Buck Hollow Sporting Goods - click or touch to visit their website Midwest Habitat Company

Field prep for NWSG?

T

TimberPig

Active Member
Next year I have 14.5 acres going into a CP25 CRP planting of NWSG's and native forbs. The field was planted in corn this year.

In the spring I plan to disc the (new) waterways and plant them in brome and oats, then hope like heck we dont have any gully-washers for a while. I'm not sure what to do for prep work, if any, on the rest of the field.
So far these are the options that have been suggested:
A. Just drill the new CRP into the corn stubble and do nothing else. (supposed to cause the least erosion, I could have the stalks chopped in the fall if that would be helpful)

B. Disc the corn stubble in and cultipack before planting in the spring. (would probably make the best seed bed?)

Which method do you think would give me the best results? Also, do any of you plant oats as a cover crop for your NWSG plantings? I would like to use a cover crop to hopefully cut down on weeds and erosion, but that may also shade out the native forbs in the mix?
 
If you don't want the corn stalks there you could burn them off in the spring. That would probablly not help with the erosion if your concerned about it.
 
TP- You will get lots of differing advice depending on local choices and past experience. Friend had CP25 drilled last year (spring) into existing corn stalks, no pre-tillage or shredding. They included a very light seeding rate of sorghum and beans (I think) for forage. Weather was perfect and it established really well. He had to mow some areas of weeds but already has a good looking stand.
I went to the ISU field day for NWSG last year on the west side of IC. Extension service had several plots that were broadcast. These were all done as mid contract management into existing brome. The best one was burned in early April, disked lightly a month later, then 2 weeks after that were sprayed with round-up and journey, then seeded. PM me your e-mail & I can send a picture, or fax # for the extension service sheets I have on prairie establishment.
 
We drill through the stubble and use canadian wild rye in our mixes to help things get established. If you have access to a prairie drill that would be a good way to go. First year you are going to want to keep mowed so sun can get to the soil. We keep ours less than 10 inches for the first season. Shade in the first year will come back to bite you. I will mow once the second year and hope for egnough fuel to burn the following spring. That has worked well for me in the past.
 
Ahhhh.....establishing native grasses! I love it!

I know you can't change it now, but quite honestly one of the best seed beds to drill native grasses into is a bean stubble base. I have established many kinds of native plantings numerous ways (broadcasting, no-till drill, regular drill, oats bin seeder, ect) and the best I have used has been regular drilling into a nice soft soil bed of field-cultivated and killed-off hay ground. Just did another 25 acres this year into established brome. We burned it, allowed it to green up, sprayed it and no-tilled natives in.

Now, back to your question....I bet you would have better luck if you actually disked up the corn stalked just like you were getting ready to plant beans for the spring. Now...the ground you are talking about may be quite hilly, so you may want to watch your erosion susceptiblity issue.
I have a little experience with using oats, and the plantings I helped with actually turned out really nice.
Regardless of how you do it....one of the most important things to remember is mowing, mowing, mowing! You will have to mow several times after drilling in the natives for the first year. You have to keep those weeds down. Most of the time, native plantings will look like a crappy weed field for a few years. The second year keep it mowed and stop mowing early enough that you can let it get tall before fall. That way you will have enough fuel for a nice fire in the spring. At least then you may just have to spot mow some trouble spots.
 
We had a similiar situation on a CP23 planting. I planted part of it as a frost seeding using a Truax drill directly into the corn stalks the same fall as the corn was removed, part in the spring directly in to the cornstalks, and the part around some wetlands that we developed in to disturbed bare soil. I used the drill on all the areas. So far the plantings into the disturbed soils seemed to have come along the best. We mowed it twice the first year as suggested by the last post and would like to burn it next spring. I was concerned about the carry over impact of the corn herbicides used and there impact on the seed germination. Ideally doing this following Roundup Ready soybeans would be best.
 
I forgot to mention- maybe it is just an old wive's tale but more than one person has said you will have less weed competition following corn or CRP grass than when you follow beans because of nitrogen use by corn/grass. The other thing is the less you till, the less weed seed you stir up. I'm sure there isn't a "right" way to do it, once upon a time they just fell off the plant and did much better before we settled the state.
 
Ah yes, life would have been simpler if I could have followed beans. In fact I had beans there 2 yrs running in anticipation of this but the timing just didnt work out for the sign up.
CP25, with a minimum of 10 wildflowers in the mix, looks like something of a pain to establish. I chose it because it offered me more points and has the bonus of being a 15 year contract. Hopefully it will establish well and I wont have to mess with it for a long time. The drawback is that I cant just spray it with 2-4D like I did in my switch grass. Everyone I have talked to has preached the mow, mow, mow advice. I am not equipped to effectively mow
this much acreage. Does anyone know what a reasonalbe or average $$ per acre amount is for contract mowing?

Thanks for the offer Pharmer, but I actually have an appointment at the local FSA/NRCS office in the morning. I will pick their brains a bit and let you all know what they suggest.
Thanks for all the opinions.
 
Thats a very interesting link Pharmer. My dad used to say "study in school boy or you might have to scoop (manure) for a living". Apparently he never saw this link! Average rate for loading solid manure = $41.15 per hour!
grin.gif


I also see that CRP mowing is $8.95/acre, so thats $130 each time. That could get spendy if I have to do it 3-4 times a year.

My trip to the NRCS office was disapointing. The guy I usually talk to wasnt there and the guy I did talk to was either basicly clueless or just didnt care. He really didnt have much for answers other than handing me one of their fact sheets. It basicly recommends no-tilling, planting from April 1-June 1, and lots of mowing. In fact it states that vegitation should be kept to 6"-8" and not to exceed 12" for the first 18 months. That's alot of mowing, hope its cost shared. I didnt learn much there but I have some time to work out the details.
 
What's the old saying, there is more than one way to skin a cat?

I'm sure all of the suggestions offered so far will work. The success is most likley going to be tied to the weather. You might think about this approach, though I don't know if it is any better than the others. Leave the corn stalks over winter to prevent erosion, burn off the field as early in the spring as you can. This will remove the majority of the stalks. If the stalks are left, they can possibly smother out the little seedlings. Also, with the stalks gone and the ground blackened, the seed bed will warm up quicker. Burning early should allow for any weed seeds that are there to sprout, which you can subsequently kill with Round Up prior to drilling in your mix. Then I guess it is mow, mow, mow, burn in the spring, mow....
 
Ditto to what JNRBRONC said. Some other things you could do is lightly disk the field in the fall then nuke it a week before you plant. I would also try to plant later in the spring say first part of june if the moisture is there that way the weeds should be taking off about the time you spray. Also when you plant pull a cultipacker behind your drill, worked great for me. Where you getting your seed from?
 
I have ordered my seed from Osenbaughs in southern IA. They sold me my switchgrass seed 2 yrs ago and it did great. 3'-6' tall now.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom