Tifton85 plot.

[1982vett]

Hand planted about 1/3 of an acre in mid August. I pulled runners off the edges of another plot, dug a trench and covered all but the tip of the runner then watered them in with my sprayer and garden hose.

 

[Jogeephus]

Those runners are reaching out aren't they. Do you plan to wean them from the mother plant?

 

[1982vett]

:lol: Already shot the fertizer to them. That is what the tractor track are from. End of the month I plan to plant arrowlear clover on it.

 

[Jogeephus]

How have you kept it so weed free?

 

[1982vett]

I took and posted pictures without the weeds. This particular plot is a spot that Dad got the dirt for the house foundation, leveled a barn site and a few other things. I've eased the edges over the years using the dirt to fill erosion spots around the barns and lots and a few other places. So basically the area without weeds is because recently all the topsoil has been removed.

Hard to see the grass in the one's with the weeds. :nod:

 

[novatech]

I did my nurse crop the same way. What I have found is that spraying for weeds is important in getting the tifton to spread. The runners need soil contact to root. My problem was with common bermuda coming up. Maybe I should have used some type of pre emergent.
The first winter the runners that did not root all froze back to the mother plant. Jiggs does a better job of spreading. Callie Giant is the best I have ever seen at getting established. But will freeze out in a lot of areas.

 

[Jogeephus]

The first winter the runners that did not root all froze back to the mother plant.

Same here. That is why I'll run some coulters over the shoots when they get about 3 foot long and wean them from the mother. They little mother plants will either die or become new mothers. It really helps it to become established.

 

[1982vett]

The last plot, or the first one depending on how you look at it, I started in late August. These are already farther along that that plot. Winter freeze did kill everthing back to the origianl planting plus it was a lane between two pastures that I use to move cattle between. That winter the cows churned it up pretty good. Really didn't expect it to survive but it did and covered the next spring. This is only 1/3 of an acre and common bermuda is going to be in the mix. I'm looking at it more as a place to make a "hot" clover spot. Kind of like your clover last year Jogee. Going to let the cows graze it and let them spread the seed. The tifton is just somthing else to play with. After it covers in whatever wins out it will be put back to the pasture rotation. I've thought about mixing up a small batch of weed spray and spraying but it has been kind of wet. :shock: Yes, I did say wet. :lol: Ain't that a nice change. :nod: I'd hate to rut it up anymore than the fertilzer spreader did. Keeping it smooth is a major objective too.

Novatech, do you have much problem with rust on your Callie Giant? I have an Uncle that had a small plot that has just a few spots of it left. I'm thinking it pretty much froze out in the early 70s and 80s but I also noticed it would rust pretty easily too. If it weren't for the rust I might would try to get some of it going. Although that would go against my newer directive of establishing "low input cost to maintain" type grasses.

 

[Jogeephus]

The tifton is just somthing else to play with.

Try this little game. Now that you put fertilizer on it and you got some rain take some toothpicks or sticks and mark the ends of the runners and see what they can do in a day's time. A few years ago fertilizer was cheap and we had plenty of rain. I stuck sticks out each day after putting 100 units of N on a patch and I got 3" of growth a day. That was cool bizness. :nod:

 

[1982vett]

I'm thinking I'm already seeing a slowdown from shorter days and cooler nights. But I know from the way planted them, in just a few weeks time they had put on a fantastic amount of growth. First and third picture are about 5 weeks apart and the plants have roughtly 5-6 feet of growth plus several attatchment points. I'm thinking the second picure was planted about a week earlier. I didn't get the whole patch planted before getting a rain delay.

 

[novatech]

Novatech, do you have much problem with rust on your Callie Giant? I have an Uncle that had a small plot that has just a few spots of it left. I'm thinking it pretty much froze out in the early 70s and 80s but I also noticed it would rust pretty easily too. If it weren't for the rust I might would try to get some of it going. Although that would go against my newer directive of establishing "low input cost to maintain" type grasses.

I leased a pasture with Callie. I have not noticed any rust in the past 5 years. There are some blank spots, so it may have been rust or could have frozen. I really don't pay to much attention to it as the adjoining fileds are Tifton 85.
What low input (drought tolerant I assume) grasses are you planing on trying?

 

[1982vett]

Novatech, do you have much problem with rust on your Callie Giant? I have an Uncle that had a small plot that has just a few spots of it left. I'm thinking it pretty much froze out in the early 70s and 80s but I also noticed it would rust pretty easily too. If it weren't for the rust I might would try to get some of it going. Although that would go against my newer directive of establishing "low input cost to maintain" type grasses.

I leased a pasture with Callie. I have not noticed any rust in the past 5 years. There are some blank spots, so it may have been rust or could have frozen. I really don't pay to much attention to it as the adjoining fileds are Tifton 85.
What low input (drought tolerant I assume) grasses are you planing on trying?

Thinking of using Klein or Old World Bluestem on some pasture I plowed up and planted oats on. Sort of depends on what comes back in the Spring too. It is old woodland cleared out and some cropland that was planted to coastal 40 years ago. It is now a mixture of mostly KR Bluestem, Coastal, and Bahaia. Plus the usuall cool season grasses, ryegrass, little barley, spear grass, and such. Bur clover and what I think is Persian Clover are prevalent also.

 

[ffamom]

I've been researching for my upcoming ecology unit. Did you know that King Ranch Blue Stem is considered an invasive plant?

 

[1982vett]

I've been researching for my upcoming ecology unit. Did you know that King Ranch Blue Stem is considered an invasive plant?

Yep, that's from our esteemed research specialist. I was puzzled when I heard an "expert" make a similar comment that KR wasn't any good. What I found out while finding an answer to why KR isn't any good was "their are better species to plant". Frankly I wonder how many people could tell the difference between Old World Bluestem and KR Bluestem and why one is so much better than the other? In a sense, the only thing that makes a pretty flower a weed is where it takes up residence. What makes KR such and undesirable plant? .............Mostly, Old World Bluestem has a higher leaf to stem ratio making it superior and KR inferior. Except for that their isn't much difference worth mentioning. Ask Caustic what he thinks of Bahaia...

By the way, bermudas are being blackballed now too. ;-)