ovrszd
Epic Contributor
- Joined
- May 27, 2006
- Messages
- 33,499
- Location
- Missouri
- Tractor
- Kubota M9540, Ford 3910FWD, Ford 555A, JD2210
Excellent post.Not knowing where you are at, this might help or be totally worthless. I live on 68 acres in the Piney Woods of East Texas where the trees are worse then weeds. 200 years ago there where forest fires and the old trees choked out the small trees, but when people settled here, they cleared the land, then abandoned the land, and the land comes back super SUPER thick with trees growing inches apart. Pines, sweet gums and oaks will take over a cleared area in just a year. In two years, they are ten feet tall and impossible to walk through.
I've found that constant mowing eventually works. I like to clear an area with my backhoe by digging out the tree with the rootball attached. Then fill in the hole and compact it. The native Bahia and Coastal Bermuda grass will start to grow almost as soon as it rains in the Spring and Summer. It's very rare that I need to spread grass. Other weeds will mix in with the grass, but if I keep it mowed, the weeds become fewer and fewer. For some weeds, I've sprayed 2,4-D with good results. It's controlled, so you have to buy it by the quart to get it over the counter in my area.
For years, I mowed with a 37hp tractor and 6 foot rotary cutter. It got the job done, but I was never able to mow all of my land in a single year. I focused on the areas I felt where the most important, but I was in a losing battle in other areas. Last year I bought a 70hp tractor and 12 foot batwing. This has allowed me to mow my entire place 3 times last year. The difference is significant. Mowing several times has had a huge impact on what comes back. I'm still nowhere near where I want to be, but for the first time since owning my land, I can see it really getting where I want it!!!
I'm in the process of buying 40 acres in the Mabank area. It's totally different there. More open, much flatter, different soil, and tons of Mesquite. The coastal Bermuda is very impressive, but there are so many Mesquite trees there that it's impossible to hay it. I have to remove thousands of them, but since it's such a big project, and 62 miles away, I'll start in one area and work my way out. My plan is to spray the trunks with Remedy mixed with diesel. That seems to be the most common method at killing the Mesquite down to the root system. Then I will mow the saplings after they have died, and dig out the bigger trees with my backhoe. This will be a multi year, never ending project, but one that I'll start getting hay from as soon as I can, and then work on expanding the size of the hayfield until I'm haying all that I can off of the 40 acres.
Chemicals are expensive and require years of application. First year will give you measurable results, but from what I'm told, it takes five years, spraying in the Spring and again in the Fall, to get to the point that you don't have to keep spraying chemicals anymore.
I now look at hayfields differently. It's amazing how much work it took to create and maintain them!!!!
Your first point being the most important. Every area is different. In my country each farm can be quite different.