Texas Fall/Winter thread!

[jinman]

It was 41 F here this morning. The Bowie airport reported 45 F at 7:30, but it seems I'm always a bit cooler than there. I got a frantic call from my new neighbor who built a house on my old property. He said it looking like a big brush fire was burning on the back part of my place. I stepped out on the deck and didn't see or smell smoke, so I walked through the dew-wet grass to the top of the hill and looked to the backside of my place. Sure enough, it looked like smoke as I laughed to myself. It was fog rising up off our lake.:laughing: The neighbor has a perfect view across the valley, but can't see the surface of the water for the trees. It just looked like smoke to him. As the weather cools, he'll get plenty of chances to see that. Some mornings the fog extends all in the valleys and gullies around here an gives an eerie, but beautiful view.

FG, why would you want a spring-tooth over a normal disk harrow? Are you hoping to pull the clumps of KR bluestem up by the roots? I have a couple of old horse-drawn spring-tooth sections that are pretty ragged, but work great to smooth fill soil. If I used them much, I'd probably want to put a spreader bar on the front and maybe make them more rugged in places. A horse-drawn style spring-tooth is really not going to hold up for long behind a tractor. My dad had three sections and gave one to my uncle to use behind his mule. When my dad passed, I inherited these two sections. The only mule I've used them behind is my Kawasaki Mule. I would think you'd want a spring-tooth designed for a 3PH. I can see where they would be very expensive if you were lucky enough to even find one. The disc-harrow has about completely replaced these.

 

[scott_vt]

Edit: I'd tell you how cool it got last night, but I slept in until 8 AM this morning and then got up and made sausage, biscuits, and gravy for breakfast.:licking:

Good Mornin Jim,
By the sounds of breakfeast you hit your target weight allready, that does sound real good !

Also congrats on your new status, Epic Contributor...

 

[Western]

Jim, that Harrow is pure beauty!! Love the "old" implements:thumbsup:

FG, I have killed allot of BS just by heavy discing or light plowing in the driest heat of summer, I never got it all, but sure knocked it back. Its tough, but doesn't like it when the roots dry out in the open air in my experience.

 

[lostcreekranch]

Y'all got any idea where a person could pick up a true Spring Tooth Harrow, worth the money? The doggone KR Bluestem is taking over, and the best means of trying to control it that I can find is to rip it 2" deep with a harrow, this next Spring. I'd be pulling it with the JD 1050, so won't have a lot of HP to spare, so can't go a lot of tines. Thanks for any help.

Just one more example of someone having introduced non-native species into our eco-system. I wish the "powers that be" would learn from the mistakes of the past, such as this invasive grass.

FG;

Would a landscape rake do what you want?



Rick

 

[jinman]

Good Mornin Jim,
By the sounds of breakfeast you hit your target weight allready, that does sound real good !

Also congrats on your new status, Epic Contributor...

Hi Scotty, I've not not quite hit my target weight, but sometimes you just have to splurge a bit. Thank goodness I don't have a big jug of dark amber maple syrup to tempt me all the time. I'm afraid I'd be splurging more often than I do now.

I noticed yesterday that I was approaching Epic Contributor status. I have no idea what post put me over the top. I try to not look at that much. It's like proof positive of my addiction.:ashamed:

 

[robbyr]

Would 2-4D not work on the grass y'all talking about? Not familiar with it.

 

[Western]

Would 2-4D not work on the grass y'all talking about? Not familiar with it.

That is best for broad-leaf plants. the Little Blue stem and the "larger" variety are a thin type grass , I would bet $5 you have some on your place

I think the King ranch set that stuff loose years ago.

 

[Lou66]

That is best for broad-leaf plants. the Little Blue stem and the "larger" variety are a thin type grass , I would bet $5 you have some on your place

I think the King ranch set that stuff loose years ago.

Dennis the county planted it along side the roads down here.. all of the county and state highway in Brazoria county has it.. I use Hondo with a wick to keep it out of my Jigg field.. I let it grow in the back pasture.. cows and horses eat it when it young..plus I mow about four times a year in the back.. Which I am doing now.. Lou

 

[farmgirl19]

That is best for broad-leaf plants. the Little Blue stem and the "larger" variety are a thin type grass , I would bet $5 you have some on your place

I think the King ranch set that stuff loose years ago.

I'd bet more than $5! This stuff got started because the Gov't (why am I not surprised?) thought it a great idea to seed the areas next to roadways with it! Now it is nothing more than an invasive grass, that nothing wants to eat.

I have tried to keep it mowed, with the brush hog high enough so as to not encourage spreading, just trying to keep the seed heads from "ripening". Saturday afternoon, I was driving in from work, and went by the pastures that I get my hay out of, and I could see the seed heads throughout those fields. I have a lot of burmuda grass still, but this stuff invades and pushes everything else out, so I want to try to limit its movement and spread in my pastures, and even rip the ROW to slow it down there, so it can't continue to spread into pastures from there.

I don't think a landscape rake will penetrate my soil enough, and yes, I want to rip this stuff up by the roots! I am not sure just a disc it will do the damage to the Bluestem, that I want to do. If we were ever in a good, rainy summer, I could do a summer burn. However, with the burn ban always in place, that wouldn't even be an option. According to what I have read, confirmed by what pacerron posted, chemicals are useless against it. If one rips, then uses chemicals for a year, they claim some success. I can't do that, as I can't leave all of the pastures dormant like that. Hate chemicals anyway!

So, I am looking for a reasonably priced Spring Tooth Harrow, or Ripper to hook to the 3 pt hitch, not the drawbar, of the 1050, to declare war on this invasive grass, come next Spring. Yep, a new, all consuming hobby/task, but since I haven't needed to mow much due to limited rain the past few years, maybe this will give me a really good reason to get some seat time!

 

[farmgirl19]

Dennis the county planted it along side the roads down here.. all of the county and state highway in Brazoria county has it.. I use Hondo with a wick to keep it out of my Jigg field.. I let it grow in the back pasture.. cows and horses eat it when it young..plus I mow about four times a year in the back.. Which I am doing now.. Lou

Lou; What are you using in your wick set up to control it, glyphosphate?