Increasing fertility while harvesting something?

[kickinbull]

One of our neighbors just bought another farm. We already put hay up on his other place which is creek bottoms. The new place is very run down with the ridgetops being the worst. Before he bought it, it had grown up to cedars, sumac,briars and like that. He hired a guy with a grinder/chipper that cleared it all off. He limed it,2T/A and seeded it. But it isn't doing much. He bushhogged twice last year to keep weeds back. Before anyone asks, no soil tests have been done. I am wondering if anyone has any simular experiences and what you did to get it into production.TIA

 

[dun]

If it's growing cedars it needs the have the PH raised, probably a lot. The areas aorund here that grow cedars best are really really acid. If it was cooler we could probably grow rhododendrons wild

 

[Stocker Steve]

You said it - - it needs a soil test and balanced fertility. If you have too much money you can spread fertilizer, spread some more lime, work it up, and plant a plow down crop.
If you have too many cattle mob graze the **** onto it.
Otherwise haul in some litter or some manure or feed hay on it to create manure.

 

[bear]

For me, clearing land by grinding/chipping creates a difficult after math to deal with if you plan on planting anything soon after. Clearing by this method is very quick and efficient. There was probably already a layer of understory decomposing or composting. Then when the cedars, sumac and etc. are ground or chipped this leaves a layer of mulch that is then left to compost. When this material is disked into the ground the composting that takes place uses lots of oxygen. As the oxygen is used up, composting is slowed and the ph goes down. When lime or ashes is added, it helps to deplete the soil of ammonia. The composting process can be better accelerated by disking or turning the soil a few times a year rather than adding lime. You may have to run several soil tests to determine when the soil is stable enough to grow grass.
Bear

 

[Angus Cowman]

if this land isn't workable like most of ours in the southern part of Missouri fire will work wonder
to rid the ground of all of the debris then take a soiltest after you do the burn
also as Dun stated if it had alot of cedars on it the PH is probably in the low 4s or hi 3s and depending on your ENM of the lime applied it may need another application and remember it takes lime at least 6 months to make a change in the ph of the soil

good luck

 

[bear]

It would be best if the ground and chipped material was burned and then disked into the ground. If chipped material was already disked into the ground it could be awhile before soil is stable.
Cleared about 15 acres of thick cedars in the Truman Lake area. Pushed up into piles in the spring, disked the ground about four times through the summer to accelerate composting of understory then planted fescue without lime or fertilizer. This may not work everywhere but it worked here.
Bear

 

[JRGidaho`]

Lack of N in the soil is one of the reasons chipping / shredding type of clearing is slow to recover and grow good grass. Unrolling and feeding a decent quality hay on the area would help get some N and microbial activity in the soil.

If you still don't have anything growing there next fall, try overseeding some hairy vetch on it. Hairy vetch will grow on almost any kind of soil and is a heck of a good N-fixer. They use it a lot in strip mine reclamation because those soils are so dead and it takes N to bring it back to life. If you wanted to try something this spring, annual lespedeza would probably grow there and it would put a little bit of N in the soil.