cheyenne bermudagrass

[plbcattle]

I have soveral pastures 5-15 acres each that I am thinking about putting in cheyenne grass in. would it be easier to spray and kill all the weeds and broadcast the seed or should I disk the whole field and plant it on a clean soilbed. which would get the best results

 

[SPRINGER FARMS MURRAY GRE]

I would say start clean.The seed may be iffy at best,sprigging would be better.

 

[preston39]

I would say start clean.The seed may be iffy at best,sprigging would be better.

==========
Springer Farms,

How does one put down sprigs? Any experience...knowledge? I keep reading about them in various pubs...but never investigated the process.

 

[WORANCH]

I have soveral pastures 5-15 acres each that I am thinking about putting in cheyenne grass in. would it be easier to spray and kill all the weeds and broadcast the seed or should I disk the whole field and plant it on a clean soilbed. which would get the best results

Go ahead and use Roundup on the field. Then come back and use a chisel to break up the ground and disk. Broadcast your seed. use a roller to smooth the ground and make sure the seed is in good contact with the soil and then pray for rain~ I usually wait until it germiniates and then I fertilize. This has worked for me in the past.

 

[MrBilly]

I am ambivalent in answering this. I started with an old 18 Ac field of weeds and briars last year. Killed everything with Roundup, then a Remedy like agent for the briars.

For six weeks it looked like a moonscape. Not a blade of grass or anything to be seen.

Drilled in the Cheyenne seed, fertilized and the rains came. But, then so did the weeds and Johnsongrass. It was so wet I couldn't get in the field very well, so the Johnson grass reached 6 ft tall and shaded the seedlings. 50% of the field took the seed, the rest was a loss. I have a friend who planted 40 Ac. last year and got nothing. I think the seed wasn't very good. Despite this, I baled the field once a got 58 rolls and it tested pretty good. The cattle loved it - bermuda plus weeds.

Pennington came down and said they would work with me, so this year I got free seed for about 8 Ac. I still have some weeds, but was able to rid the field of Johnsongrass by wicking last year. I clipped the weeds back, drilled the new seed, and then we had one good rain. I have not fertilized yet, since I didn't want a repeat of last year- stimulating the weeds before the grass germinates and takes off.

I haven't seen a blade of Cheyenne come up yet and it has been in the ground 3 weeks, but admitedly it has been dry and was cool. It is hot now, but still dry. This may be the problem? Time will tell.

My plan is to keep after the weeds, but clipping them just above the height of the one year old Cheyenne. The weeds I have this year are plantain, a good nutritious weed, very few briars, henbit and a few others.
I could not spray again because I needed six weeks from spray to seeding - anything shorter could affect germination. I also couldn't spray due to the proximity of two vineyards that were leafing out - grazon is volatile to some extent. Since I have some Bermuda, I obviously could no longer use Roundup.

If I had it to do over again, I would spray one year and get a good kill. Then I would plant some cover crops. then spray again the following year with Roundup and maybe Grazon and then plant. Two shots at weeds with adequate time for the weed seeds ithat remain n the ground to come up makes more sense to me than what I did last year. I call this field my Bass Boat.

What Cheyenne did take last year, looked good through last season and now. My final verdict is still out, update later.

Billy

 

[dun]

MrBilly

Reminds me of the old deal about "Rain makes a farmer look like a genius or a fool".
Uptill a couple of weeks ago we were running almost double the normal rainfall, we're now way behind. I drilled a lot of fescue, timothy and OG and it rained so hard it washed out. But I sure have luxurious stands at the bottoms where I and the cows can't reach it. In a week or 2 I'll be putting in 1200 bucks worth of WSG, hope I don;t get the same results, or worse yet no rain. That makes for some pretty expensive dove food.

dun

 

[WORANCH]

I don't drill in the seed it's easy to get it to deep . I broad cast it and then use a roller .

 

[bigbull338]

sprigging is easy you just disk an evel your field up and then use a sprigger or manure spreader to put the spriggs out and disk or harrow to cover them up scott

 

[preston39]

bigbull,

Thanks. Sounds simple enough...another use for the manure spreader...good.

What are the advantages? Faster start..better stand....more effective than seeding?

 

[preston39]

MrBilly

Reminds me of the old deal about "Rain makes a farmer look like a genius or a fool".
Uptill a couple of weeks ago we were running almost double the normal rainfall, we're now way behind. I drilled a lot of fescue, timothy and OG and it rained so hard it washed out. But I sure have luxurious stands at the bottoms where I and the cows can't reach it. In a week or 2 I'll be putting in 1200 bucks worth of WSG, hope I don;t get the same results, or worse yet no rain. That makes for some pretty expensive dove food.

dun

=======
dun

I hear you. The reason I like to seed in the fall/winter..preferably just before a light snow. Always get a better stand even if drilling it.

My dad liked to broadcast with a snow on the ground...always got good results.

 

[bigbull338]

yes you get alot faster start with the spriggs than you do with seeds b/c the seeds have to sprout and the spriggs are readdy to start growing i would guess that you need to put 30bu of spriggs to the ac for a good stand weeds can over take planted grass seed easy scott

 

[MrBilly]

I haven't checked the price of springing this year, but when I did last year it was double the seeding costs. Of course, I might have a lovley stand right now if I sprigged?

If you set your drill properly you should not go to deep. Put in clover and the Cheyenne with the drill. Clover seed did very well, too well I think?


Billy

 

[icandoit]

I sprigged my MIL's 5 acres with 'Jiggs' about a month and a half a go. We had no rain for 3 1/2 weeks after that. Saw that a storm was probably coming in and fertilized it. Got 3 1/2 inches two days after fertilizing. It's been about a week since the storm and getting very little sign of grass coming up. I don't know how long it takes for the jiggs to start showing but I'm getting a little nervous.

Dick

 

[txag]

I sprigged my MIL's 5 acres with 'Jiggs' about a month and a half a go. We had no rain for 3 1/2 weeks after that. Saw that a storm was probably coming in and fertilized it. Got 3 1/2 inches two days after fertilizing. It's been about a week since the storm and getting very little sign of grass coming up. I don't know how long it takes for the jiggs to start showing but I'm getting a little nervous.

Dick

you should be able to scrape around in the ground & find some of the old sprigs. you can then check to see if they're still alive & if roots have formed.

almost more important than the rain afterwards is whether or not the ground was moist when you planted and whether or not the sprigs didn't dry out before you got them in the ground.

 

[plbcattle]

instead of spraying and waiting can I not just disk the field up and then broadcast the seed. when is it to late to plant teh seed. We have not had a rain in a while and aren't looking for one anytime soon. can I seed it after a rain even if it is late into the month. will the weeds still come back if I disk them up.

 

[WORANCH]

instead of spraying and waiting can I not just disk the field up and then broadcast the seed. when is it to late to plant teh seed. We have not had a rain in a while and aren't looking for one anytime soon. can I seed it after a rain even if it is late into the month. will the weeds still come back if I disk them up.

If you have fescue it will come back. The weeds will also , you will have to spray them.