last fall. My research led me to forage barley, frosty berseem clover, red clover, and dwarf essex rape as a blend that should grow quickly when spring planted and that could be frost seeded. Unfortunately some things happened that prevented planting from occurring like planned so i cant give much feedback on how it worked.
Guessing it's not too late to still get some rye down at your location if you have any moisture forecasted.
Guessing it's not too late to still get some rye down at your location if you have any moisture forecasted.
It's not too late yet for rye but no moisture in sight as of now. Do you think the barley would do the trick in the spring? Better chance of moisture then and I could drill it in.
Diesel5610
5 year old buck +
If you didn't get the plot to grow in the fall I would assume there would be plenty of bare soil in late winter/early spring. I would frost seed it with red, white and a quick growing clover like Frosty berseem. There will be some weeds in it but you will have plenty of clover in it.
bigboreblr
5 year old buck +
What kind of soil do yo have, soil issues your having, kind of weeds your worried about.
You can use clethodim to battle grass in a clover field. Certain broadleaf weeds, you can spray a crop of cereal grains with 2,4D, but will harm clover. A spring light spray of gly onto clover will kill alot of young annual weeds from seed.
After a treatment (s)of 2,4d or cleth, you can spray some gly and put buckwheat in. Barley I believe alopathic properties too . Barley is also about the best cereal for soil bacteria health too. Others know alot more on the issue. A bale of Barley is heighly regard to keep pond water healthy and algae free.
Some of this is from experience, some is from reading other experiences on here. Not sure if it was foggy or someone else did a very good writeup on rye clover rotation and use of gly.
USe of canola, sun hemp, vetch, and cowpeas has given good results too. One of the best tools is a sprayer at the right time combined with ID'ing what your actual problem weeds are too.
You can use clethodim to battle grass in a clover field. Certain broadleaf weeds, you can spray a crop of cereal grains with 2,4D, but will harm clover. A spring light spray of gly onto clover will kill alot of young annual weeds from seed.
After a treatment (s)of 2,4d or cleth, you can spray some gly and put buckwheat in. Barley I believe alopathic properties too . Barley is also about the best cereal for soil bacteria health too. Others know alot more on the issue. A bale of Barley is heighly regard to keep pond water healthy and algae free.
Some of this is from experience, some is from reading other experiences on here. Not sure if it was foggy or someone else did a very good writeup on rye clover rotation and use of gly.
USe of canola, sun hemp, vetch, and cowpeas has given good results too. One of the best tools is a sprayer at the right time combined with ID'ing what your actual problem weeds are too.
swat1018
5 year old buck +
Oats / Red clover.
Crimson n' Camo
5 year old buck +
What does it matter if "weeds" grow during the summer??.....I call it natural vegetation.
Foggy47
5 year old buck +
I'm learning to tolerate "weeds" much more than I used to...so much depending on what weeds we are talking about. Now, it's about how aggressive they are.....and can I mow 'em, leave em, or will the frost take care of my issues. Grasses can be a bigger issue for me.....but even minor grass outbreaks seemed to wither away this year. I still have a thing about thistles and mullein tho.....and will spot spray those devils just because I hate them.
One thing I have learned....is how to "crowd them out" with what plants I want growing (in many cases). Clover and rye are more aggressive than most weeds. get rid of open spots.
Crimson n' Camo
5 year old buck +
I know we live in different areas but really nothing that grows here during the summer has any kind of negative impact on what I grow during the winter…..maybe nutsedge a little or bermuda grass. Its really the exact opposite….most have positive impacts. Do the plants that we label “weeds” not have root structure??....Do they not mine and recycle nutrients?....Do they not produce plant biomass??........Are they not made for the job of soil building and protecting? Are they not more drought tolerant than most of the plants we try to replace them with?? If these other plants are better than "weeds" then why do they have so much trouble being outcompeted by them??
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Well, thanks for all the feedback. Lot of things to consider here. If I don't get a good stand of cereal this fall I'll probably try oats or barley with some clover next spring. As for as the weeds I have, right now, foxtail is probably the worst. In the spring I usually get a lot of cheat grass (smooth brome?).
bigboreblr
5 year old buck +
IT's not a permanent solution. But, if you mow the plot monthly, you eliminate alot of seedheads that cause problems in the next season. Having anything growing beats nothing, including weeds.
I have a food plot up north, every summer its a nice field of goldenrod. End of summer, I mow everything throw in some oats n rye and clover seed. The seeds grow, but there is an established plot of clover there already.
I did not get a chance to mow and seed the plot this year. Since I missed it, I am intentionally leaving it alone and see what shows up next fall. Assuming I renew my club membership.
I have a food plot up north, every summer its a nice field of goldenrod. End of summer, I mow everything throw in some oats n rye and clover seed. The seeds grow, but there is an established plot of clover there already.
I did not get a chance to mow and seed the plot this year. Since I missed it, I am intentionally leaving it alone and see what shows up next fall. Assuming I renew my club membership.
