For all the hay experts; Help!

[DMF]

Milk weed: How do I get rid of it?

Actually I have two separate issues. The first is milkweed in my hay field. Last year, I hand-picked a couple of wagon loads out of approximately 3 or so acres. I did the soil test, found I needed to lime the soil (not a big surprise) and while I couldn’t lime at the rate they suggested, I got pretty close. My plan was to try to correct it more this fall. This weekend, I picked about half a wagon load out of that same area; better but still not milkweed-free. One other thing I noticed while picking the milkweed, there seemed to be a lot of different weeds as well.

My other issue concerning milkweed is the following: above my hay fields there is about 6 or so acres that used to be planted in corn. I haven’t done anything with that area because it’s too rocky for me to get hay growing, I’m sure the soil is very acidic (although I haven’t tested it yet) and I’d actually like to get some woods started in that area. I have birch and pine trees that have started to invade that area; some of the birches are over 10’ tall with the pines being maybe 5’ or so. There is some raspberries growing there as well but the majority of the hillside is covered with milkweed.

So my main concern is how do I get rid of the milkweed (and the other weeds) in my hayfield?
Will annual applications of lime eventually sweeten the soil to the point where it won’t “want” to grow there?
How do I get rid of the milkweed out of the un-maintained acreage? I’m sure all that milkweed going to seed up there does not help my attempts to eliminate it from the hay…
I really don’t want to be brush hogging that area all the time.

For reference, my hay field consists of Timothy, Orchard grass and (an increasingly) large amount of clover.

Thanks for any and all suggestions!

 

[zzvyb6]

Milkweed is the Official Food of Monarch butterfly caterpillars. Maybe there's some profit to be made here gathering the juice for the current Monarch scarcity problem.

On the other hand, your mower conditioner will float them to the top of a windrow. Buy a 4 wheeler and cruise the windrows to collect them up. Works for me. Then they don't reappear in next season's crop. They seem to come and go. My horses eat them like potato chips. Turn black when dried, though.

 

[DMF]

Forgot to mention, we use a disc cutter, no mower conditioner...

Our customers don't like the weeds at all so I really need to try to get rid of them...

 

[Toiyabe]

As a young boy I used to cut the milkweed out of my dad's hayfield in southern NH with a sickle. I spent a day or two at it each summer for a few years in a row, and the milkweed gave up - totally disappeared from that field. I think it also helped that we went over to cutting the field earlier and more regularly about that time.

I think the justification was that the milkweed held too much moisture, which was bad for the hay. I feel kinda bad about that now, though.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Aim does a good job controlling milkweed but it will damage your clover also. If you want to keep your clover you can always go with a wick applicator to apply Aim to just the milkweed.

 

[NoMo]

Any of the "2,4-D" type products will knock out the milkweed. Unfortunately, it'll also kill other broadleafs like clover. Still, you could use it on the old corn field.

Without chemicals, I've had good luck with control by mowing. Just have to mow before the pods mature and those darn seeds fly off. Now, if I could just get my neighbor to de-weed his 600+ acres so those plants aren't re-seeding my land!