Originally Posted By: CNC
Originally Posted By: bambam32
Checked my T&M fields today. One has been rooted up by hogs so I'll probably be disking that one this year. I cut the other two fields three weeks ago and the grass hasn't come back like I thought it would. Wishing I hadn't cut them now.


I'm in the same boat bambam....My field is bouncing back some but it's not going to be like I hoped. I'm pretty sure I'm going to still have too much biomass on the soil surface too, even though it does look to be degrading pretty well. On a positive note....the thatch should be pretty crunchy and brittle by then. What I'll likely do is spread seed....then take about half the bite out of my disks and pull over the field just enough to fluff that thatch back up and mix it with the seed. I hope my damn disks still work.

I left a test strip on one side of the field that didn't get mowed to see what it would have looked like. It's probably gone work best to just not do any mowing during the summer like we did and let the field just do its thing. I terminated a lot of my broadleafs by mowing too low and that really has the field off from what I'm needing. The turnips are filling in those areas but they'll never be enough to make thatch like I need I don't believe. We'll see, still almost a month before I'll plant. I need to take some pics and post.


When I was cutting my fields three weeks ago I noticed that the grass had a head on it. Looks like I terminated it so lesson learned. Next year I will cut in May after the wheat has died and let it run until I plant in the fall. I did pull back some of the dried thatch and there was a lot of moisture underneath. Like you,I will probably broadcast and then fluff it up with the disk.

My brother knows some guys who spray, broadcast and then disk it with the gangs straight. They have had a lot of success with this approach. The same concept but with a little soil disturbance.