Switchgrass

[gatzow]

I finally found a farmer that is going to help me get my 10 acre parcel all prepped and ready to go. I know the preffered method for planting is to frost seed. I have a few questions. First, I have about 100lbs of swithgrass seed sitting in a nice cool dry place. I was supposed to be a couple of months ahead of where I am now, but just didn't get there. If I prep the land, will the seed still be ok for a march frost seed?
If I get anxious, what is the latest in the year that you can plant the seed where it will have enough time to grow to survive winter? I live in SE wisconsin and my area has not gotten any rain in over a month. The soil is incredibly dry, weeds have gone dormant for the most part. The farmer said that he doesn't want to spray more roundup until we get rain as a lot of the ground is already soil - he wanted it to green up first and then spray. He doesn't have a seed bin for his no-til drill, so he suggested that he would spray - wait a week and til. To plant, he suggested getting a ton of fertilizer (i think he said triple 19 or something) from the local co-op and have the seed mixed into the fertilizer. He would then spread the fertilizer and seed together and then cultipack it in.

I am nervous that this won't happen until late July at the earliest and I don't know if that would give the SG enough time to take for the winter. As dry as it is right now, would the seed even do anything?

Am I better off just getting the land prepped and sprayed hard to make it through the rest of the year and frost seed in March/april? Should I plant something like Oats to help hold the ground to keep weeds out? Or if I can get this all done over the next month, will the SG make it through the winter?

I have asked a million questions about this and apologize, but just trying to do this as best as I can.

 

[dbltree]

The seed will keep and unless you are receiving plentiful consistent rains I would wait to see in February or March. July 1st is usually considered the cut off date to plant NWSG

 

[Jbohn]

If we got some rain I would sleep at night, Lot of Money in the ground hopefully we can get some help. Doesnt look good at this point.

 

[spltbrow]

Went up to the farm today and checked on the cave in rock and can low grass. Lots of weeds, but also getting a lot germination finally. What should I do about the weeds? Should I go ahead and mow next week to nock the weeds down or should I wait a while before I mow? Should i spray with anything or just mow or not mow yet? Right now the new germination is probably about 8" or less in height. Thanks in advance.

 

[dbltree]

Went up to the farm today and checked on the cave in rock and can low grass. Lots of weeds, but also getting a lot germination finally. What should I do about the weeds? Should I go ahead and mow next week to nock the weeds down or should I wait a while before I mow? Should i spray with anything or just mow or not mow yet? Right now the new germination is probably about 8" or less in height. Thanks in advance.

Depends on what kind of "weeds"...you can clip weeds off 8-12" high as needed or you can spray with Quinclorac - Drive 75

Use 5.3 ounces per acre to control foxtail, crabgrass and suppress ragweeds...if the switchgrass has 3-4 leaves you can add 2-4D and wipe out all the broadleaf weeds.

 

[Jbohn]

Has any body had switch coming up at this point yet, west central illinois , nothing ? At this point would we say the seed may not germinate till next year.

 

[goatman]

No switch yet. But I think there is time if it ever rains.

 

[spltbrow]

I believe I have scattered germination throughout the 8 acres I planted. I just mowed it today to knock some of the weeds down. If we could only get some rain!

 

[gatzow]

How will the new seed react to the drought conditions? I frost seeded in March. If there is not much or any growth this year, will the seed stay good for next year or are we at risk of losing this years planting? I live in Southeast WI. We have not had a drop of rain in around 6 weeks where I live. Fields look bad, large cracks running all over that go down several inches. Is it worth overseeding a bit again this winter or should we just leave it alone as things will be ok?

 

[dbltree]

Is it worth overseeding a bit again this winter or should we just leave it alone as things will be ok?

It certainly won't hurt anything but wait and see if there is any evidence of growth by September and then go from there. Our subsoils are so dry it's going to be a tough year...

 

[jerred44]

I have a spot on our farm, its only a half acre at most, it is head high weeds now, and we see deer in it all the time, should I plant switchgrass in there or a place that small even worth doing?

 

[dbltree]

I have a spot on our farm, its only a half acre at most, it is head high weeds now, and we see deer in it all the time, should I plant switchgrass in there or a place that small even worth doing?

Probably worth the effort but may not make a dramatic difference either. Switch will likely make better year around cover then what's there now but no question NWSG is more effective in larger fields...5 acres minimum and more is better.

It wouldn't cost much to frost seed switch into killed sod on a 1/2 acre that's for sure....

 

[Jbohn]

Any up dates on first year establishments I havent checked mine will be headed to check them August 24 hopefully something good happened.

 

[goatman]

Here's a picture of some 5 year old blackwell switchgrass that was burned off this spring with a couple of big bluestems. Barely knee high in this drought.

And some cave-in-rock right beside the blackwell. Burned off also this spring.

 

[spltbrow]

Any up dates on first year establishments I havent checked mine will be headed to check them August 24 hopefully something good happened.

I mowed mine 2 days ago for the second time just trying to keep the weeds at bay. I am actually surprised at the recent growth despite no rain. All in all I have about 25% percent switch and the rest weeds and bare ground. I guess I have to be pretty happy with that due to no rain. Hopefully this rain today will help more of it jump out of the ground during this month. I plan on mowing one more time.

 

[Crimson Arrows]

We are getting some germination on my place-mowed once this year and the indian and BB is doing better than expected with the drought.

Next year will know for sure but hopefully the little rain today helps some.

I do know my hinge cut areas look like a jungle :0

 

[dbltree]

August 5th, 2012

I checked on some March seeded switchgrass for a landowner a few weeks back and it was doing very well!

Easy to tell it is switchgrass by the white hairs

Definitely better where they mowed the weeds off early on then where they had not

The switch is there but suppressed in the heavy broadleaf growth

Next year the switch should start to dominate

This switchgrass was seeded with an ordinary drill in March just allowing the seed to drop onto the ground on untilled sod and let freezing/thawing do the rest.

Some areas I no-till planted in June..the ground is so dry it has cracked at each coulter opening up an abyss that in many cases is 18-24" deep...no hope for that seed now!!

Now is the time to start thinking about preparing for next years seeding by mowing areas in sod right now and then spraying re-growth with glyphosate in September

prep work is key to a successful stand so be certain to get a good kill on any brome/fescue type sod grasses before frost seeding switchgrass next winter...

 

[jkfish]

Personal planting experience:
Dbltree, I know you are a proponent of frost seeding, and this forum has been very helpul to me in several ways. But my planting experience has been so contrary in east-central Alabama that it derseves mention. It may save someone a lot of time and trouble.

I planted three, 2-acre switchgrass plots this spring after spraying/napalming the fields for two years. Finally, late last fall I applied a final 1 1/2 oz Oust followed by heavy Atrazine this spring. The fields were clean from weeds until at least June, and in late June I applied Atrazine again.

I only frost seeded one of the three sites this January, the other two I planted in April. The frost seeded site was the only field that really froze (erupted), so I left the other two to "cultivate".

In April I broke the other two sites with a disc, did a course smoothing job with the toothed side of a heavy harrow, broadcast seed evenly with hand seeder, turned harrow over to smooth side and dragged field again, and closed with cultipacker. Fields were beautiful, perfect. On the edge of the two cultivated fields, I left disced fire lanes.

All three areas are flat; it has been unusually dry this summer.

Results:
Frost seeded: Painfully sparse: Very little switchgrass growth.

Cultivated fields: Better than I expected, about 50% switchgrass coverage. I am satisfied.

But! The firelanes? TOTAL switchgrass coverage (from over broadcast). The firelanes that were nothing more than disced ground that was part of my herbicide program...these two lanes are by far the finest switchgrass stand. They are complete coverage. It is no contest when compared to the cultivated part of the field. The frost seeded field doesn't even deserve honorable mention.

I know this is Alabama and most of this forum is from Iowa, so I can't speak for other dirt. I can only say that for my next stand of switchgrass, I will again follow Dbletree's herbiced advice, but will not work my self to death trying to hit the perfect frost seeding conditions or even work the dirt beyond the disc. I will spray, disc, broadcast, and exit.

Just one man's experience.

 

[dbltree]

Thanks for the update from AL, down there you most likely don't experience enough freezing/thawing and cold wet chill of late winter to make dormant seeding work well. Some light tillage no doubt helped seed/soil contact and that worked well for you...thanks for sharing what you learned in your area with us :way:

 

[gatzow]

As dbltree mentioned, site preperation is key. I have written in here a few times about my land that I have been working on for a year. It has taken several bull dozers and some help from the local farmers, but I am getting very close to having the land ready for frost seeding next winter/spring. I had some help here today getting the soil loosened up and leveled. I thought I would share some pictures.

This has been a long and expensive project, but it has also been a lot of fun. I hope that the hard work will help create a perfect habitat that I will benefit from for years.

I have completed cleared out and leveled the 8 or 9 acre field as seen in the photos. I had the bulldozers also dig out a nice little water hole in the middle of the field - we haven't had much rain, but it is still holding water and there are tracks all over it. On the far end, I planted 33 apple trees. I also put in a pumpkin patch and planted a small bit of corn. I figure if I can provide protection, water and food - why would you ever want to leave once you find my place!!

We broke up the ground today and will probably come back and spray in October to kill anything that greens up. Plant switch in march depending on weather and then sit back and watch it grow!

So my question is, what else am I missing? I don't have a great feel for what I should be doing to this field next year after I have it seeded. Cut it at 12 inches when weeds come in, but are there other suggestions for spraying it with anything? If yes, what is the timeframe for applying anything?