Erosion control...what to plant?

[Farmer Z]

Folks - I'm having a dozer shear and rake a steep 12 acre hillside that is at least a 20% grade. What can I plant (fairly cheaply) that will get on out of the ground this time of year. I need some ground cover ASAP. I've thought about heavy broadcasting corn. I think it's a little early for millet but that's also a thought...any ideas? By the way, I'm in SE Mississippi.

 

[Scotty]

I would ask my extention agent. Dun will help. I would also skip the corn. I think you need to plant some type of grass that is native to your area and would add some type of cover crop until the grass makes a good stand.

 

[Farmer Z]

Scotty - You're probably right. The problem for me is the price of grass seed (and I am a cheapskate). It would cost a small fortune to cover that 12 acres with grass seed. I was wanting nature to plant the grass after I got something economical out of the ground just to hold dirt in place. Thanks for the reply!

 

[Caustic Burno]

Folks - I'm having a dozer shear and rake a steep 12 acre hillside that is at least a 20% grade. What can I plant (fairly cheaply) that will get on out of the ground this time of year. I need some ground cover ASAP. I've thought about heavy broadcasting corn. I think it's a little early for millet but that's also a thought...any ideas? By the way, I'm in SE Mississippi.

Vetch.

 

[Texas PaPaw]

IMO-SorghumXsudan should emerge soon if planted now. The new BMR varieties are much more digestible than the standard varieties, but the seed will cost more. It will probably come up a little earlier than millet.

Just my 2 cents worth.

Good luck & happy trails

Brock

 

[ALACOWMAN]

Folks - I'm having a dozer shear and rake a steep 12 acre hillside that is at least a 20% grade. What can I plant (fairly cheaply) that will get on out of the ground this time of year. I need some ground cover ASAP. I've thought about heavy broadcasting corn. I think it's a little early for millet but that's also a thought...any ideas? By the way, I'm in SE Mississippi.

Hard to beat common burmuda

 

[MikeC]

Folks - I'm having a dozer shear and rake a steep 12 acre hillside that is at least a 20% grade. What can I plant (fairly cheaply) that will get on out of the ground this time of year. I need some ground cover ASAP. I've thought about heavy broadcasting corn. I think it's a little early for millet but that's also a thought...any ideas? By the way, I'm in SE Mississippi.

Kudzu

 

[warpaint]

Folks - I'm having a dozer shear and rake a steep 12 acre hillside that is at least a 20% grade. What can I plant (fairly cheaply) that will get on out of the ground this time of year. I need some ground cover ASAP. I've thought about heavy broadcasting corn. I think it's a little early for millet but that's also a thought...any ideas? By the way, I'm in SE Mississippi.

Kudzu

Knew somebody would say that eventually. ;-)

 

[dun]

Annual rye is cheap and sprouts quickly. Mix it with some serious long term stuff like clover and something else.

dun

 

[Nowland Farms]

Warpaint,

Last night when I saw the post I actually started a reply to say Zudzu but decided not to post it. I figured that I'd let somebody else be the "$mart A$$" .

Looks like MikeC handled that job nicely. ;-) ;-) ;-)

 

[MikeC]

Warpaint,

Last night when I saw the post I actually started a reply to say Zudzu but decided not to post it. I figured that I'd let somebody else be the "$mart A$$" .

Looks like MikeC handled that job nicely. ;-) ;-) ;-)

Kudzu makes great erosion control. Cows love it and actually it's easy to control with grazing, spraying etc.

The drawback is.......it's the first thing to go dormant in fall and the last thing to green up in spring.

 

[warpaint]

The way I understand it, Kudzu is a legume. There are folks that actually bale it for feed. The problems with it being the leaves fall off easily.
As Mike C said, cows love it.

 

[Caustic Burno]

Might try crown Vetch what the highway dept plants for erosion control.

 

[Crowderfarms]

Might try crown Vetch what the highway dept plants for erosion control.

Vetch will hold the ground like Bondo. Just as CB said, ask for Crown Vetch. Not Hairy Vetch... it runs about 4 bucks a pound. The Crown is cheap.

 

[Beefy]

The way I understand it, Kudzu is a legume. There are folks that actually bale it for feed. The problems with it being the leaves fall off easily.
As Mike C said, cows love it.

the problems with it eating you while you sleep...

 

[Beefy]

i would lean toward rye for right now mixed with clover and bermuda.

 

[andybob]

I agree with Caustic and Cypress, I have used crown vetch for erosion it covers well, is drought resistant once established and doesn't cause bloat like many other legumes do.

 

[backhoeboogie]

I agree with Caustic and Cypress, I have used crown vetch for erosion it covers well, is drought resistant once established and doesn't cause bloat like many other legumes do.

Well I'm going to try it. We finally got rain and I wound up with a couple of acres in the pond. More rain in a week than all of last year, nearly.

 

[J. T.]

Folks - I'm having a dozer shear and rake a steep 12 acre hillside that is at least a 20% grade. What can I plant (fairly cheaply) that will get on out of the ground this time of year. I need some ground cover ASAP. I've thought about heavy broadcasting corn. I think it's a little early for millet but that's also a thought...any ideas? By the way, I'm in SE Mississippi.

What kind of soil do you have?

 

[Farmer Z]

Sandy clay but there is a decent layer of top soil...this ground has not been broken in 60-70 years.