SPRING TILLING:

[loneranger]

i DON'T KNOW MUCH ABOUT FARMING: But if you till up an area,, in the Spring, that has clover, and grass growing in it, shouldn't you kill everything first? Which would mean waiting until everything was growing good. Just plowing up everything and or disking, won't get rid of the weeds will it? Thanks to you farming know hows out there.

 

[JNRBRONC]

I'm sure Pharmer will be all over this one

The first and most important question is what are you hoping to plant?

Mold board plowing rolls the sod upside down and buries it, but few people do this anymore. Discing will kill some of the sod, but just move some clumps around. Most times you want to kill the cover with glyphosate (Round Up) the previous fall so that the root mass has time to decompose. Since it is grass and clover which greens up quickly in the spring, you could spray herbicide real early and still get a crop in the ground this year.

Any time you disturb the soil, you drag dormant weed seeds to the surface that will germinate. You will most likely need a herbicide plan for your new crop if it is corn/bean/etc.

 

[bjkpharmd]

What he said!

 

[dbltree]

What are you going to plant? I no-till plant almost everything, I even no-till planted clover last fall using a drill from the county conservation board. The key as mentioned is using Roundup and disturb the soil as little as possible. If you work the ground you will have more weeds even if you spray first, but Roundup will kill the grasses (sod), then you just have to fight off the broadleafs that come up!