time to change from weeds to grass

[hazmat ranger]

Or, if you're planning on using herbicides and are going to mow & till/disc to smooth lumps: mow & till, fertilize and seed then, when established, 2,4D for trouble spots.
I'm hitting some thistle in one spot of an area I graded and seeded a coue years ago.

 

[v8only]

ok so from what i gathered i should do something like this:

cut down the weeds low, use 2,4,D, harrow, seed and then run a rail road tie over to level/bury the seed.

 

[Ted Summey]

How quickly do you want results? Mowing at the proper height for the species of grass that you want is important. Plus frequent mowings to clip the least amount off the top allows for the preferred species to strengthen and begin to crowd out the weeds. Cutting too short or cutting off too much at a time stunts the grass and kills off the roots. Plus cutting too short allows weeds to begin to take over. For tall fescue 3.5" to 4.5 inches is ideal.

If you have some grass you want to keep, 2-4-D is the way to go. You can begin a spraying routine now to begin to eliminate the broadleaf weeds BUT leave the grasses. In the fall, plug the yard, overseed and fertilize. Next spring weed and feed and mow. After you have mowed at least twice, spray again with 2-4-d.

Repeat the whole process. Eventually you can quit spraying as often.

This method avoids tilling the whole yard up. It takes patience but can renovate without all the tilling mulching etc. It will allow existing preferred species to stay in place and you will have less chance of erosion as well. The draw back is it takes attentiveness for at least three years to get a fairly clean stand off grass but it does work.

 

[v8only]

Ted i am ok with that!

thanks for all the help boys.

 

[v8only]

hey all so its time to start thinking about changing from weeds to grass, over the summer i had a skid steer on my property and there are now ruts and trenches that need to be leveled out. I have been thinking of buying an old spring harrow to rip up the weeds/grass and dig deep to break up the heavy clay, then run the tiller over it to get rid of the chunks, harrow, seed and run over with a railroad tie.

Is the spring harrow necessary? i feel that using it will have alot less stress on the tiller/tractor on 3 acres of land of constant high rpm tilling?

the spring harrow i am describing looks like this: