CCFARMS":13hpg45n said:
I have recently concentrated on clearing my land 40 acres. I have owned it about 5 years and have used it for hunting. Its rough and hard to find a level spot on it. I have a spring fed creek that runs through it that just about splits the land up 60/40. This creek averages about 40' wide and 3' deep and as deep as 12'. I would say the creek is as long as 1/4 a mile just guessing. This land is all sloping and has had terraces in place at one time. There is a flood control lake right next to it that my creek feeds and was excavated back in the day for the runoff of this lake, (pond more like). Plumb thickets and Ivy are my enemy, sumac too. I have brush mowed what i can short of a dozer and recently sprayed some Benvin 2-4-d where i hogged. I was wondering what is the best way to clear land. Should i brush mow then plow then spray after the weeds start growing and then plant grass after and few weeks? I'm currently trying to keep it beat back until fall then jump on it before spring. Should I just wait until spring to battle this because i'm wasting my time now? Thanks for any advice.
You can use the Remedy-Diesel spray on trees year 'round. You spray the combination around the bottom 12-18 inches of the tree. Generally it will kill the roots, too. I've been doing some folier spraying on new growth that's trying to come up where we've killed trees with that spray. But with the 100 degree temps we've been having, I'm not sure how long that will be effective. We're sort of victims of our success, I guess. The grass is so thick in that paddock because of the rotational grazing program that it covers up the fallen trees from the spraying and it's hard to ride the 4-wheeler around.
We really need a good fire to burn those downed trees and clear the overburden on the grass. But with the fires we've had the last few years, we just can't bring ourselves to light the match.
I'd be careful about plowing anything with that sort of slope. Our experience has been that the grass is there. It just needs some sunlight to grow. When you take out those big trees, it'll take off without you doing anything.
You might check with the conservation people about rebuilding those terraces. We were able to get some conservation money to help us with ours.