newly planted alfalfa full of weeds

[WTA]

I'm pretty annoyed about this. I spent the entire year keeping the field disced up and sprayed to eradicate all the weeds and I planted 5 acres worth of alfalfa seed 2 weeks ago. I know my field was completely void of anything other than a few small patches of Bermuda. I even irrigated the bare dirt out there to make the weeds grow on purpose then I would spray and disc them in before any went to seed. Nothing has grown in it for at least two months at all. Now it is thick with alfalfa but also careless weeds and silver nightshade. The seed dealer bought some bad seed but he won't refund my cost in it or offer any help in replanting so now I guess I'm kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place. Most of my property is planted in Giant bermuda that we bale for horse hay and this is my first attempt at alfalfa. I know the 2 4 D I use in the bermuda for weeds will kill the alfalfa and nothing I can find is labeled for alfalfa since it's a broadleaf weed itself.
Does anyone have any ideas how to kill the weeds out of freshly planted alfalfa or should I just mow it off a couple times before our first freeze. The two weeds we have the most out there normally don't come back after a freeze but if they go to seed I'll have an even bigger problem.
I've been warned by everyone around here not to mow or graze the alfalfa till next spring when the roots are deep but these weeds got to go.
I'm looking for ideas. Thanks.

 

[jimg]

If you bought certified seed you may have some recourse. Are the weeds you mentioned annuals? If so mowing might be the entire solution. At any rate mowing would be a good first step...you dont need more weed seeds. You might also drill in some annual rye which will suppress weeds and contribute to your crop. The rye out competes the weeds and is an allelopathic. You should run this by your county agent to get an idea of how much to plant for weed control.

 

[TNhobbyfarmer]

I The rye out competes the weeds and is an allelopathic.

I just gotta know. What is an allelopathic?

 

[jimg]

In short it poisons other emerging plants around it. Thats one of the ways it out competes. Do a goggle on rye and weed control...interesting stuff!

 

[redlevel]

In short it poisons other emerging plants around it. Thats one of the ways it out competes. Do a goggle on rye and weed control...interesting stuff!

It is one reason it can be tough to get a good stand of no-till soybeans in wheat stubble.

 

[WTA]

The seeds were purchased by a neighbor who also has a serious weed problem. He planted earlier in the year and harvested more careless weed than alfalfa but with the numbers of this particular weed we have in the area he thought they were just dormant seeds in the ground causing problems. There's no way on my property that is the case. I'm way too picky about weeds since my warmblood almost died a couple years ago after eating some nightshade. That's a particularly bad one for horses. It's got a prickly stem and horses don't normally touch them but my horse is a weird one. Must be his European heritage.

Anyway, I asked the neighbor where he got the seeds and tried contacting the place but they swear there isn't a weed problem in them. I know better. I just don't have weeds like that here any more. I understand the seeds can lay dormant for years but that's why I plowed, irrigated, plowed some more and sprayed like I did. I think I killed nearly everything down to about 18 inches. These weeds are annuals so if I can get them out of there I should be ok by next spring. One additional problem I just noticed is that these weeds are producing seed stalks in the first 6 inches where they normally grow about 3-4 feet tall before sprouting seeds. Wherever they came from they adapted to being harvested fairly regularly.

We plant wheat, Rye and triticali in our two West pastures BTW every fall. I just finished last week. The Rye does suppress a lot of weeds in the field. I still have to spray some for the nightshade but not near as much as I used to.
It's too late to overseed the alfalfa without harming a lot of the good crop in that field. I broadcast and dragged it in since we don't have a small grain drill. I only have an old JD DR-A. It's nicely restored and works great on wheat but alfalfa and small grass seeds just run right through it like water. This year I hope to get a new Brillion if I can sell the JD drill. I want one I can do grass crops with so I don't have to broadcast anymore. I'm hoping to make some money off doing other peoples pastures too since noone in the county has a grass drill.

 

[Mike120]

If the weeds are higher than the alfalfa you can use a weed-wiper to kill them. I use one in my hay fields to kill the johnson grass that tries to sneak in.

 

[WTA]

The ag extension agent suggested that here earlier in the year for the same problem you have. We have a few small patches of johnson grass in our bermuda pasture. That stuff is a booger to get control of. The only thing is I can't find one around here and I'm a little hesitant to make one. Lately I've been on a buying new equipment kick. I got tired of all the homemade and antique equipment around here. It just doesn't pay when your trying to make a living off a small farm. Do you have any sources on a weed wiper? I'm guessing that one is a wick type system. All I have now is a 20 foot boom sprayer by Wylie.

Mike120, I just noticed you're only on the other side of town from me. What kind of hay are you growing? The ag extension agent was funny this year. Last year he told me it would be very hard to impossible getting my giant Bermuda established on our farm. I sowed the seed on 7 acres by hand and watered and fertilized the tar out of it all year. We only had an inch of rain that whole growing season. This year I got 4 cuttings off it that were over 300 bales each so I must have done something right. He couldn't believe the looks of it when he visited this year.

 

[jimg]

Im surprised that its too late to plant rye. Up here its just becoming prime time for that. If its just about the drill could you borrow one from the coop or farm rental store?

Im not familiar w/ a weed wiper...what do they look like?

If you wind up w/ a patchy alfalfa field after killing the weeds what are you going to do?

BTW that Bermuda field sounds really good! What variety is it? When you say seed I assume thats really seed vs sprigs....right? I was thinking about planting a cool season grass on my place but after this summer Im strongly considering Bermuda. Im planning to drill in Rye in the late summer for an early first cut. Have you tryed that?

 

[WTA]

It's not to late to plant Rye, Only too late to use my drill. It's an antique but works perfectly. The problem is with the angled coulters on it. It's going to dig a furrow about every 8 inches and only leave about a 1 inch wide path of undisturbed dirt between them. There goes most of the alfalfa seedlings.

We planted a mix of Tifton 85, Giant Bermuda and common bermuda April of last year. By mid summer I had it all up and very few bare spots. I started grazing it then.
This spring it got almost waist deep by late April and we've baled every 28 days since then. For the 7 acres it took 1600 pounds of nitrogen after each cutting and about 4 inches worth of irrigation to make the 28 day deadline on it. Bermuda really starts dropping nutritional value fast after 28 days.
It was well worth the hassle getting it established though. To my knowlege I'm the only local grower of bermuda hay and I don't have any problem at all selling it. We're planning another 7 acre planting of the same stuff next April. I'm going to drill this time though somehow. There isn't any place to borrow a grass drill. I've checked everywhere I could think of. The county doesn't have one any more. I know the man well that runs the city farm and they sold theirs off long ago too. He owns it now but it's an antique converted grain drill like mine with grass seeder attachments. It plants on 8 inch rows too. That takes too long to establish. I'm just going to have to buy one.

Where you are at irrigation shouldn't be a concern at all. It would grow a lot better there. Bermuda is a warm season grass though. It grows best above 80 degrees. Below about 68 it almost stops growing and it goes dormant probably around 65 deg ground temp. When the ground is held constantly at that temp. The seed won't even sprout untill 72 degrees I think so plant it in the spring when all chances of a frost are past. They recommended planting in June here but I went for April and took my chances. I was out sowing seed just a couple days after our last snow in April when it warmed up suddenly. That last year was weird here. The first snow was in Oct and the last in April but we had some days in the 70's and 80's all the way through December before it got Nasty cold. Lubbock weather has got to be the strangest in the country.
This was taken last August I think. Just a few months after we planted it.