Best implement for removing native grass?

[Braden]

I used a bulldozer with a root rake to clear about 40 acres in the spring. Native grass grew back over the summer. I assumed I could remove it with a disc but the disc slices the dirt and the grass survives. What Implement should I use to get ready for grass seed.

 

[dangerdoc]

I'm thinking round up.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

sprayer

 

[john_bud]

Sprayer with Roundup will kill everything.

Sethoxidim will kill grasses and like round up has no residual effects, but takes 10 days to start to kill the grass. It's actually better for killing grasses in a field of clover or alphalpha.

 

[Egon]

Plow or a much heavier disk will also work.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Plow or a much heavier disk will also work.

Plow or disc won't REMOVE anything. They merely INCORPORATE the grass, roots, ect, into the soil.

 

[Egon]

Spraying only kills green things. The seeds remain to grow another day.

Plowing them under puts them to far under to sprout.

Plows seem to have been used for many acres of prairie that is now farmland.

 

[Farmwithjunk]

Spraying only kills green things. The seeds remain to grow another day.

Plowing them under puts them to far under to sprout.

Plows seem to have been used for many acres of prairie that is now farmland.

The covered wagon "seem to have been" the preferred choice to settle many millions of acres of prarie land. But we use trucks and airplanes TODAY. What worked in limited fashion 200 years ago isn't necissarily the #1 leading choice TODAY.


Plows "seem to have been" commonly used as LIMITED weed control UNTIL something BETTER came along. Plows first appeared several hundred years ago. As hard as it may seem to believe, we've made a little progress since then. Certain chemicals kill only what's green and growing. Spraying SOME chemicals AT THE RIGHT TIME kills germinated seed (newly emerging plants) Spraying pre-emergents take care of the rest. Not ALL chemicals are the same as RoundUp. Plowing puts seed under to sprout AT A LATER TIME. Plowing doesn't put ALL the seed at the bottom of the furrow. No consistancy in weed control with plowing. That's why crop science developments like chemical weed control were created. Tillage keeps down growth so long as it's an on-going, continual event. Eradication is the BEST way to consistantly CONTROL growth.

Plows are still used in some areas. They're used as a way of opening up soils, burying crop residue, helping to dry wet soils, ect. Their use as primary "weed control" is a thing of the past. SUCESSFUL crop operations, even those that still practice conventional moldboard plowing, also use chemical weed control as their primary line of defense against unwanted growth on their cropland.

 

[suncoast]

I have done both the spraying and the discing methods. When you spray, it does kill but you have the dead growth remaining to deal with. Discing is not a one time solution either. Down here the berry farmers when starting new fields will mow low, some then spray, some do not. All of them disc a few passes which covers most things. Then they disc again in a couple of weeks to rid any new growth. They disc, drag and roll many times 2 or 3 weeks after that. Some use an "S" tine harrow. This is just what I have seen them do for many years now.

 

[Egon]

Okay, so plows are old fashioned. Spraying is the way to go!!

But where do we start from???

How do we get from land covered in trees to cropable land???

The "No till method" may be a little difficult in heavy timber.