Where is this mesquite coming from?

[Ruark]

Recently I've noticed a BUNCH of mesquite coming up in my 10 acre pasture. There have been some mesquite there in the past, but it was cleaned out years ago. The pasture is pretty healthy - I treat it with 2,4-d twice a year and it's quite thick with a variety of grasses. But this spring, in several places, there are some little baby mesquite plants coming up. Most are just a few inches tall, but they're in little scattered clusters. Say 15-20 of them in a 10 foot circle, roughly. Where are they coming from? There aren't any beans or anything lying around. I'm wondering if the beans could be lying dormant underground for many years, then be "triggered" by recent heavy rains....?

 

[Brute 23]

Most likely... Can't remember the number for mesquite but its like 10-15yrs I believe.

 

[dun]

I would say the invisible/inexhaustible seed bank

 

[Ruark]

Thanks - I did a little digging and yep, mesquite beans can lie dormant for up to 40 years. That answers the question.... :banana:

I walked around this morning and shot most of them with some 80/20 diesel/Remedy mix. Will check in a few days and pick up what I missed.

 

[cowboy43]

Fighting mesquite is one of the most expensive maintenance practices that you can not afford to do . I have seen so many mesquite pastures dozed off, deep plowed, raked, then planted to bermuda grass and fertilized , with a cost of close to 6 to 7 hundred dollars an acre. The landowner then stands back and admires his beautiful pasture with the cows grazing in it. He thinks his job is done, he does not fertilize or use herbicide to control weeds and newly sprouted mesquite which come up with a vengeance ,once the mesquite seeds have been scarified , he overstocks the pasture, the weeds and overgrazing kill out the grass and the mesquite get out of control , thus in 5 to 10 years the pasture is back like it was,( My life time experience of observing uninformed and inexperienced landowners ) Another mistake is to control the weeds by mowing, the mesquite seeds keeps sprouting and getting thicker each year, I know of one pasture that had an estimated 4000 mesquite to an acre.

 

[Brute 23]

Fighting mesquite is one of the most expensive maintenance practices that you can not afford to do . I have seen so many mesquite pastures dozed off, deep plowed, raked, then planted to bermuda grass and fertilized , with a cost of close to 6 to 7 hundred dollars an acre. The landowner then stands back and admires his beautiful pasture with the cows grazing in it. He thinks his job is done, he does not fertilize or use herbicide to control weeds and newly sprouted mesquite which come up with a vengeance ,once the mesquite seeds have been scarified , he overstocks the pasture, the weeds and overgrazing kill out the grass and the mesquite get out of control , thus in 5 to 10 years the pasture is back like it was,( My life time experience of observing uninformed and inexperienced landowners ) Another mistake is to control the weeds by mowing, the mesquite seeds keeps sprouting and getting thicker each year, I know of one pasture that had an estimated 4000 mesquite to an acre.

That always drives me crazy. I met with the owners of a place I lease and they want to start some major brush control to make it look pretty. They asked about dozing and root plowing. I said sure... that would be a great way to get a good jump on it. They asked... How many years would we need to spray after that? My response... every single year for the rest of your life.

 

[cowboy43]

You are correct I spent about $9 an acre a year for just the herbicide on the open land I own and lease to control the weeds and mesquite. It sure does increase your operating expense. I sometimes wish I lived where their was a not a mesquite in site.

 

[CCRanch]

Down here we battle the Chinese Tallow. I think they will grow on concrete.

 

[greybeard]

Down here we battle the Chinese Tallow. I think they will grow on concrete.

They'll sure grow up thru the cracks of it.

Ruark, have you tried Sendero yet?

 

[Ruark]

No Sendero here, Greybeard. Read my post on Sendero at:

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=78662

It's the last post in the thread.

You can kill these "baby" mesquites with a strong glyphosate spray and plenty of surfactant. Just wander around the pasture with a hand sprayer and take'em out. Amazing, though... they''re popping up EVERYWHERE, even in the middle of my dirt roads. Something must have triggered those 40-years-dormant seeds.... :shock:

 

[FB-Maines94]

If a cow eats the beans off a mesquite tree, the beans will land with the rest of manure and be fertilized.