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

Switchgrass Strategery

M

MN Slick

PMA Member
Looking for some strategy input on planting switch to encourage bedding within my CRP. The open areas in the picture were planted to WSG's (switch, big and little blue) back in 2014. Unfortunately, it didn't seem to take and there is little evidence of WSG's at this time. Plenty of other weeds and they bed it in now but I'd like to enhance it. My plan is to prep the ground this fall for drilling switch grass.

See pics of the area and a topo showing the terrain. My thought is to seed the area in green. Cost is a factor so I'm trying to get the most bang for the expense. In general deer prefer to bed about 1/3 the way down the ridge so my thought was to seed along that elevation hoping they'd use the switch as a "backstop"/lay in the switch/ or maybe lay in the shorter stuff in the horseshoe area.

Anyone have any thoughts or suggestsions? Thanks

Switch Grass Map2.jpg


Switch Grass Map.jpg
 
Get after it.... start mowing & spraying in month or so. Read switchgrass thread in dbltree forum. There’s no such thing as “too dead” when it comes to cool seasons and weeds. Gly, 2,4-d, ammonium sulfate & even atrazine or simazine this fall will be some of the tools. Spray until it’s totally dead and go into fall with cooked plot. Frost seed or drill. Spring sprayings - I personally say 2 times for a monoculture of switch or switch & BB. Similar cocktail for spring spraying as fall spraying - max rates of atrazine or simazine as well. Spray until around late may so no weeds & atrazine on there. Should be good weather dependent. If u go Indian and BB- subsitute imazapic 12-15 oz/acre vs atrazine. Good luck!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Sligh1 said:
Get after it.... start mowing & spraying in month or so. Read switchgrass thread in dbltree forum. There’s no such thing as “too dead” when it comes to cool seasons and weeds. Gly, 2,4-d, ammonium sulfate & even atrazine or simazine this fall will be some of the tools. Spray until it’s totally dead and go into fall with cooked plot. Frost seed or drill. Spring sprayings - I personally say 2 times for a monoculture of switch or switch & BB. Similar cocktail for spring spraying as fall spraying - max rates of atrazine or simazine as well. Spray until around late may so no weeds & atrazine on there. Should be good weather dependent. If u go Indian and BB- subsitute imazapic 12-15 oz/acre vs atrazine. Good luck!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...

Thank Sligh, I took notes of your kill cocktail. Plan to mow it labor day then spray at the end of October to prep. I have got everything buy atrazine in my inventory, hopefully the simazine will suffice.
 
Ill add this when you go to plant. preferably drill it. If that's not an option I would LIGHTLY till it. I have done side by side comparisons of light tillage verse just frost seeding onto dead prepared space. The light tillage or drilled areas grow much better. The stands are thicker and the plants get taller the first year. Done this little experiment more than once. Now, that will also promote more weed growth. That's where your atrazine or simazine comes into play.
 
I apologize for bolting onto this thread but I also have been prepping a 1-2 acre spot for a switch seeding this fall (or winter). So far, I have sprayed a heavy dose mix of GLY twice (mid April and early June). I got a very good kill both times. The only thing coming back now is crabgrass. I was going to do one more spray of heavy mix GLY but sounds like I need to consider something stronger prior to the seeding of the switch. Any specific suggestions.??
 
BJohnson said:
I apologize for bolting onto this thread but I also have been prepping a 1-2 acre spot for a switch seeding this fall (or winter). So far, I have sprayed a heavy dose mix of GLY twice (mid April and early June). I got a very good kill both times. The only thing coming back now is crabgrass. I was going to do one more spray of heavy mix GLY but sounds like I need to consider something stronger prior to the seeding of the switch. Any specific suggestions.??
Click to expand...
Grass is easy to deal with. Warm october day hit it with gly w/ ams. If any weeds at that time add 2,4d. Do your planting this Feb or march. Hit it with atrazine in early april and last spraying again in may with more atrazine and a post if any weeds or grass are present. Mid june to mid July you have nice switch coming.
 
educate me on seeding Feb-Mar vs a late fall seeding (say late Oct-early Nov) ?? (btw - I was planning a very light disc tillage prior to seeding if done this fall)
 
BJohnson said:
educate me on seeding Feb-Mar vs a late fall seeding (say late Oct-early Nov) ?? (btw - I was planning a very light disc tillage prior to seeding if done this fall)
Click to expand...
Fall seeding will work, but likly have to heavier. Birds, mice, etc eat seed. The freeze thaw cycles work seed into soil right on top. That's not happening in fall so seed is exposed longer.
 
I posted this on another habitat forum and it was suggested that spraying to kill the competition may well release the WSG that was planted in 2014. Sounds like a great plan to try first. I thought I could mow it in March then start spraying as things green up. I looked but wasn't able to find whether Simazine was compatible with Big Bluestem?
 
MN Slick said:
I posted this on another habitat forum and it was suggested that spraying to kill the competition may well release the WSG that was planted in 2014. Sounds like a great plan to try first. I thought I could mow it in March then start spraying as things green up. I looked but wasn't able to find whether Simazine was compatible with Big Bluestem?
Click to expand...
Id bet you'd get some stuff growing for sure if it was planted previously! Atrazine/simazine is fine on BB and switch. Indiangrass is NOT.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom