With generous rains this year it seems the weeds are thriving. We are a fairly new, small operation working on pasture improvement. Our war on thistle the last 5 years has been successful however the mint weed and sericea are just awful. Do most of you spray yearly to keep all weeds at bay? We're thinking of buying a sprayer and getting a chemical license. When we were getting started, we paid to have the pastures sprayed to get the thistle under control and the last 3 years have simply spot sprayed or dug the few we have. Now we're overwhelmed with various other weeds. Interested in hearing about your practices and recommendations. We are applying 3000 lbs/acre of lime next month as recommended by our soil test. Thanks in advance.
Weeds!?
- Thread starter kucala5
- Start date
Help Support CattleToday:
I'm a fan of of spraying. A pint and a half of 2 four d, and a pint of remedy seems to cure what ails ya. Sprayed some grazon on ultra in early summer. Wiped the field clean, and kept it out. lol thinking that may be all I ever use again. My jury is still out on the residual affect of it. I love crabgrass, and I'm afraid since it comes back from seed, it might limit me some. So happens the field I sprayed with it was a stand of well established fescue. So I don't have a reference point. I can tell it's good stuff though.
bird dog
Well-known member
On pastures with bad problems it will take a few years of spraying every year to get it under control. Every year will be a little better and eventually you may get to where you only have to spray every other year. The lime will help some as it will make your grasses stronger and hopefully they will choke out some weeds.
I have a sandy loam pasture that just had a horrible wooly croton problem when I bought it eight years ago. I still have to spray it every year but it is lots better. I also have black land tract that was untouched for 7 or 8 years. It was almost all weeds and very little grass. Bluebonnets were like carpet. I used grazon p + d on it the first year and had a tremendous response. The native grass is flourishing. I used GrazonNext the next year to help with the milkweed with more good results. I still have some weeds but probably less than 10% of the original. I didn't spray at all this year.
2-4-d is a good product but it is best to buy the good stuff for the first couple of applications. I would recommend that you go ahead and buy a sprayer. They are well worth the investment and if you own you own then you can spray when needed and then touch up what gets missed or try a different ingredient if something doesn't die.
I have a sandy loam pasture that just had a horrible wooly croton problem when I bought it eight years ago. I still have to spray it every year but it is lots better. I also have black land tract that was untouched for 7 or 8 years. It was almost all weeds and very little grass. Bluebonnets were like carpet. I used grazon p + d on it the first year and had a tremendous response. The native grass is flourishing. I used GrazonNext the next year to help with the milkweed with more good results. I still have some weeds but probably less than 10% of the original. I didn't spray at all this year.
2-4-d is a good product but it is best to buy the good stuff for the first couple of applications. I would recommend that you go ahead and buy a sprayer. They are well worth the investment and if you own you own then you can spray when needed and then touch up what gets missed or try a different ingredient if something doesn't die.
So, if I'm interpreting correctly, even though I may not see much grass now, if i spray and get the weeds under control, the grass will make a comeback.
Bigfoot, since we are both in KY, I assume an early summer spray would work best for me too. Would June be the right month?
Bigfoot, since we are both in KY, I assume an early summer spray would work best for me too. Would June be the right month?
bird dog
Well-known member
You really never know but more times than not, there is usually some grass there. Its always best in my opinion to improve what is already there than to try to get something new established. Even if there is nothing, you are still going to have to kill off the weeds to start over.
Going to have to think this through and do the math on cost/time to spray it ourselves vs. the big truck coming in. The truck I believe is around $30/acre and he sprayed 2-4D and Grazon if I remember right.
Spraying 2,4-d and Grazon is a waste of money. Grazon is 2,4-d with a residual for sprouting suppression. Grazon and Remedy would be a good combination. The catch is that they need to be applied before the weeds start to flower, i.e. actively growing. If you have any clover it will kill or at least make it darn sick for a while growing. It will also hammer lespedza (the good kind that you want as well as the serecia lespedeza which you don;t want. Might not be a bad eidea to have seomone that can identify exactly what you have before you spray. Either the Extension office or NRCS if you have either one handy.
Kell-inKY
Well-known member
You are right, my purple mint is out of control this year due to all the rain I suppose, done mowed it 3 times in spots and still making a comeback, usually only takes once. But my "good" weeds are also doing well like crabgrass and the good lespedeza. I did not want to kill all the free clover this year so I did not spray in many areas. Not much normal about this year from my short experience.
What I did spray in the open fields had mixed results.
I think I got some 2,4-d at Tractor Supply or some other store and had excellent results. I ran out, bought some generic on sale at Rural King and for most areas I just wasted my time and money. Like it was a quarter of the strength. Same mixture ratio and everything, was not pleased, so there must be something to what people say by buying brand names.
I would like to get to the point I don't have to spray, it bothers me and I do it sparingly, plus why kill off all my good broadleafs in the process. It just isn't natural, and if I had a healthy pasture it would not be an issue. I can tell you this, where my crabgrass came out in force this summer, it did not allow weeds in there, and the cows love it. For me, in some places, this seems to be a better management technique than chemical spraying. I don't yet know how to balance out summer and winter pastures though.
What I did spray in the open fields had mixed results.
I think I got some 2,4-d at Tractor Supply or some other store and had excellent results. I ran out, bought some generic on sale at Rural King and for most areas I just wasted my time and money. Like it was a quarter of the strength. Same mixture ratio and everything, was not pleased, so there must be something to what people say by buying brand names.
I would like to get to the point I don't have to spray, it bothers me and I do it sparingly, plus why kill off all my good broadleafs in the process. It just isn't natural, and if I had a healthy pasture it would not be an issue. I can tell you this, where my crabgrass came out in force this summer, it did not allow weeds in there, and the cows love it. For me, in some places, this seems to be a better management technique than chemical spraying. I don't yet know how to balance out summer and winter pastures though.
herofan":2muwf4g8 said:
Yes, that's a good time. It also depends on the paticular weed, or I guess weeds you want to kill. I have a species of ragweed here, I like to wipe out when 3 or 4 inches tall. It all seems to germinate, and sprout about the same time. I also make a push on horse nettle. It comes more like July. I guess you just pick your worst enemy/enemies and go after them.
