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

Switchgrass

dbltree said:
Blackwell not bad but look at low germination and high dormancy % of bottom 2....:confused:

The blackwell will do fine ;)
Click to expand...

What? So 8% germination is not good? :D Sorry to rub it in on the buyer, but I think I could get 8% germination if I threw some gravel out there. :D
 
I have three different areas that I am attempting to convert to SG for cover. Two were broadcast last spring after sub-optimal prep and not really cared for as I didn't find this great site until recently. They are technically 2nd year stands though many of the seeds may be just germinating this spring for the first time. My thought is to hit these spots with glypho & Atrazine this spring. Any problem with that?

The 3rd site is an ag field that was in corn last year. I have contracted a company to seed my Wetland Reserve project this spring. I plan on having them drill into the corn stubble with straight SG. I was planning to hit this field with Glypho & Atrazine as well. Ideally it would have been in beans last year but with the corn stubble I feel it has to be drilled this year?

Is my thinking straight?? Thanks
 
P.S. does anyone have a recommendation for a cheap, durable cool season grass that I can use for my vehicle trails that I mow around my farm?
 
Paul, Can you expand upon reading a seed label. Does the germination rate from the seeds companies testing that only that amount will germinate. Or does it mean that only that amount of seed is viable? Does the dormant mean that the seeds will not grow the first year or is it just bad seed?

Explain what you're looking at and is it common place for you to ask when buying a seed what these numbers are? What is the single most important thing to ask?

Planting went great though, I sure hope it does well.
 
Bullbuster said:
I have three different areas that I am attempting to convert to SG for cover. Two were broadcast last spring after sub-optimal prep and not really cared for as I didn't find this great site until recently. They are technically 2nd year stands though many of the seeds may be just germinating this spring for the first time. My thought is to hit these spots with glypho & Atrazine this spring. Any problem with that?

The 3rd site is an ag field that was in corn last year. I have contracted a company to seed my Wetland Reserve project this spring. I plan on having them drill into the corn stubble with straight SG. I was planning to hit this field with Glypho & Atrazine as well. Ideally it would have been in beans last year but with the corn stubble I feel it has to be drilled this year?

Is my thinking straight?? Thanks
Click to expand...

Yep sounds good to me
 
medicsnoke said:
Paul, Can you expand upon reading a seed label. Does the germination rate from the seeds companies testing that only that amount will germinate. Or does it mean that only that amount of seed is viable? Does the dormant mean that the seeds will not grow the first year or is it just bad seed?

Explain what you're looking at and is it common place for you to ask when buying a seed what these numbers are? What is the single most important thing to ask?

Planting went great though, I sure hope it does well.
Click to expand...

I'm saying seed I get from John Osenbaugh germs in 80% range not 8%!!

If the seed was dormant seeded in the winter it would have time to stratify and some dormant seed might germinate, but drilling this spring you won't get anymore germination then what's on the bag.

Some seed may germinate next year but that's pretty iffy

I bought seed from Ernst once but when it failed I went back to John and stayed with him ever since, cheap seed is just that :rolleyes:

The problem is, the Blackwell will germinate just fine and they know you wouldn't be the wiser and of course some of the other 2 will come up.

Call around, compare prices but compare apples to apples ... if one germs at 80 and one 30 then the 30 better be heavily discounted. It's a long enough wait to get switch going, who wants to wait 2 years to find out the seed was a dud ;)
 
Few pics from the other day. Most areas I planted are in the farmers previous year picked bean field but I wanted to try along the road where I did not do a fall kill off. I'm going to hit the fescue with a hard dowse of gly this week and we'll see what happens.

 
Sprayed my new first year field this week end , looked like a dessert besides a few strips I missed.. Normal happened sprayer pumped burned up after one swipe :), but outside that I was pretty happy place looked like a dessert I think my November spraying really knocked it , put down 5LBS Atrazine a acre Ill be checking it this August.. I am excited about this project.
 
Jbohn said:
Sprayed my new first year field this week end , looked like a dessert besides a few strips I missed.. Normal happened sprayer pumped burned up after one swipe :), but outside that I was pretty happy place looked like a dessert I think my November spraying really knocked it , put down 5LBS Atrazine a acre Ill be checking it this August.. I am excited about this project.
Click to expand...

Breakdowns are just part of it...I had one on my sprayer yesterday too! :mad: The good news is that it came just as I was finishing up. :D So I got everything done that I wanted to and I was on an empty tank when the frame snapped on sprayer assembly, so the timing was pristine.

I sprayed a mix of gly and atrazine and probably was wasting most of the gly as there was little green showing, but what was showing got it pretty good. I am hopeful that the atrazine will make a difference for me this year.

I was also very happy to see a number of quail, and pheasants too, yesterday. I was a bit concerned about them after this tough winter, but I really think a big factor in bringing them through the winter is the switchgrass that I have on the farm now...and I should have another couple of acres coming on this year now too.
 
Mowing vs burning

If you have some area of switch where you are concerned about burning because of existing trees that you do not want damaged or buildings does the mowing effectively manage switch stands?
If mowing is good enough.....how close do you mow?
Thanks
 
bluegrass said:
If you have some area of switch where you are concerned about burning because of existing trees that you do not want damaged or buildings does the mowing effectively manage switch stands?
If mowing is good enough.....how close do you mow?
Thanks
Click to expand...

For me, I would never be very comfortable with switch surrounding any tree plantings or buildings or anything that I didn't want to eventually get burned up. I have done dozens of controlled burns through primarily brome stands and only a couple where it was switch that was on fire and let me tell you, the switch is WAY hotter than the brome. It feels like 10x hotter.

I assume that anything next to switch eventually is going to get consumed by fire, assuming that the switch is burned at some point in time. For those areas where my switch meets a timbered edge...I have at least a 20'-25' wide barrier of clover. I purposely have no switch within 50 yards or so of any building.

Even with built-in barriers like what I mentioned above, when I have burned switch off, I mow at least probably 80" or so of the perimeter of the switch, so when it does burn it isn't standing up and can't as easily carry over the fire break.
 
I was able to get some atrazine from my uncle. It's in the dry form, not liquid. I am going to apply at 3 quarts/acre. I'm not quite sure how to mix that and at what ratio. Anyone else use dry atrazine?
 
MN Hunter said:
I was able to get some atrazine from my uncle. It's in the dry form, not liquid. I am going to apply at 3 quarts/acre. I'm not quite sure how to mix that and at what ratio. Anyone else use dry atrazine?
Click to expand...

3qts = 3lbs keep well agitated
 
I received good advice more than a month ago to spray my 2nd year switch stand with Oust. Between kid's schedule, windy days, and the fact that no one around here sells Oust, I am now approaching that May 10th date. Is there anything that I can spray now to control some grasses and broadleaf plants that I have popping up? Or am I too late? I have Atrazine, Gly, and 24D at my disposal.

Anything I can spray now or should I just wait and do 24D later?
 
Is it too late for gly on a newly frost seeded switch planting as well? Also dealing with breakdowns. Love my old Ford 860 but have to figure out how that carb works so i can rebuild it myself.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom