Originally Posted by ALFisher
Originally Posted by CNC
Originally Posted by ALFisher
Thanks. Will do. Do you spray at all or are you just mowing? I sprayed some of mine this year for first time and am looking forward to see how it works.


I don't spray anymore. I wait until early October and just mow. It's not as clean looking in the beginning but it works out just fine the weeks roll by and we start getting some frosts. Most all summer broadleafs will be at the end of their life cycle and gone to seed. They'll terminate just from mowing. Its the grasses that will often bounce back on you until frost/freeze. It's an individual call. I try to stay away from spraying and such as much as possible because we don't know for sure how we're effecting our microbial community with such things. I'd like to move away from synthetic fertilizers too but its hard to grow enough forage on small acreages without the added N. On sandy soils you tend to run N deficient really easily too


I hear ya, but my problem is that in some of the fields (former pastures with good ph levels), certain grasses are taking over these fields in the summer time this way. some times really thick grasses, and if you aren't careful, you will get some cogongrass around, which seems to attach itself to just about any kind of open area in southwest Alabama. But, even if in places without cogongrass, you can get just a mat of really thick stuff that makes it hard to plant anything in summer or fall.

I kind of have a mix of a few old pastures and then a bunch of sandy former logging decks that I've made larger. It's probably the old logging decks that I really need to implement this on.


We have some old pasture at the lease that's probably 95% thick bahaigrass...dang near a monoculture and way out of whack for what I'm looking for with a long term wildlfe plot. We sprayed it with gly early in the summer to start thinning it out and allowing the root systems to break down some. Plans are to come back and sow it with a mix of about 50/50 cereal rye and crimson clover this fall and play it by ear from there. If additional spraying is needed to knock it back some more it'll be done with something like Clethodim...a grass select herbicide.

Making small tweaks to help maintain the balance we're looking for may always be necessary to keep our fileds that way every year. Nature doesn't seem to mind letting the pendulum swing back and forth a little more than I like. It'll correct itslef but it may be over a several year period. I think we can dip our hands into the process when need be and help keep things balanced each and every year once you get things going your way.

Don't overlook adding a little clover to all of your plots each year. Not to grow lush fields of pure clover but to keep a little mix of a legume component going. You don't have to sow full rates every year. Just always add a pound here and a pound there each year. A lot of it will resend itlsef. Start with crimson and as things improve add a.little durana or ladino....then maybe a pound of balansa or yuchi....the legume component is a very important part of the bigger cycle.

We can get into this deeper later on but just to scratch the surface....decomposition for one needs a balanced mix of carbon and nitrogen to work efficiently. With a situation like with the fields of pure bahaigrass....you've got tons of carbon but no nitrogen. The whole cycle gets bogged down as a result like a carburator getting all fuel and no air. We got a fair stand of cereal grains to establish amongst it last year but couldn't keep it from going N deficient even though we added way more than I normally would. The reason was because of all the carbon that had accumulated that was needing the N to balance the decomposition and get rid of it. Until that is taken care of my cereal grains take a back seat and don't get the N.....Balance is important

Last edited by CNC; 09/06/19 11:26 PM.
We dont rent pigs