Advice needed on poorly performing section of Hay field.

[tmac196]

I am at a crossroads and in need of advice. I raise hay for our horses on my own property. This is our third hay season. One segment of my hay field, which encompasses about 40% of the entire field, is very under-productive. The grasses present are sparse, slow growing and the yield is next to nothing. Small clumps of grass are surrounded by patches of bare ground and in one low segment an invasive species of willow with it's expansive root system is beginning to creep farther and farther into the field choking out the grass and what little clover and alfalfa are present.

This segment of the field borders a creek whose banks are elevated slightly higher than the field due to the spoils left behind by county ditch commission contractors who have "cleaned" the ditch in years past and is separated from the rest of the hay field by a shallow swale which currently drains all of the run off from our barn, sheds and indoor riding arena roofs to the creek. The terminus of the swale at the creek is generally more moist and this is where I have the willow problem.

Our soil is pure yellow sand which percolates particularly well. The poorly performing segment of the field which I am in need of help with was used by the previous owner of the property as a location to spread the mixture of raw horse manure and pine shavings which the horses were bedded on for some time. I am told that the pine shavings are very acidifying and rob the soil of nitrogen as they decompose.

I checked with my local extension agent and my Co-op and received the same advice: Test the soil and, if need be, amend it, so I did. Here are the results from last fall. The segment of the field in question is labelled as "N" in this soil test.



Last fall, I subsequently applied the amendments recommended by the Co-op on the analysis sheet and waited. This spring we etched the surface of the field with a disc and "frost seeded" red clover. This was successful in establishing clover in the most productive areas of my field, but was an utter failure in the segment in question. I have fertilized this area twice (fall 2012 and spring 2013) with a granular combo fertilizer mixture provided by the Co-op and it has received lime once (fall 2012).

Disappointingly, the yield this year is no better.

So now what do I do? I have considered hitting the segment with Round Up, plowing it under and reseeding, adding more lime (pH was 6.2 on the soil test analysis), attempting to renovate the field with a ripper and more fertilizer after the pH is more neutral, discing it up now vs. next spring and reseeding, etc.

Any learned advice will be appreciated.

 

[jeff9366]

This kind of situation is hard to analyze via the internet.

Your problem seems to be poor drainage in the "bad" section. Willows seek water.

I would first dig an inspection hole 48" deep in the bad section, climb in and observe the soil cross section. Is there a layer of hardpan or something else holding water near the surface? Inspection may define the problem.

Can you somehow trench around the bad section to give the water someplace to go? Can you ditch to take the roof runoff somewhere else?

Eliminate the willows. Cut them down and spray the FRESH stumps with a "stump killer" herbicide. You want to kill those invasive roots as well as the tree trunk.

Then consider breaking up the subsoil and willow roots with a Chisel Plow or a Moldboard Plow, down 8" - 12", which is normally sufficient for pasture grass. (A Disc Harrow will not get you deep enough to correct a drainage problem.) (A Chisel Plow can disturb subsoil deeper than a Moldboard Plow.)

After plowing, Disc Harrow as needed to break up clods, drag and seed.

Check with your county ag agent. Often they have sub-soiling implements for rent.

You would have to spread a lot of pine shavings to increase soil acidity much in the root zone. The manure should have provided some nitrogen to decompose the Pine shavings into humus.



CHISEL PLOW LINKS:

Buckeye Tractor Online Catalog Page 14-01 Chisel Plows

BRILLION Chisel Plow


LINKS TO THE T-B-N ARCHIVE "HAY FIELD DRAINAGE":

https://www.google.com/search?clien...tractorbynet.com&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&gws_rd=ssl

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=French+drain+site:tractorbynet.com

 

[Deerherd]

IMHO your excessive phosphorous levels are locking out the micro-nutrients, most likely iron and zinc. Even though the phosphorous levels are high in both fields, the NW field has more micro-nutrients available. Under high phosphorous conditions, iron and zinc are quickly converted to non-available forms so adding them to the soil is hard. Foliar sprays may be your only option.

I would make sure whatever fertilizer you use in the future is low in phosphorous, stay away from organic composts and manures. Over time phosphorous converts to increasingly stable forms and if you watch what you apply you will be fine.

 

[Gary Fowler]

I cant comment as to the cause but since you said the county dredged the creek and piled up the spoils, I think that is your problem. Any time a spoil pile is made from deeply dredged soil, it is basically dead for several years. I think it is lacking the microbes normally found in top soil and it take several years for them to develop. We cleaned out one of our ponds and used the dredging to make a higher levee. Nothing, not even a weed would grow on it for 3 years, grass seed wouldn't even germinate on it. It has started to grow grass on some areas now (5 years later)but others are still bare. As to how to fix it, time will fix it eventually but I don't know what the quick fix is.

 

[tmac196]

Here is a satellite image which may help explain the situation better. This satellite image was obtained in the fall of 2012. It was approximately 3 months after we had taken possession of the property and it shows the extent of the manure and pine shavings spread on the segments of the field in question probably during the spring of the year that we took possession of the property. To the south of the swale is the well performing segment of the hayfield. To the north and to the north east of the swale are the segments to which I am referring:


Gary Fowler- I don't want to overemphasize the spoils. They merely represent a small portion of the field near the creek and then a spoils that are present have been there for approximately 18 years which is the last time the creek was actually cleaned out. According to the previous owner, the spoils were left at the edge of the creek and not spread back onto the field.

Deerherd- your comments are very helpful. I was thinking about spreading manure on the field this winter and then discing it in uring the spring. That certainly would only make my phosphorus levels higher. I don't understand enough about phosphorus and cation chemistry, but I can certainly take this up with the chemist at the lab that performed my soil testing.

Jeff9366- the satellite image shows just how much more application of manure and pine shavings are present in the poorly performing areas of the field. The soil testing was at the root level and the pH was 6.2. Something caused this segment of the field to be more acidic than the rest of the field (pH of 6.9). To my knowledge, pine shavings had been spread on this segment of the field intermittently for several years. Thank you for the tip, I will check with my agricultural extension agent about chisel plow availability, but somehow I suspect this is not going to be the case in our county. I was unable to rent a seed drill from the extension office 2 years ago at that time, the agent told me that they had no implements available and that, "We haven't done that for years". I can easily dig an inspection hole with a post hole digger and will do so and let you know what I find.

 

[tmac196]

Update:

The soil has been tested and the results are pending. In the meantime, we have begun experimenting with a chisel plow and a disc harrow. I have included some videos of the process below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YZAPznB_gYE&list=UUI9EPMDqQwCnyYzoYM685UA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaYRQU-QLaM&index=5&list=UUI9EPMDqQwCnyYzoYM685UA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JlXGiEHiUY&list=UUI9EPMDqQwCnyYzoYM685UA&index=6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p1LSUgc5YZ4&index=7&list=UUI9EPMDqQwCnyYzoYM685UA

This technique produced smaller clumps of sod which would require, we thought, too many passes with a harrow to make it economical. The current plan is to mouldboard plow. This will provide, we believe, a more effective soil inversion bringing the subsoil to the surface and burying the topsoil and weeds in the process.

More to come.

 

[Deerherd]

Replacing those narrow sweeps with turning sweeps on the chisel plow would give you the desired results but would be expensive. My chisel plow is only 8' but turns all the soil for it's complete width.

Looking good!

 

[tmac196]

Time to update this post.

We used the mouldboard plough in late September and that worked extremely well in my sandy soil.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5jQ1iFw7ZE

Once ploughed, soil amendments were made to regional areas of the field based upon soil test results. The following clip exemplifies our inexperience farming as it took us a while to realize that we should broadcast the amendments while driving along the furrows in parallel, rather than across them (especially with a two wheeled cart).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CSwrH5fnwuM

Next, I made several passes with a disc harrow to break up the sod clumps and the roots which were turned over by the plough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vtDELG-aG_8

That is as far as we have gotten as fall has turned to winter.

Soon I pan to run a homespun drag (3 railroad ties tethered together by 2 foot lengths of chain) to fill in what is left of the furrows and to level the undulations. After that, cultipack till the seedbed is firm. Subsequently,I plan to broadcast seed alfalfa, Orchard grass, Timothy and festulolium grasses and cultipack the seeds into the seedbed.

More to come.

 

[jeff9366]

I watched all three videos. I especially like #1, plowing. How deep did you plow??

Do you own all those nice implements? I never see a bohunkey plow like that in Florida.

There is a lot of commercial hay in my area. Farmers always get two crops of hay per year + melons in summer. Tillage is done with 24" diameter Disc Harrows mostly, with a drag behind.

No drainage problems here. We have sandy-loam which drains to the nearby Suwannee River or seeps into the aquifer. It can rain hard but you can take a tractor into the field 24 hours later. Almost all tractors have R4 tires.

Nice dirt but requires irrigation in the summer.

 

[tmac196]

I watched all three videos. I especially like #1, plowing. How deep did you plow??

Do you own all those nice implements? I never see a big, bohunkey plow like that in Florida.

There is a lot of commercial hay in my area. Farmers always get two crops of hay per year + melons in summer. Tillage is done with 24" diameter Disc Harrows mostly.

No drainage problems here. We have sandy-loam which drains to the nearby Suwannee River or seeps into the aquifer. It can rain hard but you can take a tractor into the field 24 hours later. Almost all tractors have R4 tires.

Nice dirt but requires irrigation in the summer.

The big International and 6 bottom plough belong to my neighbor whom I hired to do the job. He had not used that plough in over 15 years (he chisel ploughs exclusively now), but was glad to get it out and "have at it". The depth was 16" in yellow sand which are what my fields consist of. The 8 foot disc belongs to another neighbor who allowed me to borrow it to work the field. The discs are 18" on the harrow.