Hey guys, I bought 80 acres, 5 years ago Connecting to my dads farm, giving us around 287 acres combined. My property consists of 14 acres of 5 yr old planted pines, 8 acres of plots, and the remaining is 5 year old clear cut, except for about 4 acres which is my house and yard. I had 5 acres on one ridge, 2.5 acres on another ridge and I have about .3 acres in my back yard where my field lines are to work with. I disced and planted wheat and radish last fall, and they done decent, but nitrogen starved, which was to be expected, with all the woody matter left there. This year it done decent provided that it didn't rain for 40 days after I planted. I planted wheat, cereal rye, and crimson clover. The 2.5 acre plot done well and I have a ton of clover coming up, the wheat and rye done well but it's all mowed down by deer. The big plot done well in spots, but I just have to much broomsedge taking up soil space. I plan to do soil test in February, but the problem is I cant get ag lime back there, so its gonna be pelletized. Does pellet lime really only last a year? I'm trying to do all throw and mow, but I dont know if its feasible until I get rid of the sedge, the plot is full sun and the sage is the really the only thing that provides shade to the soil. How would you guys attack this plot? The .3 acre plot over my field lines is solid broomsedge as well, I plan on making it a white clover plot in the future, I may try to frost seed there next month
Broomsedge, pellet lime, and throw and mow
- Thread starter Rockhound
- Start date
DocHolladay
Well-Known Member
Soil test first, buy pelletized lime and fert according to tests, spread lime and fert, plant seeds. You can apply fertilizer at time of planting or shortly after. You can apply gly a couple of weeks before planting to help control any unwanted plants. I personally don’t try to get “made for t.v.” plots. I don’t want weeds and unwanted plants to take control, but there are some “weeds” that the wildlife really keys in on and I like to have in my plots. Ragweed and partridge pea are a couple. Turkeys, quail, and dove really like the partridge pea and deer love ragweed(decent protein levels).
There are others that know more than me on this, but this is how I do my plots.
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There are others that know more than me on this, but this is how I do my plots.
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deer patch
Well-Known Member
Your broomsedge will disappear when you amend the soil with the proper fertilizer and lime per a soil test. Broomsedge likes poor soil and until you get your soil up to par it will always be there. All this will take time and money.
dogghr
Well-Known Member
You kinda already have a nature made soil test. Brommsedge is pretty indicative of low ph and phosphorus and thin soils. Hit that soil w lime and fert per your soil test and it will eventually fade away.
If you have access to cattle then timely grazing when broom is young will speed process.
Rotational plantings will improve your soils and improve nutrients and create competition w the broom. Good luck
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If you have access to cattle then timely grazing when broom is young will speed process.
Rotational plantings will improve your soils and improve nutrients and create competition w the broom. Good luck
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I have plenty of it lol, but for these few acres I need FOOD!
Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
Broomsedge is easy to kill, if you like a good challenge wait until you get some tough weeds in your plots. Glyphosate will kill broomsedge without a problem, but will also kill anything that you have planted for deer. Thunder, clethodim2E, or Imox will kill sedges in clover without a problem. I like to alternate herbicides for better results. Pelletized lime is expensive, powdered lime in bags is about 1/3 the price of pelletized for the same soil ph value per lb, if you can figure out a way to spread powdered lime. On a 1/3 to 1 acre plot if I'm motivated I put on old clothing, dump a half bag in a 5 gallon bucket and walk along slinging it out by hand, 2 hours spreads 40 bags, is 1 ton. Avoid windy days, take a shower when finished. All lime has the same ph soil amendment value per lb, it's just the rate of absorption that varies per how coarse the granules are. Powdered and pelletized lime are roughly the same thing as far the length of time required to raise ph. You should have a soil test to determine if you need calcium lime or magnesium lime, putting on the wrong thing doesn't hurt anything, it just wastes money. About any feed store that sells lime also does soil tests for you, saves you the trouble of mailing soil to a university.
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Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
I'd plant ladino clover, which is a jumbo version of white clover. Clover starts much better with a nurse crop, in the spring I'd use oats as my nurse crop, frost seed the clover and seed the oats several weeks later when the ground doesn't freeze anymore. A light frost won't bother the oats, but frozen soil might kill the newly germinated seed. Fertilize with 0 nitrogen, like 0-20-20. Just let the oats terminate on their own in midsummer, then mow the clover at 5" high and spray right after mowing with Thunder, you will have fall clover plot nice enough to put on a magazine cover.
dogghr
Well-Known Member
Yea I was feeling guilty as I manage it somewhat for my hillsides that are hard to access with implements. Also, Broom is a very good soil builder, making 4-6 in soil per year. For those of us with thin soils, that is a good thing. And it at least allows other plants to grow unlike that dang monoculture devil fescue!
Mennoniteman
Well-Known Member
"making 4-6 in soil per year" Huh? I need to stop reading stuff before I have my morning coffee, I'm hallucinating. Why do you have thin soils if you can build four to six inches per year? I'd go into business selling topsoil...
dogghr
Well-Known Member
That was a quote from a former member on here who was pretty smart on soils. I agree, I think that is under perfect situation. When you have bedrock a foot down like I do, and hillside, not so much. I have allowed it to grow in one of my most stone filled plots and in 10 years, the change is impressive in soil depth and consistency . Until he said that, I was always trying to rid it everywhere. That field would not support much anything else at the time. Dig up clump of Broom and it does have good soil production for poor soil areas.
Edit....Whoops, I didn't mean to say per year. Sorry sir. I was still drinking my coffee also.
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