Winter Grass

[SkinMan]

I just had my pastures sprayed with Grazon. 80 acres of it is winter grass that I won't be able to bushog for another 4 weeks because of spreading litter, cutting hay, and catching out chickens.

My question is: Since a herbicide has been applied, shouldn't the winter grass die out and the bermuda come up?

 

[Nowland Farms]

What do you mean when you use the term "winter grass" ? Ie, what type of grass?

Grazon contains, among other things, 2-4-D which is a broadleaf herbicide. Grazon will not affect grass. The grazon will kill most weeds depending on the strength of the mixture and the stages of the weeds you sprayed it on.

Typically, winter grass dies out (or goes dorminate) when it begins to get hot depending on your location. I have 15 acres of MaxQ fertlizer which is a cool season grass. I grazed cows from April '05 thru Feb '06. The grass grew all summer long.

If one wanted to kill the winter grass they would normally hit it with roundup (or generic) just before greenup of the summer grass in early springtime. This is my plan to cleanup my Costal Bermuda field next spring.

 

[SkinMan]

Wheat & Oats is what I call "winter grass". Right now it is about 3 ft tall and THICK.

I live in north Louisiana, so it does get hot pretty quick.

We just cleared this land a couple of years ago, and planted wheat and oats for the winter. We disked it up and planted bermuda during the spring. Last summer the weeds were out of control. I'm hoping the Grazon will take care of that.

 

[Bama]

Grazon will only get broadleafs. It won't get grasses.

 

[Nowland Farms]

Skinman,

You have a couple of things going on that I am not sure about. They are:

1) I don't know what affect Grazon will have on wheat or oats. Maybe someone else will jump in here and respond. I have never sprayed grazon on wheat & oats.

2) it the wheat and oats are thick and 3 feet tall, I am concerned about the coverage of Grazon that you actually got on the weeds. It is tough to spray anything 3 feet tall and get a good coverage down to the ground level.


It may be too late now but maybe next time you should considered cutting and baleing the wheat/oats and then spraying after the weed started to put forth new growth. Whenever I go to spray a field with Grazon, I let the cows graze it low so I make sure I get a good coverage on the weeds. It may be a little harder in your case with doing 80 acres this way.

Good Luck

 

[Texan]

You spent $3,200 in "about an hour" to spray Grazon on top of wheat and oats that is three feet tall? :shock:

Just had my pasture sprayed by helicopter for $32 an acre. Southland Spray Services did it. They work in Texas, Louisiana, and Arkansas. It took them about an hour to spray 100 acres. That's alot quicker than I could ever think about doing it.

 

[SkinMan]

There was really no way to cut and bale the wheat and oats because the land was just cleared 2 years ago. There is still some debris left over (rocks, wood, ect.)

Texan, so exactly what are you trying to say?

 

[Nowland Farms]

Skinman,

I don't want to speak for Texan but I believe he is saying ........at the risk of sounding blount........ that you wasted money by spraying Grazon to kill the wheat/oat which is 3 feet high and thick. If you were trying to kill the weeds, tree sprouts, etc, you could have done it cheaper with 2-4-D which is about 1/2 the cost of Grazon, but with the wheat/oats 3 feet high you will not get a good kill on anything down in the wheat/oats.

We have hired a helicopter to spray timber land after it was cutover and greened up. In these case we used a herbicide that was a whole lot stronger than 2-4-D or Grazon.

Grazon is normally used to spray existing pasture to only kill weeds. There is not a withdrawal period to keep cows off Grazon.

 

[SkinMan]

There were weeds mixed in with the winter grass, just as tall. But, maybe I did jump the gun and spray too early. Just trying to get ahead, IF that is possible.......

 

[Texan]

Texan, so exactly what are you trying to say?

Nowland Farms did an excellent job of interpreting for me. I was trying to say that I think you wasted your money. This is why I think that:

There were weeds mixed in with the winter grass, just as tall.

If you had weeds mixed in with the wheat and oats that were just as tall, I would expect them to be cool-season weeds. Killing them won't help you with your summer weed problem:

Last summer the weeds were out of control. I'm hoping the Grazon will take care of that.

Won't help except for some slight soil activity from the picloram, I should add. But I wouldn't expect much of that. It sounds to me like you had a tremendous amount of dry matter for the Grazon to cover. I don't believe you will end up with much picloram in the soil from that.

Aerial rates of total spray volume (chemical + water) applied are very low compared to ground applications. Grazon is labeled for total volumes as low as one gallon per acre with aerial application, although the label recommends two or more gallons. That's not much volume of liquid to cover vegetation that is three feet tall over an entire acre.

If your aerial applicator understood what you were wanting to do, and if you have given us the complete story, and if I have understood you, and if I know what I'm talking about, and if, if, if....I would sure feel cheated if I were you.

It's the applicator's job to help you figure out what you need to do, in my opinion. To guide you in your decisions. He's supposed to be the expert. For $3,200 an hour, you deserve an expert. I hope it works out for you. Good luck.

 

[Herefordcross]

We call our winter grass HAY