Weed Control

[meyerske]

I have one particular plot where I continually have weed problems. As with all of my plots, I spray gly, get a good kill, then disc & plant. This one plot is about an acre and pigweed and jimsonweed always seem to give me troubles here. I'm leaning towards multiple cycles of disc/growth/disc next summer to try to knock down the weed seed bank. Looking for opinions.

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[X-farmerdan]

Think about it this way. You have a seed bed three or four inches deep. All those (weed) seeds in the seed bed germinate. You spray to kill them. Good. But, now you go back in and disc the ground and bring up seed burred in the original bed that would never have germinated until you pulled it up to the top layer of the seedbed. At any level, there are always going to be weed seeds. You can spend a lifetime trying to get rid of them...but never will.

My points are:
1. Stop churning the soil and bringing weed seed to the surface.
2. Be prepared to battle weeds for as long as you plant.
3. Then there's the issue of the timing of your gly spraying. One of the objectives would be stopping the plants from producing seed.

 

[meyerske]

Think about it this way. You have a seed bed three or four inches deep. All those (weed) seeds in the seed bed germinate. You spray to kill them. Good. But, now you go back in and disc the ground and bring up seed burred in the original bed that would never have germinated until you pulled it up to the top layer of the seedbed. At any level, there are always going to be weed seeds. You can spend a lifetime trying to get rid of them...but never will.

My points are:
1. Stop churning the soil and bringing weed seed to the surface.
2. Be prepared to battle weeds for as long as you plant.
3. Then there's the issue of the timing of your gly spraying. One of the objectives would be stopping the plants from producing seed.

Oh, I agree. But I only have conventional tillage equipment. New equipment is not an option for me.

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[DocHolladay]

A rotary cutter(brushhog) and a sprayer is about all you need if done right. Check out these threads....Throw-N-Mow and A Soil Test

 

[DrDirtNap]

If you plant clover and then keep it mowed those weeds will eventually disappear...until you work the soil again. You have to keep those weeds from producing seed.

 

[Tap]

You didn't mention what crop you plant.
There are a lot of us on this site with minimal tillage equipment and we are having pretty good luck with Throw 'n Mow. But, it seems to me that the success rate with TnM depends on what you are planting. Small seeds (clovers, chicory, brassica)or buckwheat, rye, oats all seem to work pretty well with no tillage.

And pigweed is a difficult weed to eradicate. Changing herbicides can also help.

How's your deer density?
I'm starting to believe that when we have a high deer population pounding the stuff we plant, the result will be the weeds that deer don't eat will become the dominant plant in our plots. I see that happening on my place. About the only thing that can out compete weeds here is rye. Deer keep clover and brassica pretty much mowed down which leaves weeds to flourish with no competition.
We all want to plant forages deer love, but when deer destroy that stuff, all that's left is the weeds that they don't eat.

 

[Doe Shooter]

As others have said,and I agree, every time you stir the soil ,you will bring up weed seed. I beat this drum a lot, but 2-4,D does a pretty good job and has enough residual effect to be a go to for me on problem areas. I agree with cultivate /wait /spray again method. If you plant something aggressive, like cow peas , it can out compete about any weeds. Easy .Cheap. Getting ahead of established weed population can take years .It's probably better to learn how to work with mother nature. Pushing a car down hill is a lot easier than up hill.Chemicals only get you a head start on weeds. Plant corn and use 2-4,D post emergent.You want your weeds to emerge in the corn so you can kill them and feed the deer at the same time.And the bigger problems tend to be broad leaf.. Gly is good, but it's starting to loose some effectiveness..If you plant clover, it will fade into dormancy in the heat of summer and you can spray about anything you like to kill the broad leaves and the clover will come back clean in the fall. Just some thing to think about

 

[meyerske]

I use LC's mix and rotation.

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[Tap]

If you plant something aggressive, like cow peas , it can out compete about any weeds. Easy .Cheap. Getting ahead of established weed population can take years .It's probably better to learn how to work with mother nature.

Cow peas?? Nothing against cow peas, but around here, the only way to establish cow peas is with an E fence.
I totally agree that we need to plant something that will out-compete weeds, but if the deer destroy it as it sprouts, then the competition to the weeds is removed and the weeds flourish.
Also agree that it can take years to get a weed situation under control. Sometimes when we plant deer candy, we are creating our own problems.

 

[DocHolladay]

I disked the first couple of years on the local property. I did a thin strip of about an acre and the next year, I doubled it. The ground was hard and it took multiple passes to even see soil appear. I haven't disced since and have been using the T&M method. I just let the weeds come. Because of the diverse mix I plant in the spring and fall, I can't spray. Of course, the deer are eating almost all of it so it works out. My favorite weed I have is ragweed. Higher in protein and the deer keep it trimmed pretty low for me. Next spring, I am going to plant some Realworld Beans and I can spray them.