chickweed problem

[scvfd7241]

I have a newly trying to establish hay field, that has been taken over by chickweed. I cut the hay off of the field last fall, which was fair quality, after cutting the last cutting last year I broad casted fescue seed. I just went to check on the field for the first time this spring and found that 90% of the field is chickweed. There is some grass that I can see that just hasn't broke through the chickweed yet. What do I need so that I can get hay off the field the rest of the year. Could I just wait and let the chickweed die out naturally, do I need to go ahead and bush hog it to give the grass a chance, or would spreading be cost effective this late.

 

[luvmexfood]

I would probably attack it ASAP with a herbicide such as 2 4 D. Pretty sure it kills chickweed and you can still harvest the hay afterwards. Something like 3 weeks but the product label will tell you for sure.

 

[mattv1]

2,4-D for Managing Broadleaf Weeds

Several common broadleaf weeds are resistant to 2,4-D, even though the label specifies it will control them. For this reason, glyphosate or herbicides that contain dicamba, such as the various Trimec products, may be more effective to kill black medic, mouseear chickweed, and creeping bellflower, and sometimes field bindweed.

a quick search shows several forum postings that say 24d worked for them though --- so I'd give it a try. 24d is cheap and readily available...go after it

 

[Lawnman TX]

If you use a combination product such as weed master, grazon p+d it will have a better knockdown than a stand alone product. Also any metsulfuron product is a cheap way to boost the effectiveness of 2,4-d