Help with ragweed control

[riquezada]

This year has been particulary bad with ragweed. It is abouit taking over everything. I clipped pastures several times this year, a few spots up to 4 times. I did get rid of alot of canadien thistles, but it seems like the more I clipped, the more ragweed I have now. What do you all do short of chemical spray? Might be looking at spraying it though. Any ideas?

 

[msscamp]

Don't mean to rain on your parade, but mowing/clipping won't get rid of Canadian Thistle. If you don't get the tap root it will simply come up again. Plus if the mowed pieces get covered with dirt, they will probably grow. My experience is that the only thing that will get rid of it is spraying or pulling when the ground is good and wet. I've been fighting the stuff all summer.

 

[Bama]

Sorry more rain for you parade. But a sunny forecast. Its to late in the game to effecttively control ragweed for this year. But next year when it is young in the 2 - 4 leaf stage spray it with 2,4 -d and it will control it.

 

[Beefy]

or pull it by hand.

 

[jkwilson]

Been there before, and mowing didn't seem worth the effort. Since I have clover in my pasture, I don't want to spray, so I got a "weed wiper" wick applicator for my four-wheeler. Only tried it on a small area this year as we didn't have ragweed too bad this year, but it seems like it will work. When I pull the cows off the pasture, the ragweed is at least two feet high, and easy to wick.

 

[John Mc.]

The ragweed in my area is really bad. I had ten acres that the ragweed took over when I moved the cows off and was going to hold them off until this fall but the ragweed was so thick they couldn't get to the grass. I sprayed it this weekend and had swollen eyes and hives by the time I got back to the house. I looked sort of like Will Smith's character in the movie Hitch.

Next year I will spray earlier and wear a respirator type mask in stead of the dust mask. Man, I was miserable.

 

[farmer rich]

If its the same weed we call ragwort the way to control it is to pull it before it seeds. As it is bi-annial and flowers in the second year its easy to miss some. You have to keep on top of it. If its really bad and theres no clover grazon will kill it.

 

[johndeerefarmer]

You can kill ragweed when it's young and actively growing with as little as 1.5 pints/acre of 2,4D. Waiting until it's mature or hot and dry and not actively growing is usually a waste of time.

I don't know what kind of grasses you have, but if it's a hybrid bermuda, you can choke the weeds out if you get a thick stand of coastal. After spraying for three or four years AND fertilizing the coastal each of those years, you should no longer have much of a weed problem.

 

[ALACOWMAN]

One thing you are doing wrong is clipping your pasture to much.
not only spreading seeds but you also allow the weeds to out compete the grass. the weed are loving all the attention your are giving them plenty of room & sunshine

 

[SPRINGER FARMS MURRAY GRE]

Grazon.....in the spring when it starts coming back out.I have the same problem,bush hoging will not work.I finally went to the county extension office to get it id'd,and that is what they told me to use. ;-) :cboy:

 

[polledbull]

Been there before, and mowing didn't seem worth the effort. Since I have clover in my pasture, I don't want to spray, so I got a "weed wiper" wick applicator for my four-wheeler. Only tried it on a small area this year as we didn't have ragweed too bad this year, but it seems like it will work. When I pull the cows off the pasture, the ragweed is at least two feet high, and easy to wick.

2-4-D-B will not kill the clover . The B is buterac . It is safe for lugumes . But It will need to be sprayed as other 2-4-d products, when weeds are small and beware of drift to non target areas . certian crops are very sensative to 2 4 D

 

[msscamp]

Been there before, and mowing didn't seem worth the effort. Since I have clover in my pasture, I don't want to spray, so I got a "weed wiper" wick applicator for my four-wheeler. Only tried it on a small area this year as we didn't have ragweed too bad this year, but it seems like it will work. When I pull the cows off the pasture, the ragweed is at least two feet high, and easy to wick.

2-4-D-B will not kill the clover . The B is buterac . It is safe for lugumes . But It will need to be sprayed as other 2-4-d products, when weeds are small and beware of drift to non target areas . certian crops are very sensative to 2 4 D

Hmmmm, what crops would that be? I was spraying for Canadian Thistle this summer with 2-4-D on the periphery of the corn fields and, even though the jug said it was safe to use on corn, the 2-4-D knocked the crap out of the corn. Might this sensitivity be the reason?

 

[Bama]

2,4-d is really bad to drift. It is really a problem with cotton. Grazon is nothing more than 2,4-d with piclorram added in. The picloram ( tordon ) gives it some lasting protection. It is better on ragweed than 2,4-d alone. It will kill it at a later stage. If you get it at the 2-4 leaf stage 2,4-d has no problem with it. It is also much cheaper than grazon. Grazon requires a license. 2,4-d does not in many states. AS far as the clover its a gonner. I need to check into the 2,4-d (B) I have never used it. It does sound promising. If your gonna wick it forgeet using 2,4-d. It won't get it after it gets mature. Roundup or some of the other glysophates will be a better choice at this point.

 

[xtrmeharley]

This year has been particulary bad with ragweed. It is abouit taking over everything. I clipped pastures several times this year, a few spots up to 4 times. I did get rid of alot of canadien thistles, but it seems like the more I clipped, the more ragweed I have now. What do you all do short of chemical spray? Might be looking at spraying it though. Any ideas?

What kind of pastures are you talking about? As mentioned above, the more you mow, the better ragweed will grow. Ragweed highly prefers disturbed areas, therefore the more you mow, 'disturb', the pasture the better it will do. I don't know what your grass management is like but if you take care of your prefered grass, generally they will take care of themselves and out-compete the weeds. I don't know about spending the money on spraying expensive herbicide. There's a good chance that once you spend all that money and spray for the ragweed, that something else will grow in its place that is more of a problem than what you have now. It's just the basic succession of the plant community.... Something is going to grow there.

 

[Stocker Steve]

If you get it at the 2-4 leaf stage 2,4-d has no problem with it. It is also much cheaper than grazon. Grazon requires a license. 2,4-d does not in many states. AS far as the clover its a gonner. I need to check into the 2,4-d (B) I have never used it.

Any 2,4-d (B) experience this year?

 

[Bama]

No, I havn't had to spray the pastures this year as there are too few weeds to cover cost of spraying. I did spray the fence lines with a mixture of 2,4-d and roundup. My son sprayed the lawn with 2,4-d trying to kill the clover. He had to spray it heavy twice to knock it back. Seems as if you want to kill clover it won't if you don't want to kill it all you have to do is popint the jug in that direction.

 

[dcara]

...2-4-D knocked the crap out of the corn...

2,4-d is restricted here in texas for that exact reason. People not fully understanding spray issues that is, and then wipeing out a neighbors crop due to drift. However, you can still buy small diluted quantities of up to a pint withouit a license. I used PasturePro last year before I got an applicators license. It basically 2,4D in a pint bottle and hence didn't require a license to buy. Not knowing any better at the time I sprayed it in August (hot and dry) and still got about a 50% kill. Things you can do this late in the year to increase the effectiveness of your spraying is:

1) Spray the day after a rain. The plants/weeds have much better uptake then
2) Spray in the early moring provided there is no thermal inversion. Thermal inversions lead to drift issues.
3) Use an Amine formulation of 2,4-D which has lower volitization. This reduces evaporation which keeps the chemical on the weed longer and helps prevent drift issues. Do not use acetic formulation of 2,4D due to volitization and subsequent drift issue
4) Do not spray when temperature is over 80 degrees if humidity is less than 50%.
5) Ideal wind speed for spraying is 2 to 7 mph.
6) Use a surfactant


Here's some links on the subject for additional info

http://www.bobkesslerceu.com/Classes/Dr ... Secure.PDF
http://www.ext.colostate.edu/pubs/crops/00564.html
http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfd/pubs/docs/Frh/Frh006.pdf

 

[Herefordcross]

2-4-d or Grazon P+D will work but, you need lic. to get grazon and it has a three month residual if sprayed at 3 pints to the acre.