have a new property and its OVERGROWN

[seanhoffman]

Looking for advise...I have a new property approx 20 ac in size that has been left unattended for several years....I would like to rid myself of the weeds and reestablish the pasture....other than the obvious(bush hog...already done) what should I do to re-establish grasses vs weeds....My first inclination is to run a set of disks then broadcast seed....Im concerned that all of the cut weeds are just going to bind up and the disk would be innafective....has anyone out there been in my shoes??? If so, I'm all ears!

 

[WH401]

One of my fields, about 2 - 3 acres in size, was bush hogged once a year for about 25 years straight. It was anything from weeds to small trees to briars to tall grass. About 5 years ago I started just mowing it regularly about every 1 - 2 weeks with the rest of the place and it now grows nice lush green grass, with no extra work needed.

I would attempt bush hogging first and see where that gets you. Then try mowing it regularly with a finish mower for a few weeks and see what kind of grass layer you get out of it.

 

[MikeInEburg]

How much of a hurry are you in? If there is a grass base, I'd just mow it once a month for the rest of the growing season and see where you stand when winter arrives. If you want to be more aggressive, you could also apply herbicide (2-4-D or similar) to kill off the broadleaf vegetation.

Best of luck!
Mike

 

[cspot]

If you are looking for a quick fix, you could roundup the field to kill everything, plow, disc, reseed. If you have some time like WH401 said if you keep mowing every couple weeks, the grass will take over. Weeds, briars and trees can't take mowing every couple weeks. It will take a year or two before you get really nice grass. Also get a soil sample and see what it needs for lime and fertilizer. That will help it also.

 

[Gordon Gould]

I had a small field and an old log landing that were rasberries, milkweed and goldenrod. I just started mowing about one a month as said above and now have very nice grass kn both places. Took about one seasons to start seeing a change and after two there was a big difference.

 

[twarr1]

I'll second everyone who says mow it regularly. I had a coastal pasture that had been neglected for several years and was full of weeds, some 6-7 feet tall. I mowed it regularly for 2 seasons and now it's lush and weed-free except for a few little spots of Johnson grass.
I realize Bermuda is pretty aggressive (in the summer), but I'm sure the technique would work with other grasses.

 

[flusher]

Looking for advise...I have a new property approx 20 ac in size that has been left unattended for several years....I would like to rid myself of the weeds and reestablish the pasture....other than the obvious(bush hog...already done) what should I do to re-establish grasses vs weeds....My first inclination is to run a set of disks then broadcast seed....Im concerned that all of the cut weeds are just going to bind up and the disk would be innafective....has anyone out there been in my shoes??? If so, I'm all ears!

You need a heavy offset disc to cut through the stubble left by the brush hog. Mine is an old 7-ft Towner disc, pretty heavy itself but I add about 500 lb of concrete weights to get it to work better. You need to run a disc like this fast--5 to 6 mph- to get it to work effectively. You only need to till the soil 3-4 inches for grass planting.



I attach a tire drag to the disc to bust up the clods. I disc a 6-acre hayfield (Kanota oats). I got the disc and the tires gratis from several neighbors. Spent about $100 for new disc pans.

Broadcast the grass seed since you're planting pasture instead of a hay crop (I use a 10-ft wide grain drill to plant oats on my hayfield).

 

[seanhoffman]

The main reason I ask is because I wanted to seed in either rye or winter wheat while i still can...the optimum planting dates have me planting right now......with all the left over debris I'm not sure if I can wait for it to break down enough to plant through it. I have a bottom plow and I gave that a whirl on a few passes just to see......the debris just accumulated and eventually popped my plow right out of the ground.....I'm going to buy a disk tomorrow and give it a try.....Being new to all of this all advise is appreciated and will apply.

 

[Ford tractor]

I have a bottom plow and I gave that a whirl on a few passes just to see......the debris just accumulated and eventually popped my plow right out of the ground.....
.

Huh???

No way will green trash cause a bottom plow to "pop right out of the ground". A bottom plow when used correctly, will flip the top 6-8" of soil over upside down leaving a nice dirt only view. You either have a broken coulter wheel or some other issue -- probably a setup issue. A bottom plow is pushed down under the ground by design that's why it takes so much draw bar hp to pull.

Fix your issue with the plow and use it, it's your best bet for prepping the field.

 

[Carykong]

I ran a disc over my field in June which I normally hog about three times a year. My field is full of weeds,goldenrod,gum tree seedlings. Anyway ,after I disced the field,penetrating the turf only an inch or so, beautiful green burmuda took over and dominated the field this entire summer.