Have a couple Durant plots that were nice in spring/summer but covered up in fescue now. How do I proceed? Thanks!
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When to Kill fescue?
- Thread starter massey
- Start date
BenAllgood
Well-Known Member
Fall is preferred. It's a little late now. You'd be better off doing 2 doses of gly in the spring. (That's coming from my guy establishing a pollinator planting on my place).
swat1018
Well-Known Member
That might be rough on a patch of clover.
Yeah, I’d rather not smoke the whole thing as there’s still a lot of durana. But if I must, I must.
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BenAllgood
Well-Known Member
Yeah, I was kind of thinking the Durana was going to be sacrificed anyway to get rid of the fescue. Fescue can choke some stuff out. I would think Durana, even though it competes extremely well, wouldn't be a match for fescue.
Native Hunter
Well-Known Member
Do cleth next spring a few weeks after green up. It kills fescue but not the clover. It is very slow working (2-3 weeks) but I have found it to be very effective.
j-bird
Well-Known Member
To control grass - I hit with cleth both spring and fall...as long as it is actively growing. Add in some crop oil or the like as well as some AMS if you have well water. These will help the chemical work and stick better. The cleth label will tell you how strong to mix it....give it a little more...just for good measure!
I’ve sprayed clethodim and surfactant on this field twice to control wild oats. Now I have no oats but a crazy fescue problem 
. I’ll try clethodim again early spring and see how she does.
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. I’ll try clethodim again early spring and see how she does. Sent from my iPhone using Deer Hunter Forum
THE LLC
Well-Known Member
I spray my durana plots with 1 quart 41% glyphosate to 25 gallons of water every spring to kill young ryegrass. It will set the clover back a little but it won't kill it. May not even slow it down if you get regular rains. Been doing that for nearly ten years. This spring was the first time I just let the ryegrass go.
catscratch
Well-Known Member
This doesn't exactly pertain to the discussion... I've found keeping a grass component in my clover plots helps control unwanted grasses. Wheat, winter rye, and chicory are my goto nitrogen lovers. I like to avoid/reduce chemicals if I can. I know this doesn't answer (already answered well above) the question but it might help in the future.
dogghr
Well-Known Member
There you go messing with the system. Always a rebel.
catscratch
Well-Known Member
Ha! Doing the opposite of messing with the system and just going with it (with some slight manipulations). Figure if grass wants to grow there it's for a reason so I won't fight it... but I'll help decide which grass gets the honors.There you go messing with the system. Always a rebel.
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dogghr
Well-Known Member
Is it truly fescue, or just some barnyard grass of other weed type grasses? As said, most grasses can be controlled by spraying mid April to mid May, or in the fall, with Cleth w surfactant. You can add low dose of Gly but I find that unnecessary.
Overseeding plots in fall with a grain such as WR or WW and / or Brassica which will suck up the N that attracts the grasses in the first place. As Cat said, it is there for a reason. Nature is not a monoculture and the influx of so-called weeds and grasses helps control the integral balance within the soil. Ph as well as nutrient levels can promote unwanted plants or help promote wanted growth.
Now...if it is truly the fescue that Native and his fellow Kentukians developed long ago, then as much as I hate to say it, only tillage will cure the issue. It is a deep rooted, tightly massed root system that prevents the transition of any other plant trying to grow. You can spray, mow, beat it, but until you dig that mass up, it is a recurrent PIA. Ask me how I know. After said tillage, then it can be maintained with the above procedures, including mowing. Good luck. I'm sure Native will want to post another pic of his infamous plaque admiring his ancestors accomplishment.
90% sure it’s fescue. All the old pastures around here have it. It’s green all winter. I planted the Durana two years ago with radish. The radish came in well but get hammered by the deer. I was hoping the durana would shoot up the second year, and it did, (lush this past spring) but this fall the grass went wild and smothered it in spots. I’m with you on not needing a monoculture. I love the milkweed and ragweed and other stuff that’s mixed in there. But this grass has to go.
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