An old coastal bermuda hay meadow

[east_tex]

My grandfathers old coastal bermuda hay meadow has been mostly taken over by bahia grass and in many places the smutgrass is probably 80 percent of what is there. There are also persimmon saplings which are being controlled by Remedy and diesel basal bark treatments. The broad leaf weeds, mostly goat weed and dogfennel, are being controlled with Grazon P plus D. My question is what to do about the smutgrass. I have been spot spraying with glyphosate and water but was wondering about plowing out the smutgrass this coming February. There are two plows available to me, a four bottom moldboard which will run behind a JD 4020 and a chisel plow. If use the moldboard and then disk it smooth, and do not reseed or re-sprig, will the coastal return? Should I continue with the labor intensive back pack spot spraying of glyphosate and water? Should I plow and reseed to something other than coastal? Probably not going to be able to plow and re-sprig the coastal. Any comments appreciated.

 

[Brute 23]

What kind of soil is it?

Generally you would disk coastal in the spring. Be prepared to spray the entire pasture with p+d or next when the weeds come out.

You might get some soil tests also. If the coastal is coming back it will probably need some nitrogen.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Smutgrass is actually pretty good hay.
Getting rid of smutgrass in east Texas good luck.

 

[east_tex]

The soil is sandy loam

 

[Rafter S]

I've seen a chemical advertised that's supposed to kill smutgrass. My fertilizer guy told me it's pretty expensive, and will also kill bahia, so I haven't tried it.

 

[halfbean]

I've never tried it but velpar will kill smut grass they say. Have to be careful around trees.

 

[Farmgirl]

Velpar will kill smuttgrass but will also kill trees. Especially oaks. Labels says not to apply any closer than 100 feet from oaks. Have used it but roundup is your best bet near trees, just spot spray.

Good luck. I hate smuttgrass.

 

[Jogeephus]

With 80% coverage of smutgrass the only feasible way to treat it would be to use a wicker with Velpar mixed somewhere around 50/50 with water. Once you knock it back you can spot spray any residual clumps. You can do some Googling and find some good research done on this in Florida. Their recommendations are pretty good. Other option is to kill it all and start over but that would be my last resort. From a practical standpoint, Velpar will kill oaks as mentioned but using a combination of wicking ans spot spraying killing hardwoods is unlikely unless you get crazy. I've spot sprayed a few clumps under oaks and at most I've seen a limb or two effected. Never unintentionally killed a tree.

Good luck. Persistence is the key to killing smutgrass.

 

[Texasmark]

There's a saying around here: The more you try to kill Bermuda the more it thrives. Guarantee you it will love your "plow share" work, regardless of the time of year. I took my summer crop off this year and in July and August was out working the soil up for the winter rye and peas. You guess it. With no rain here for about 90 days, it was back with fresh new green shoots. The plowing had just broken up the patches into numerous smaller patches the will become patches of their own.

I deliberately run a O deflection angle very sharp bladed disc harrow over mine when the soil softens up on the fall. Everywhere the blade cuts through a stem the remnants will each produce it's own plant. Add to that a generous portion of primarily N and some rain and you'd be surprised just what that thought to be old worn out Bermurda patch will turn into.