Bare spots in coastal field

[trooper632]

I have several Bare spots in my coastal field where it just seemed to have disappeared. what is the best way to get it back, I have been told to chisel the field in early spring not to deep but to disturb the ground and when it rains it should crawl or grow to the area. Any suggestions?

 

[Tx Jim]

Disturbing the soil and if similar to where I live pray for rain. Of course fertilize after grass comes out of dormancy.

 

[Gary Fowler]

If true coastal, just pull up some sprigs from your field and plant them in the bare spots. I helped my Dad sprig about a 10 acre field with coastal sprigs. We just dropped a sprig of grass about ever step, threw a bit of dirt on it and let it grow. By end of the first year it had covered the entire field. We got our sprigs from a stand of grass growing behind an old cotton gin and we just pulled the grass up by hand. You don't need roots, just grass sprigs to propagate most Bermuda species as each joint will sprout roots if covered with dirt.

You can do the same thing with St. Augustine grass for your lawn. I did that in my first house. I couldn't afford to put in sod, so I went to a fence line by a school and the grass was very tall, just pulled up a bunch of it and sprigged my lawn in the spring and kept it watered well. By spring of the following year it was fully covered. This was in Houston Texas so it grew all winter also.

 

[econometrics]

What Gary Fowler said will probably work the best for you.

Like Tx Jim, I disturb my soil in the late winter / very early spring. Last year I took my 6' disc and ran a few strips into my pastures with it. And I disc'd up the ground pretty good, too. It was nearly just dirt on those strips. By late May, those strips were the tallest, greenest coastal grasses in all my pastures. And many people cautioned that I would have weeds for doing it, but that never happened. (Might have just gotten lucky, ha!)

 

[trooper632]

Did yall drag it after discing it to smoth it back out, So now would be a good time to do it?

 

[econometrics]

Did yall drag it after discing it to smoth it back out, So now would be a good time to do it?

Yes, I ran a drag back and forth a few times to smooth it out some, then late nature do the rest.

 

[trooper632]

Ok thanks

 

[msch2112]

I had some bare spots on one pasture of ours with grass/alfalfa mix field. My yield had also been down. Paid a guy to run a pasture aerator on it and yield increased 50% last year! This year I bought a pasture aerator and am going to do all fields.

Mike