ragweed

[danzangus]

Last year I worked up a twenty acre field to seed in hay. It was unusualy dry so it didn!t get seeded. Ragweed took over. I cut and baled this field in the fall just to clean it up.I was told to spray this year when regrowth was 4 or 5 inches. Another dry year.Regrowth is sparse in areas.My question is : what did the early farmers do before herbicides? Is there any way to keep this field organic? If I just continued to work up this field every 2 or 3 weeks would it eventually kill of the weeds so it could be seeded? Thanks Dan

 

[mnmtranching]

Most all the weeds we now have in MN are introduced weeds, not native. We have all these new weeds like knapweed, spurge, redroot pigweed, all types of thistle, lampsquarter, horilisem, water hemp,10 kinds of foxtail,cockel, barnyard grass, pigion grass, wild oats, wild buckwheat, ummmmm I think I may have missed some, but you get the point. and I know the spelling is not right on some. . And I'm not sure where ragweed comes from, but it's everywhere.

 

[mnmtranching]

Most all the weeds we now have in MN are introduced weeds, not native. We have all these new weeds like knapweed, spurge, redroot pigweed, all types of thistle, lampsquarter, horilisem, water hemp,10 kinds of foxtail,cockel, barnyard grass, pigion grass, wild oats, wild buckwheat, ummmmm I think I may have missed some, but you get the point. and I know the spelling is not right on some. . And I'm not sure where ragweed comes from, but it's everywhere.

And to answer you question on organic, other than going out and pulling weeds. I really don't know how else to do it. Without herbicides.

 

[VZCR]

Most all the weeds we now have in MN are introduced weeds, not native. We have all these new weeds like knapweed, spurge, redroot pigweed, all types of thistle, lampsquarter, horilisem, water hemp,10 kinds of foxtail,cockel, barnyard grass, pigion grass, wild oats, wild buckwheat, ummmmm I think I may have missed some, but you get the point. and I know the spelling is not right on some. . And I'm not sure where ragweed comes from, but it's everywhere.

And to answer you question on organic, other than going out and pulling weeds. I really don't know how else to do it. Without herbicides.

Yep,
All the Old Timers, my parents are some, tell about the times of pulling weeds and keeping them under control by pulling any that sprouted up. But they didn't farm the amounts of acreage that we farm today.

 

[msscamp]

If I just continued to work up this field every 2 or 3 weeks would it eventually kill of the weeds so it could be seeded? Thanks Dan

Probably not, because new weed seed is blowing in from other areas, and being dropped in deer and other wildlife manure. Short of spraying, about all you can do is make sure the soil is not lacking anything, and gets enough water so the grass or alfalfa stand is thick enough that it will help choke out the weeds. I don't think that will work on certain weeds - such as thistle, milkweed, and bindweed - but it will keep quite a few out.

 

[VZCR]

Most all the weeds we now have in MN are introduced weeds, not native. We have all these new weeds like knapweed, spurge, redroot pigweed, all types of thistle, lampsquarter, horilisem, water hemp,10 kinds of foxtail,cockel, barnyard grass, pigion grass, wild oats, wild buckwheat, ummmmm I think I may have missed some, but you get the point. and I know the spelling is not right on some. . And I'm not sure where ragweed comes from, but it's everywhere.

And to answer you question on organic, other than going out and pulling weeds. I really don't know how else to do it. Without herbicides.

Yep,
All the Old Timers, my parents are some, tell about the times of pulling weeds and keeping them under control by pulling any that sprouted up. But they didn't farm the amounts of acreage that we farm today.

They also had 10 and 12 kids so they could have the built in work crew.

 

[ChrisB]

If you seed in the fall you shouldn't have as big of problem with weeds. Otherwise if you seed in the spring you could use a cover crop such as oats to keep the weeds from getting established.

Even if it looks weedy, cut and bale it and see what comes back for 2nd cutting. It's surprising how much better a field will look for 2nd and 3rd crops compared to 1st.

What are you trying to plant? Am I wrong to assume alfalfa?

 

[danzangus]

That field with all the ragweed was to be seeded with a prepackaged mix of clover,timothy,brome,etc. I think I"ll go with Chris`s idea. Take whatever I can bale now and then prepare it for next springs planting.Get enough oats mixed in to choke out some of the weeds. Thanks

 

[Saltydawg]

I will agree with what Chris said.

Keep it cut and when you finally get around to seeding it use oats as a cover crop.
You may still see a fair bit of ragweed after chopping off the oats, but if you keep it cut, the following year usually does much better.
Thats been my experience anyhow.

 

[MikeC]

That field with all the ragweed was to be seeded with a prepackaged mix of clover,timothy,brome,etc. I think I"ll go with Chris`s idea. Take whatever I can bale now and then prepare it for next springs planting.Get enough oats mixed in to choke out some of the weeds. Thanks

Good luck tryin' to choke out the ragweed.

If you've got a million ragweeds this year, there'll be 100 million next year. Same for Redroot Pigweed.

 

[donnaIL]

We too fought the ragweed for 4 years ...We are not organic tho...used 24d (and it has improved). We have pulled it too. most experts said get the grass growing thick and it will choke it out, i've yet to see that. Wish you luck, and i would try and tackle it early if you are going to do the organic hand pulling method. If you are prone to allergies at all get medication first! donna

 

[coachg]

My grandfather use to wait till the signs were right and he would put us grandboys pulling up summer cedar or digging it up if we couldn't pull it up . Thank goodness for Grazon , 24D and the rest !