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Switchgrass

Many state it takes three years to establish a good stand. Ours was decent at year two but this year should be incredible.

Look at page 62 of this thread.

From dbltree

"To put things in perspective... All my original stands I mowed and sprayed the fall before, winter seeded and did absolutely nothing after that. The first year it was a mass of weeds including foxtail, the second year switch was evident (first year there was none to be found), foxtail did not return but weeds did. Third year it finally developed into a mature stand.

The object of herbicides is get a mature stand sooner and Oust is a useful tool to accomplish that."
 
Brandon Lerette said:
Many state it takes three years to establish a good stand. Ours was decent at year two but this year should be incredible.

Look at page 62 of this thread.

From dbltree

"To put things in perspective... All my original stands I mowed and sprayed the fall before, winter seeded and did absolutely nothing after that. The first year it was a mass of weeds including foxtail, the second year switch was evident (first year there was none to be found), foxtail did not return but weeds did. Third year it finally developed into a mature stand.

The object of herbicides is get a mature stand sooner and Oust is a useful tool to accomplish that."
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That is the big advantage of the RC lines of switchgrass. RC big rock has been getting 5'+ tall in year one in some cases. These seeds are 30% bigger than than CIR and have far less hard dormant seed. After year 4-5 you may not tell a big difference between CIR and RC, but there is a big difference up front and with ease of establishment.

This is a pretty good video.

 
SB3 said:
With the chemical prices I'm waiting till spring green up. Not sure you would gain anything by spraying this fall
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IowaBowHunter1983 said:
That is the big advantage of the RC lines of switchgrass. RC big rock has been getting 5'+ tall in year one in some cases. These seeds are 30% bigger than than CIR and have far less hard dormant seed. After year 4-5 you may not tell a big difference between CIR and RC, but there is a big difference up front and with ease of establishment.

This is a pretty good video.

Click to expand...
Good point. We used Cave and Rock as the other blends seem to be new and not enough information out there about their long term viability. Not that they will not work. I was just being cautious.
 
Here is some RC BigRock in 1st year establishment last year. Planted on June 18 along with the adjacent pollinators mixes. In the background you can see 3rd year CIR switch.
Due to habit, I mowed the Big Rock twice in year one, but it was a vigorous grower and I easily cut a foot or more off each time. I expect second year to be 6-7'.
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Bassattackr said:
If winter seeding I agree. However after seeing the great results from IBH1983 I’m going with a summer seeding RWW Switch on a prepared seedbed this June. Let it all start at the same time. I’ll update the group as I go.
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I'm not sure I follow. It won't all start at the same time unless it has a higher soft seed %. I've never seen great numbers from RW seed tags.
Either way I don't know how it relates to the part of my previous post that you quoted.
 
I was never a fan of the mid summer seeding of switchgrass, we always tried to prep the year before seeding and frost seed it. This RC seed line has me rethinking that. Roger (from REAP CANADA) has planted in July in Canada and got 3-4 foot tall RC Bigrock by late Sept. I’ve seen 6 foot tall Bigrock in Michigan after one year. I think this is going to eventually replace cave in rock for whitetail habitat. They just have limited supply currently.
 
I frost seeded a decent little patch today. Most of it was beans this past year with really good weed control. Also had an area that I fall sprayed and then burnt off yesterday. I got my RC Big Rock from @IowaBowHunter1983(Midwest Habitat Company). I also marked a small section with flags and spread some cave in rock I had from the previous year. I will be able to use the same practices on these and then we will see how they perform side by side.

We also found a shed from a deer I call AH6. Just a 6pt but he will be 7 or 8 this year and his time is limited!
 

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Bassattackr said:
Neat trial I found on RC Bigrock, CIR, Blackwell, etc.

Click to expand...
Great video!!!! Do Wish they added Kanlow to this…. I’ve done a lot of comparison plots & Kanlow is a consistent amazing performer. I’ve got a one acre “trial plot” I did Kanlow only as well to see how it goes long term. 4th year- no maintenance what-so-ever & it’s so tall & dense it’s bananas…. Like “too tall & thick” ALMOST…. It’s like elephant grass!! ;)
I’ll try some RC big rock for sure. Always like trying new things. I likely will still do what I always have done: 2-3 varieties of switch at a time…. For example: cave in rock, Kanlow & RC big rock. Like video- I’ve had great results with Shawnee. The others I’ve done were sunburst, Alamo, liberty & maybe 1-2 more. Splitting hairs but there very well could be something to this RC big rock. Excited to get more feedback. I personally like doing blends to cover different soil types & I have seen certain species of switch struggle in some settings. Some Variety is your friend IMO.
 
Is it recommended to plant green burn strips between switch grass and timber or can switchgrass be planted and burned right up against the timber?
 
dreambig@84 said:
Is it recommended to plant green burn strips between switch grass and timber or can switchgrass be planted and burned right up against the timber?
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It can be done either way. There are some factors involved. If you have trees right next to burn area that you want to protect, absolutely add a clover strip. (Walnut, white oak, etc). If they are trees you don't mind getting fire damage, let it rip! Generally, fire in timber doesn't hurt mature trees regardless, but trees up against switchgrass is a different animal. Thats ALOT of fuel and ALOT of heat. It's the same reason you would want to remove brush piles near trees inside your timber before burning.
 
IowaBowHunter1983 said:
It can be done either way. There are some factors involved. If you have trees right next to burn area that you want to protect, absolutely add a clover strip. (Walnut, white oak, etc). If they are trees you don't mind getting fire damage, let it rip! Generally, fire in timber doesn't hurt mature trees regardless, but trees up against switchgrass is a different animal. Thats ALOT of fuel and ALOT of heat. It's the same reason you would want to remove brush piles near trees inside your timber before burning.
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x2. ^^ I like a fire through a timber area, but there is no way I would feel comfortable with flames 15' in the air, like you would get with a fire through tall switch, right next to and possibly then in, my timber.

If your switch goes right up next to your timber, you can also mow a buffer in the switch prior to lighting it up. It will burn of course, but your flame height will be nowhere near as high if the "fuel" is 6" tall, even if there is a "mat" of it there. But...burn it when it is 6' tall and you will in for a wild ride. :)
 
I was able to get the last frost seeding done on Sunday here in Sothern Michigan. We are going to be having a freeze thaw cycle the next few days. I reclaimed about 3/4 of an acre of bean stubble. I then frost seeded 4 acres of last years fall drilling. Hope it works out. Spraying Atrazine this Sunday.
 
hoytshooter03 said:
I was able to get the last frost seeding done on Sunday here in Sothern Michigan. We are going to be having a freeze thaw cycle the next few days. I reclaimed about 3/4 of an acre of bean stubble. I then frost seeded 4 acres of last years fall drilling. Hope it works out. Spraying Atrazine this Sunday.
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Spray gly with it if any green. U on early side of spray - higher rate helpful.
I’d tell ANYONE - spray will solve many weed issues. Save tons of mowing. But I still have 1 (or 2 in extreme cases) mowings I’m prepared to do if needed. Which would be 2-3 easily without herbicides. Many cases- one spray & no mowings is possible. Most likely: spraying & one clipping in July.
 
Sligh1 said:
Spray gly with it if any green. U on early side of spray - higher rate helpful.
I’d tell ANYONE - spray will solve many weed issues. Save tons of mowing. But I still have 1 (or 2 in extreme cases) mowings I’m prepared to do if needed. Which would be 2-3 easily without herbicides. Many cases- one spray & no mowings is possible. Most likely: spraying & one clipping in July.
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3 quarts per acre? I did drill last September and I'm afraid it might kill some on accident if I spray gly. We've had some weird weather here.
 
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