Cool stuff.... speaking of bees.... I was dealing with some milkweed issues a couple months ago and there were THOUSANDS of bees in that stuff once it flowered. Just an interesting observation.
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What kind of sunflowers?
I planted some Maximilian sunflowers this year. It's insane to see the vast varieties and amounts of sunflowers everywhere in iowa right now. im sure certain types are good and some could be problems in crops BUT I'm sure more and more interested in getting more varieties into my crp or other areas.
I planted some Maximilian sunflowers this year. It's insane to see the vast varieties and amounts of sunflowers everywhere in iowa right now. im sure certain types are good and some could be problems in crops BUT I'm sure more and more interested in getting more varieties into my crp or other areas.
letemgrow
PMA Member
Farmers worst nightmare...annual sunflower.
letemgrow
PMA Member
They love the swamp milkweeds I have in the rain garden. More wasps visit it than I know how to ID, honey and bumble bees too.
Here's some forbs I love, here's one example..... These are Maximilian sunflowers. Most of these pics are the 1st year planted or some are mowed and flowerered back. Maximilians are EXTREMELY TALL. Unreal tall..... I've got some this year in some good quality soil, no joke, 10-12' tall. Downside on them, they can get a little thick so if you're concerned with choking other things out... You may want to dial the seed rate back a little. 1st picture is Maximilian 1st year with me holding a Big Blue Stem seed head that's also 1st year planting & seeded out. Maximilians are attractive to all sorts of critters and deer also eat the plant when younger (they bounce right back). Very drought tolerant in my experience. They reseed pretty prolifically & again, the potential to need to thin them out later is a possibility. I love them though.
Some of my favorites for a VARIETY of reasons (cost will dictate a lot of this, look at the prices on some of these!!! WOW!! $$$!!! thankfully Maximilian and some of these are NOT too expensive)..... And, opposed to my stands of almost all natives.... I watched deer this fall feeding in my CRP which has natives as well as a diverse array of forbs in there, they were eating all sorts of things in there... Here's SOME of my favorites...
Asters - several varieties you can get (expensive)
Coneflowers - several varieties
Some areas I do like doing Crimson clover (neat looking & good for wildlife)
Prairie clovers - several varieties
Milkweeds- several varieties
IL Bundleflower
Partridge Pea
Blazing Star (fairly expensive)
Daisy's
Brown & black eyed susans
Past that..... I'd read description on any Forb/flower out there to see if 1) it meets your goals & fits in the mix 2) in the budget 3) works in your soil types.
Some of my favorites for a VARIETY of reasons (cost will dictate a lot of this, look at the prices on some of these!!! WOW!! $$$!!! thankfully Maximilian and some of these are NOT too expensive)..... And, opposed to my stands of almost all natives.... I watched deer this fall feeding in my CRP which has natives as well as a diverse array of forbs in there, they were eating all sorts of things in there... Here's SOME of my favorites...
Asters - several varieties you can get (expensive)
Coneflowers - several varieties
Some areas I do like doing Crimson clover (neat looking & good for wildlife)
Prairie clovers - several varieties
Milkweeds- several varieties
IL Bundleflower
Partridge Pea
Blazing Star (fairly expensive)
Daisy's
Brown & black eyed susans
Past that..... I'd read description on any Forb/flower out there to see if 1) it meets your goals & fits in the mix 2) in the budget 3) works in your soil types.
EatSleepHunt
Active Member
A quick question for you Skip. I have a field that used to be mostly switchgrass. Roughly 8 to 10 acres over the past five years there has been a transition to Goldenrod (an aster), a lot of it. Any down side to alot of goldenrod? Sure are plenty of pollinators, driving by a field Edge in the summer you could hear the pollinators buzzing over the ATV almost.
Thanks in advance.
Thanks in advance.
Personally, I'd get rid of Goldenrod. Especially if it's thick. If it's competing with switch to significant degree- for sure would. Does that ever happen? Very rarely. BUT.... IMO, I'd rather blast the GR and plant something else in it's place IF I wanted something beyond switchgrass. Too many other good options to plant VS goldenrod. 2,4-D OR burning
OR.... 2,4-d + Post emergent + atrazine if you wanted just switch & able to spray before Switchgrass had emerged & growing.
I like having Pollinator diversity. I'd do pollinators for sure, maybe in your planting, maybe elsewhere. But, I probably wouldn't want GR as a "choice".
OR.... 2,4-d + Post emergent + atrazine if you wanted just switch & able to spray before Switchgrass had emerged & growing.
I like having Pollinator diversity. I'd do pollinators for sure, maybe in your planting, maybe elsewhere. But, I probably wouldn't want GR as a "choice".
EatSleepHunt
Active Member
How well does burning get rid of Goldenrod and the timing of the burn important?
Thanks
Thanks
Burning switch just before it sprouts out for the season will help. It will allow switch to explode and choke out other plants. It will also roast the cool seasons and forbs that are growing at the time. If you want to really hammer GR- herbicides may be needed but you could start with fire & look to herbicides later. There’s several ways to tackle this. If you want to interseed other pollinators to this-
That obviously changes the dynamics here as well. Million ways to handle depending on what you want to be growing and have flourishing at the end of the day.
LoessHillsArcher
PMA Member
Pretty stoked about our first year CRP planting. Drilled last year in mid November. Not much for big blue little blue or Indian grass yet but lots of tall thick CIR switch, side oats grama, Canada wild rye and flowers!
Mowed it one time around July 4th. We will not mow again this year and possibly not next year even. Just playing it by ear yet. Burn after year three though.
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Mowed it one time around July 4th. We will not mow again this year and possibly not next year even. Just playing it by ear yet. Burn after year three though.
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Alright here is one for ya'll. I have a beautiful stand of pollinator CRP. Right now it is seriously gorgeous. HOWEVER, I have one MAJOR problem. It is LOADED with thistles. I'm talking multiple thousands on 100+ acres (feels like a million) I dealt with it the best I could this year mowing. Where I sprayed some early 2,4-d when in rosette stage it helped a ton. I burned this farm as part of MCM as well.
I gotta get this cleaned up next year. My inclination is to just smoke the whole farm with gly and 2,4-d in April while all the native grasses are dormant (lots of big blue in the stand). I assume this will wipe out a lot of the good forbes.
I am open to other ideas....
Here are some pics from July 4. (the native grasses are much taller now)
I gotta get this cleaned up next year. My inclination is to just smoke the whole farm with gly and 2,4-d in April while all the native grasses are dormant (lots of big blue in the stand). I assume this will wipe out a lot of the good forbes.
I am open to other ideas....
Here are some pics from July 4. (the native grasses are much taller now)
Tmayer13
Well-Known Member
Ive got it all figured out....3-4 buddies, backpack sprayers with milestone, 47 cases of busch light! BAM done!
...if you only knew my friends.
Tmayer13
Well-Known Member
so make it 67 cases...if you only knew my friends.
hoytshooter03
Member
What is the best way to control weeds in the pollinators? I have some major fox tail.
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Are there other native grasses? Clearly clethodim & crop oil will zap any grass like foxtail but not viable when natives are in there.
best way in most settings.. high mowing & down the road fire. Foxtail is an annual & after a year or 2 of solid established plants- your foxtail should Peter-out quite a bit.
another option is to plant plateau/imazapic tolerant plants so you can control things like foxtail with imazapic/plateau.
What pollinators do you have planted?
if plants are germinated & get established extremely well year 1 - canopy allowed to stay open- even with foxtail…. Year 2 & so on will be easy or nothing needed for weed control. Or minimal.
hoytshooter03
Member
No grasses. I will try the cleothodim route. Thank you
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