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Switchgrass

This buck followed a hot doe out of switch during first shotgun season 1991. Before you jump on lack of orange, this was photo op was staged 10 feet from our backyard.
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To all that planted the RC big rock this year. What is the current status of it? I planted personally about 10 acres of it in different scenarios. Some into a cut corn field no chemical, some into a reworked CRP field with chemical, some into feral ground with just burn down, some of the better results I got was actually in the cut cornfield, no chemical, however very weedy. All stands are very present and I believe all will be very well next year.
 
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We drilled RC Big Rock on July 3rd this year. The prep work ahead of time was we burnt with fire the entire area this spring. Dad sprayed the new growth 4 different times with a mixture of roundup, atrazine, and crop oil. Each time we'd get a great burn down but weeds would come back very quickly. I was shocked how the atrazine seemed to not have the residual power I was expecting. Looking back, I'd have added another residual herbicide for dad to spray. I'm also unsure what amount of atrazine he applied but he said the herbicide bill was expensive? Anyway, here are some pics 1.5 months post planting. There's switch there. Tallest plants are just over a foot tall. Lots of weed growth. Dads going to get the bat wing mower out and top the weeds just above the height of the switch. I still have high hopes for the plantings, we did 10 acres, but man it doesn't look at clean and pretty as what I've seen on here.

Row of switch in the middle, note the purple bases. Fox tail clumps on the top and bottom of the pics, green bases on those.
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LoessHillsArcher said:
We drilled RC Big Rock on July 3rd this year. The prep work ahead of time was we burnt with fire the entire area this spring. Dad sprayed the new growth 4 different times with a mixture of roundup, atrazine, and crop oil. Each time we'd get a great burn down but weeds would come back very quickly. I was shocked how the atrazine seemed to not have the residual power I was expecting. Looking back, I'd have added another residual herbicide for dad to spray. I'm also unsure what amount of atrazine he applied but he said the herbicide bill was expensive? Anyway, here are some pics 1.5 months post planting. There's switch there. Tallest plants are just over a foot tall. Lots of weed growth. Dads going to get the bat wing mower out and top the weeds just above the height of the switch. I still have high hopes for the plantings, we did 10 acres, but man it doesn't look at clean and pretty as what I've seen on here.

Row of switch in the middle, note the purple bases. Fox tail clumps on the top and bottom of the pics, green bases on those.
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I had planned on planting this summer but ran out of time so am going to frost seed in March. I'm hoping to have most of the weeds killed with a second spray next month.
I will say I planted just a small row for privacy 3 years ago and didn't see that much come up( different variety) but after we burned for the first time this spring I noticed a lot more sg appeared.

I've been reading that burning the first year after planting really gets it to take off. I'm sure our resident sg expert will correct me if I'm wrong but that would make me think you will be g2g after a burn next spring. I would think frost seeding the bare spots would be a good idea also?
 
HWC said:
I had planned on planting this summer but ran out of time so am going to frost seed in March. I'm hoping to have most of the weeds killed with a second spray next month.
I will say I planted just a small row for privacy 3 years ago and didn't see that much come up( different variety) but after we burned for the first time this spring I noticed a lot more sg appeared.

I've been reading that burning the first year after planting really gets it to take off. I'm sure our resident sg expert will correct me if I'm wrong but that would make me think you will be g2g after a burn next spring. I would think frost seeding the bare spots would be a good idea also?
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I haven't had much luck frost seeding switch. Much better stands spring / early summer planting IMO.
 
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LoessHillsArcher said:
We drilled RC Big Rock on July 3rd this year. The prep work ahead of time was we burnt with fire the entire area this spring. Dad sprayed the new growth 4 different times with a mixture of roundup, atrazine, and crop oil. Each time we'd get a great burn down but weeds would come back very quickly. I was shocked how the atrazine seemed to not have the residual power I was expecting. Looking back, I'd have added another residual herbicide for dad to spray. I'm also unsure what amount of atrazine he applied but he said the herbicide bill was expensive? Anyway, here are some pics 1.5 months post planting. There's switch there. Tallest plants are just over a foot tall. Lots of weed growth. Dads going to get the bat wing mower out and top the weeds just above the height of the switch. I still have high hopes for the plantings, we did 10 acres, but man it doesn't look at clean and pretty as what I've seen on here.

Row of switch in the middle, note the purple bases. Fox tail clumps on the top and bottom of the pics, green bases on those.
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View attachment 128013
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I am almost to the point of forgetting about pres for switchgrass and just hitting it post with quinclorac and duracor. I'm having great stands that way.
 
IowaBowHunter1983 said:
I am almost to the point of forgetting about pres for switchgrass and just hitting it post with quinclorac and duracor. I'm having great stands that way.
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Interesting thought process there! Makes sense. Dad finished up mowing today. One of the areas of switch we drilled is an old pasture ridge top and east facing hillside. This is really the money spot of all of them we drilled. Dead center of the farm, it's already a deer sanctuary with just the brome and existing habitat. This was brome before and that's one plant I think all the herbicide applications helped us defeat. No sign of brome in these pics, haven't been there to see myself in 1.5 months. But things look great!!

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LoessHillsArcher said:
Interesting thought process there! Makes sense. Dad finished up mowing today. One of the areas of switch we drilled is an old pasture ridge top and east facing hillside. This is really the money spot of all of them we drilled. Dead center of the farm, it's already a deer sanctuary with just the brome and existing habitat. This was brome before and that's one plant I think all the herbicide applications helped us defeat. No sign of brome in these pics, haven't been there to see myself in 1.5 months. But things look great!!

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That looks really good for a July 3 planting. Zero chance you can pull that off that time of year with unimproved varieties of switchgrass.
 
Question for the group. I tried and was unsuccessful in getting a drill to plant my switch this spring. If I frost seed in early spring and apply the herbicides like you mentioned, is there a reasonable chance for success? Obviously drilling is preferred, but in the absence of that, how is the forecast? At this point I am working with a VERY clean seed bed.
 
IowaBowHunter1983 said:
That looks really good for a July 3 planting. Zero chance you can pull that off that time of year with unimproved varieties of switchgrass.
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Yup, we got nervous cause once we planted, then the summer heat and dry period hit. This stuff germinated in less than week with little moisture in the top soil, a splash of rain, and the roots took off and found the subsoil moisture and were set. I'm honestly shocked. I figured this stuff sprouted and then died in those conditions. Lots of power in those little seeds!
 
Haven't been able to look at my frost seeded RC Big all summer. It's on the wrong side of a corn field. We've had good rain this summer. I'm hoping it's 6' tall, but it is whatever it is.
 
T_Max said:
Question for the group. I tried and was unsuccessful in getting a drill to plant my switch this spring. If I frost seed in early spring and apply the herbicides like you mentioned, is there a reasonable chance for success? Obviously drilling is preferred, but in the absence of that, how is the forecast? At this point I am working with a VERY clean seed bed.
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I would not frost seed. I would wait and spray new growth in the spring and till and pack after the weeds die. You will most likely be far more successful
 
Bassattackr said:
I haven't had much luck frost seeding switch. Much better stands spring / early summer planting IMO.
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I had really good luck the last time I did it so hoping for the same but now some of you are making me rethink it. Problem is I was going to plant it this year but I have a crazy schedule that often gets worse when it gets nice. That's why mine didn't get planted this year :) Iowabowhunter felt frost seeding would be fine so I think I will stick with that. He has always had great advice on here. Unless he says May would be better and I will just have to make that happen.

Edited to add I don't have access to a drill so that's another reason I'm leaning towards frost seeding.
 
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DMarley83 said:
To all that planted the RC big rock this year. What is the current status of it? I planted personally about 10 acres of it in different scenarios. Some into a cut corn field no chemical, some into a reworked CRP field with chemical, some into feral ground with just burn down, some of the better results I got was actually in the cut cornfield, no chemical, however very weedy. All stands are very present and I believe all will be very well next year.
Click to expand...
I experimented with several methods this year as well.
Field 1: this was a brome grass field. I sprayed it after first frost last fall. I burned it off in late March and i sprayed again mid to late april with a full rate of gly and atrazine. I followed that shortly with a no till drill.
This field was disappointing. The chemicals held the competition back for a few weeks but the switch never really took off. It's a mix of grasses at this point with some visible switch. My guess is the switch will take over next year. I plan to spray again this fall. I think I'd have been better off to wait till may or June and plant into warmer soils.
Now I'll talk about a couple more successful fields. These were existing pasture. I sprayed them for the first time in April and a 2nd time in May with gly and atrazine. I then came back in June and burned 1 field and lightly disked the other. I broadcast the seed on both and ran a cultipacker over them.
I checked them for the first time 2 weeks ago and was surprised at how well they had done. Far better than the first field where I thought I did everything right.
I have a couple other small pieces where I tried to till and skip the herbicide. Those are both a mess of foxtail and other weeds. Time will tell if the switch will prevail.
 
hillrunner said:
I experimented with several methods this year as well.
Field 1: this was a brome grass field. I sprayed it after first frost last fall. I burned it off in late March and i sprayed again mid to late april with a full rate of gly and atrazine. I followed that shortly with a no till drill.
This field was disappointing. The chemicals held the competition back for a few weeks but the switch never really took off. It's a mix of grasses at this point with some visible switch. My guess is the switch will take over next year. I plan to spray again this fall. I think I'd have been better off to wait till may or June and plant into warmer soils.
Now I'll talk about a couple more successful fields. These were existing pasture. I sprayed them for the first time in April and a 2nd time in May with gly and atrazine. I then came back in June and burned 1 field and lightly disked the other. I broadcast the seed on both and ran a cultipacker over them.
I checked them for the first time 2 weeks ago and was surprised at how well they had done. Far better than the first field where I thought I did everything right.
I have a couple other small pieces where I tried to till and skip the herbicide. Those are both a mess of foxtail and other weeds. Time will tell if the switch will prevail.
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I do think all will your methods will prevail over the next season or two. I did have a similar result as your field one. Upon a closer look most doing better than first glance. Year 2 will prob net the results.

I do think the Duracore is your missing element. However here is where I did not want to use it. I had a couple of areas where there were a number of small cedars starting (2' tall or less) which I did not want to kill so I drilled right over them and let it go.

Lastly I think the quality of the soil is probably the most over looked. Very noticeable diff in good soil vs poor soil imo.
 
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