Ive just seen weeds come and go and I know it was because I left the ground alone and the weeds played out. Im not saying the fungus/bacteria theory is wrong or couldnt happen. Im just saying I know what ive experienced.

I don’t think the lack of disking up the seedbed really had anything to do with what I saw. The seedbed hasn’t been disked in my field for years yet I still have an abundance of beneficial native plants that sprout and grow. There’s no doubt still plenty of sicklepod seed still there too and it was there in the top part of the seed bank just the same in the year it started disappearing. If I had to bet I’d say that the microbial community probably played the biggest role in its disappearance. There’s a lot that goes on down there amongst all the little soil critters and we’ve only begun to scratch the surface of our understanding of it. I’m guessing that as my microbial community returned and became more vibrant and diverse…..there was some critter/plant interaction that produced a chemical or hormone, etc that suppressed the sicklepod. That may or may not be it but there was some variable about the soil conditions that changed that basically shut it down.

See some sicklepod in our plots usually around the corn feeder. I am pretty sure the key to keeping it from spreading is the have a soil PH between 3.5 and 4.0. That has been keeping it in check for us anyway. Only downside is nothing else grows to good either.

Lmao. True mike

One example that most of us would be familiar with that shows how easily it would be possible for a plant or microbe to suppress the sicklepod is the allelopathic effect that cereal rye possesses. Cereal rye secretes a chemical that prohibits the germination of many small seeded plants. This is one of the reasons many farmers use it for a cover crop. The same general thing could be possible for a chemical that is released that prohibits the germination of the sicklepod seeds. Typically nature provides some type of counter measure for each and every thing. You don’t see any wild stand of pure sicklepod growing anywhere do you? Probably not….it’s man’s hands that create the conditions for such.


Here’s a short video talking about the basics of the interactions between plant roots and the microbial community…….

I have a couple things to do tomorrow morning but if I can get finished I am going to go head and disk up all my food plots late afternoon. I will probably disk them 3 times before I plant. Why? Cheaper than spraying. I can do all 30-35 acres in a couple hours and 20 gal of fuel is a lot cheaper. By a long shot.

If you guys want to come watch.... I would like to collect your tears and use them to water my corn.

If you can turn 45 acres an hour, I do want to watch. I'll bring the beer. 👍

We used to turn more then that. A couple 3-400hp tractor and 35’ discs traveling at 6mph will turn a lot of ground fast. I loved discing long rectangular fields. Cover a lot of ground when you don’t have to turn much.

These new high speed disks are fun to pull. 12 mph behind a 580 hp quad trac

The highway department has dun an awesome job spreading Cogon grass and never had to break a piece of ground.

Code Red!.....Code Red!......

If that video is legit it just further proves in my mind how Gods plan didnt leave anything out. Now tell me how these practices can keep 8billion people fed three times a day. Organic hippie farming is a great concept but even hippies will tell you they cant farm this way and produce enough food to keep them alive. It just wont work for everybody.

That British chic is kinda hot though.

I'm not trying to feed the world....just the deer on my place.....and I agree that she is kinda hot....I think it's the accent that does it

I have it in one field and I sprayed gly and killed it. It's coming on again. It's about 2" tall. I'll spray it again in about a week. This field has always had a problem with it. The problem is, it never shows up until June. I usually plant summer plot May. I don't disk. It'll come back in a few years, it always does. The key, is to sacrafice planting a summer plot in the field where it is and just concentrate on killing it when small.

I would say that I think the spraying may be one of the issues Blum.....but then Tito will come running up in here like Yosemite Sam rootin and tootin.....

Nah blumsden. You can surely kill it with microbes, earthworms and more weeds.

It's "native vegetation"......weeds are for farmers....I manage wildlife

The irony of your sarcasm is that you’re exactly right……What would happen if Blum just walked away today and abandoned that field? Would it be overtaken and become a field of sicklepod for years to come? No it wouldn’t…..Why?,,,,,,,Because nature constantly progresses from pioneer to climax conditions and as that change occurs the species composition changes with it. I’m betting that if you came back in 5 years that you wouldn’t find hardly any sicklepod at all in his field if any….Will spraying it keep it from coming back next year….and the next??.....No it won't....because spraying is simply treating a symptom of the problem and not the root cause.