Planting grass/clover/other after clearing

[dieselscout80]

Is that just dead grass on the field or soil? When you sow, you don't want any competition from old grass or weeds. Ken Sweet

No it was in the winter and the grass was dormant.

The current stand it thin. It has some crab grass in it and some persimmon trees the try to come up, but get mowed down a few times during the growing season.

 

[sweettractors]

No it was in the winter and the grass was dormant.

The current stand it thin. It has some crab grass in it and some persimmon trees the try to come up, but get mowed down a few times during the growing season.

I would definitely disturb that existing vegetation with a disc harrow or spray it down when it greens up with roundup. Ken Sweet

 

[dieselscout80]

I would definitely disturb that existing vegetation with a disc harrow or spray it down when it greens up with roundup. Ken Sweet

I was told to just use a no-till drill to plant fescue into the current stand of fescue.

 

[sweettractors]

I was told to just use a no-till drill to plant fescue into the current stand of fescue.

That will work, providing, you keep the old growth from competing with new seedings trying to get a root system established. We use cattle to graze a field until the drilled grass/clover germinated and then pull the cattle off. If you don't have cattle, you will need to partially destroy with chemicals or brush hog or a sickle mow or disc harrow to control part of your existing top growth or it will shade out your new growth. Ken Sweet

 

[dieselscout80]

That will work, providing, you keep the old growth from competing with new seedings trying to get a root system established. We use cattle to graze a field until the drilled grass/clover germinated and then pull the cattle off. If you don't have cattle, you will need to partially destroy with chemicals or brush hog or a sickle mow or disc harrow to control part of your existing top growth or it will shade out your new growth. Ken Sweet

I think horses might do although I'd rather have cows. Don't let my daughter see that. :thumbsup:

Which will be better no-till drill or spreading?

 

[sweettractors]

I think horses might do although I'd rather have cows. Don't let my daughter see that. :thumbsup:

Horses will work pretty well. They graze selective and will let parts of a field go untouched. Ken Sweet

 

[dieselscout80]

Horses will work pretty well. They graze selective and will let parts of a field go untouched. Ken Sweet

Which seeding method?

 

[davygp38]

We recently had 20 acres select cleared with a fecon grinding machine on a hydro ax and a rotary ax. All stumps were ground even with the ground however there are still a few stumps here and there from 10 years ago that were logged. After the clearing we then control burned the land to remove debris. There are still a good number of mature trees present so we will be getting partial shade/sunlight throughout. The soil test has been taken and sent off we just have not received the results back but from the looks of it we have some pretty good soil. No clay so far.

The plan is to plant the front 5 acres in fescue some will be finish mowed the other bush hogged. The next 7-8 acres in fescue clover mix and the remaining in fescue, bahia, corn, clover, etc for attracting turkey and deer.

The question is how would you do the prep on the soil. We have a 5 disk plow (it works great for the thrash roots and whatnot we will encounter from all the previous overgrowth) and can borrow a disk harrow and drag.

Should we plow it/disk it/ drag it then broadcast seed or could we get away with just disking and dragging then broadcast for the grass areas?

It will be a beast to plow with the trees that are remaining and we are trying to avoid plowing if possible because we are weekend warriors and this would take some time to do. If it needs to be done to do it right then we will do it but that will probably push us to seeding in the fall and we are trying to get this thing planted to help take root and start to fight off the privet and other weeds that may be trying to grow back.

Thanks for any help in advance.[/QUOTE We planted an area like the one you describe here, a few years ago. we had it logged, and scraped with a dozer, we did a soil test, limed and fertilized it, and the Clover came up like a Monster mix commercial. The next year we had an old pasture that was covered in grass, and weeds. We mowed it short, used round up, disked it in, and planted the same clover mix. Epic Fail! As soon as it rained the old grass seed, and weed seed started to compete with the clover. Even with grass specific weed killer $$, and aggressive mowing we were unable to salvage the site. So the next year, with my hat in hand, I went to the farm next door, and had a talk with the owner. His opinion was that soil in a forest setting, is relatively free of competing seeds. This makes it easier to control undesired grass in our clover. His advice for the field was that it might take a year or to to "sweeten it up." He said we should round it up, disk it, wait for it to green up, and round it up again, disk it, and either try it with seed, or round it up again, after any green up. My point is you will probably have good luck growing your mix in this woodland setting. I would not recommend too aggressive raking. We found that every time we raked it, we just kept bringing up more material, roots rocks etc. After the clover came up we mowed it, and hand picked the roots, and rocks as we found them, now it is pretty clean. I hope this helps, and good luck.