Yellow Buttercup

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Mike- the second pic with the tree in center has a few buttercups in it. The field to the left of the fence has a lot of wild buttercups in it. I was lazy and zoomed way out, may be the reason they ain't clearer.

Stepper - yes both fields are use exactly the same. They were both grazed to about the same level. The one on the left is about 50 acres and the one on the right is only about 20. But they had about the same stock density. The fields behind these two are beginning to show some of the wild buttercup as well. I used a higher rate than you did. I put 2.6 quarts per acre. I had a few tougher weeds to get rid of. As you can see neither field had them last year. This year they do. I did have some chicken litter spread last year. I may have gotten some seed there somehow??
 
the timing in your treatment has alot to do with your outcome. since bama has dog fennel he has to treat later with a stronger chemical after it has bloomed . since i treat in march i kill buttercup's pigweed, and candian thistle with just 2-4-D but i dont have a dog fennel problem.. BAMA.. i have always wondered how there could be so much weed seeds in chicken manure, i mean there fed in a inclosed area with formulated feed how can there be so many weed seeds in it ? or could it be that the litter is so potent that it make every thing in sight grow even weeds that you normally dont see come alive
 
I've often wandered why manure has so many weeds. I decided a long time ago not to use it for that reasen. With the high cost of fertilizer I have started using it again. I have some more pictures to load. I'm at work right now and I have a 125 horse motor to put on a extruder. After that I'll try to get them off my laptop and posted.
 
Bama, The two chemicals did make a difference in the outcome of the fields. I have never used Grazon. Now it's too late for me to do anything since they are already blooming.

You've got a nice place there and some good lookin' cattle too.
Chuckie
 
You know i got to looking at the seed pods on butter cup weeds. And if you look at the last two pictures that Bama posted (look at the one with the close up of a butter cup plant) you can see the see pods. In the picture they look like a tiny cuckel burr or a green berry.

But the next time you are to where you can pull one off and examine it. You will see that pod is actually hundreds of butter cup seeds that are pressed together making the seed pod.

So i sort of think that at the time these seed pods are ready to spread their seeds. If it is a really windy day that the wind will carry these seeds for several hundred yards. Maybe even up to a half mile.

I have sprayed my hay meadows with grazon for the last 3 years now. And i never had any problems with butter cups until this year.

Bama i know that the pictures of the two feilds that you showed has one relatively clean feild as compared to the other. And you feel that the reason for that is because you used grazon on the one feild. But i would sure like to know what the results are next year if we are both still here on the site and you happen to think of it.

It looks like even in the feild that you sparyed the grazon on still yet has a few butter cups on it doesnt it ? Could it have been possible that the wind could of been blowing opposite of the clean feild into the infested feild ?
 
Chuckie,

Why is it to late to do anything since the butter cups are already blooming ? I Sprayed three feilds last week and they all had butter cups that were bloomed out in them and it killed the butter cups.

I usually try and weight until the broad leaf weeds have a chance to leaf out before spraying and this year the cool weather has sort of set things back a little here. I dont know what it is like in your area. But if they are just now blooming out i would not think it would be to late to spray them ?
 
The prevailing winds are from the infested field towards the not so infested field. So I'm sure that some of them are from seeds from the infested field. The noninfested field has some in it that does not border the infested field as well. I did not spray last year as there was not enough to recover the cost of spraying. As far as spraying after they bloom, I have to wait a little longer to get some other weeds. If I sprayed the buttercups before bloom I could get by with less chemical. The proble with this Is the other weeds have not came up. The picloram in the grazon would help pre emerge but I have found its better to wait until the other weeds have a little growth started. By waiting I can cover all of them with one spraying. I only have about a 2 week window for doing this. If I wait I have to use even more chemical and that can get more expensive. I can also switch over to surmount as it has a wider oppertunity range but it is more pricey than grazon. I will probally be spraying by mid week.
 
i only get butercups in the paster .none in the hay feilds.i cut them with my hay cutter an when they dry out an turn brown the cows eat them like candy.24d gets it but it will be back next year. i hate them thangs they take water fert and sun from the good grass, next year im spraying early spring before bloom.an see how that does. right now my pasters are yellow.but none ever in the hay fields.>>>>>>>>>tc
 
Stepper":zibi4vqp said:
Chuckie,

  • Why is it to late to do anything since the butter cups are already blooming
? I Sprayed three feilds last week and they all had butter cups that were bloomed out in them and it killed the butter cups.

I usually try and weight until the broad leaf weeds have a chance to leaf out before spraying and this year the cool weather has sort of set things back a little here. I dont know what it is like in your area. But if they are just now blooming out i would not think it would be to late to spray them ?
if you let them bloom they will still reseed. plus that late they well shade out the other grass's and compete for water. they dont have to be seen to kill em. they have plenty of leaf in winter to kill em. go out in the pasture in december and look on top of the ground they are there. alot of folks wait till they see em before they react. the plants will die the end of may. be prepared next year and get a jump on em in march
 
ALACOWMAN,

Thanks for the information. The weather has been sort of strange here this year so far. I normally spray my feilds toward the end of March or the first week of April. But we had a early warm up then it turned off cold again for about 3 weeks. And when it done that it slowed the grass & weed growth back. So i did not spray as early as i would like to of. Because alot of the broad leafs had just started putting on leafs. And i have always been told that the plants your tring to kill out has to have the leafs on them to assorb the chemical. So i probably messed up this year by waiting so late to spray. But i still needed to go ahead and spray the butter cups because like you said, they choke out or shade out the grass.
 
showphoto.php


Still trying to get the pics to show up. maybe this well work.


edited to add, nope I still ain't got it.
 
Yellow buttercup weeds are funny.

We have had a problem for the past 2-3 years with one 40 acre pasture field.This year we have very little in the field and the next adjacent 20 acre field is now yellow.....!!!!!!


Anyone else seen this happen?
 
Stepper,
I guess it's not too late to spray them, it would save a lot of your time from mowing and diesel fuel. I am trying to knock them down enough to let the grass and clover below it to get enough growth and root system to crowd it out next spring. Seems it wants to grow mostly in thin spots.
Chuckie
 
Heres what I'm spraying now.

110 gallon tank, 5th gear, 1500 rpm, 40 psi. 227 feet covered in 35 seconds. 24oz per head in 35 seconds.

96 oz grazon, 64oz 2,4-d, 48 oz topsurf ( surfactant ) per tankful

24 gallons solution per acre. 4.5 acres per tankfull.

$34.24 per tank, or $7.60 per acre chems. only


By adding more 2,4-d to the mix I cut down on picloram but will get the results I need at a cheaper rate.
 
I have noticed the cattle coughing when grazing around the buttercup. At first I thought it was a respiratory problem, then I realized they did it when they had their noses down in the flowers. I keep them beat down, but they grow faster than anything I have seen before.
Last year when I mowed them, I thought I was getting the flu. I coughed, sneezed, eyes watered so bad, and felt lousy. At first I blamed it on the windy conditions and the exhaust of the tractor blowing back in my face. It cleared up in a day or so. Then when I went back to mowing again, it showed back up. Any other time I am on the tractor, the exhaust has never bothered me.
When you read about the buttercup, it says it is very irritating to the cattle. I see them rubbing their noses real hard against objects and snorting to clear it out and coughing. A few of the little calves after grazing a bit, start breathing hard. It must affect them too. If they feel as bad as I did, then it is not good. It makes me think about the weight gain.
Bama, when you get through over there, could you come over here?
This year I will just have to keep it down till it goes dormant.
Chuckie
 

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