Grass maintenance

[B8FISH]

Keep your eyes open for a good used one--easier to justify! Once you have one, you may cut more than once a year--or keep some open trails through that section of your property for walks.

 

[Soundguy]

grass is pretty tough.. should be ok.

soundguy

 

[BeezFun]

What is the best approach to this? Would a bush hog be good for mowing this periodically? What about all the cut grass - will it choke out the lawn once cut? How often and when to cut? I have some neighbors with the same type property but have not met them yet to ask.

I'd buy a finish mower and use it once a year to do the long stuff- just raise it up all the way and go slow. It's bad for grass to cut a lot off at once. Pasture management books say never cut off more than a third of the length. Also the longer you let it grow the healthier it is and the better at staying green during a drought. I'd suggest mowing it often enough to keep it at the max height of your finish mower, that would keep the weeds down and the grass healthy.

 

[Soundguy]

tall grass is abusive to a finish mower AND the tractor... raising it just takes longer and ain't right...

brush hog tall grass then keep on it with a finish mower if need be for the manicured look.

 

[dave1949]

I'd buy a finish mower and use it once a year to do the long stuff- just raise it up all the way and go slow. It's bad for grass to cut a lot off at once. Pasture management books say never cut off more than a third of the length. Also the longer you let it grow the healthier it is and the better at staying green during a drought. I'd suggest mowing it often enough to keep it at the max height of your finish mower, that would keep the weeds down and the grass healthy.

When they cut grasses for hay around here, they take the whole stem. It regrows just fine for two or three cuttings per season.

You will get some matting when cutting tall grass, but the hog will chop it up some and the grass makes it way up through the mats. That is why I said it will not look great in the early Spring - I assume you live where it snows. It does come back though without problems.
Dave.

 

[tmshort]

Yeah, I am not looking to make this look like lawn. I like the taller grass, as combined with a few small hills it provides privacy from the road. Also like the habitat it provides for different animals, etc. Plus I have enough "lawn" to mow with the finish mower anyway.

Just looking for suggestions on management. It seems like the most common recommendation for now is bush hog in the fall...

 

[theboy2011]

I can understand not wanting to buy one if your just gonna use it once a year. once you make friends with your neighbors, see if they would either let you borrow theirs if they have one or if they will do it for you for a price. And if you are planning on putting in fruit trees you may want to cut the grass a little more often than once a year but that is personal preference.

 

[Michelle K linnane]

I have never understood the concept of brush hoggin once in the fall. If the the field has been let go, brushing it 3 or 4 times will help get the weeds down and promote more grass then weeds.
Even if you have no interest in haying by brush hoggin often you will get the grass to grow more then the weeds. If your field has many weeds waiting to cut it in the fall will only spread the seeds from the weeds. If you get the field so the hay would not be bad maybe somebody else would like to get the hay off, thus you do not have to do anything.
I had a great deal of milk weed and golden rod in some of my fields by spot mowing the milk weed off with lawn mower I had that stuff killed off in two years.
I find where I run over the grass more and really pack it down the red glover comes up very thick there, it never fails. I like clover as it mows down easy and cuts good with mower and does not get that high.
Depending on where you live burning in the spring might be an option. What does burning do?
Hope I did not get off track.
Good for soil
Burning improves agricultural land by releasing nutrients into the soil
Will improve grasses
Burning, particularly useful in large grasslands, enhances native grass-species composition and eliminates the buildup of ground litter. Burning removes old grass stems, standing dead vegetation, and ground litter; controls plant diseases; and helps control the spread of exotic plants and woody vegetation. It encourages growth of native warm-season grasses and forbs (if already present in the soil) and improves forage plant quality and quantity

 

[dave1949]

I have never understood the concept of brush hoggin once in the fall. If the the field has been let go, brushing it 3 or 4 times will help get the weeds down and promote more grass then weeds. .........................

It depends on what you are trying to accomplish. Where I grew up in NW Ohio with residential lots mixed in with the fields, a weedy patch would earn you dirty looks from the farming neighbors :laughing: They are strong believers in clean, straight rows. There is an economic reason for that, plus grass and weeds can booger up a corn sheller's snapping rolls. You get docked for soybeans and wheat with lots of weed seeds in them.

If you are in such an area, it is probably considered neighborly to not be a weed seed supplier.

On the other hand, multiple cuttings per year does promote grasses over weeds. You are creating a mono-culture that has reduced value to wildlife. What is good for wildlife is usually not what looks 'good' to us.

I don't have any row crop fields around me, so I don't need to take the farming downside of weeds into consideration.

For the richest wildlife habitat, what is really the best is to let it grow until your bush hog can barely handle getting it down, like 5-8 years or so. You will be allowing an early successional forest habitat to get started.
Dave.

 

[johnrex62]

For the richest wildlife habitat, what is really the best is to let it grow until your bush hog can barely handle getting it down, like 5-8 years or so. You will be allowing an early successional forest habitat to get started.
Dave.

On my place I have Giant Ragweed that will grow to 25 foot in a matter of weeks. I have to mow at least 4 times in the spring/summer to keep it at waist level.

The frequency of mowing depends on your goals and the type of vegetation you are trying to control.