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Switchgrass

When are you guys spraying your frost seeded switch? I frost seeded some switch the first part of march and then tilled some ground the last days in march that are gonna be put into clover. I want to let them weeds grow up in that tilled ground before I plant so I can spray and get rid of them but I also want to make sure and get my switch areas sprayed with roundup and atrazine before that starts gowing. If I head down around the week between the 16-23rd will that get both jobs done in 1 trip or should I spray switch this week and give the tilled ground another week or two to grow some weeds?

In earlier posts Dbltree says not to spray switch after the first week of May because that is when Switch generally starts to germinate... I would think any time from now until then should be fine. However, the longer you wait, the better your round up will work on the weeds.
In a perfect situation, I would spray the Atrazine asap and then spray one more time with just round up later this month. The reason I would spray twice is because the Atrazine is only preventing weed seeds from germinating and Round up is only killing the weeds or grasses that are already growing.
<O:p</O:pSpraying a mix only one time leaves a small time window for weed seeds that have already germinated but have not grown large enough for the round up to affect them.<O:p</O:p
Correct me if I'm wrong guys, but I believe that is the optimal way to go about it.<O:p</O:p
Obviously spraying in the fall to get the initial sod kill is very important too and saves a lot of headaches come summer!
If spraying twice is not an option, you probably should be fine spraying once, any time from now until May 1st. :)<O:p</O:p
 
I live in Republic of Macedonia ( Europe ) here we don't have switch grass , i will like to make experiment on my land.
Can anyone send me seeds for switch grass maybe from some hi yield type .
I will pay for the seeds and for the beer :)
 
What is the earlierst anyone has seen a newly seeded switch field sprout?

We frost seeded our areas March 1st this year and I haven't looked closely at them to see if anything sprouted. I didn't really think anything would have except we had a string of 3 or 4 days in the 70s and one day hitting the 80s on April 9th... Just curious, we're looking to spray the new plantings and didn't know if there was a chance the switch had sprouted or not.
 
What is the earlierst anyone has seen a newly seeded switch field sprout?

We frost seeded our areas March 1st this year and I haven't looked closely at them to see if anything sprouted. I didn't really think anything would have except we had a string of 3 or 4 days in the 70s and one day hitting the 80s on April 9th... Just curious, we're looking to spray the new plantings and didn't know if there was a chance the switch had sprouted or not.

It's rare that switchgrass in our area will germinate before May 10th Jordan...;)
 
And at 1st I bet it'll look sparse, small and disappointing- not the case, it'll come in strong later on, be patient!
 
It's rare that switchgrass in our area will germinate before May 10th Jordan...;)

You know, I've heard you say that a dozen times before but sometimes it just feels good to have your reassurance again Paul!:way: We'll get them fields sprayed with 4 quarts of Atrazine and round-up this weekend and then follow up with more round up as needed before that switch sprouts. Thanks a ton for the help!
 
I am trying to rejuvinate a switch field that was let go by previous owner. Original plan was to burn late april early may. 2 weekends ago i sprayed with gly to knock down some of the cool season grasses. I sprayed with approximately 1 quart per acre. I see now that some grasses are dieing but still lots of green popping up. Should i spray again or just burn as soon as possible. (rain, rain, rain) field is getting greener and is going to be hard to burn. I also purchased enough oust xp to spray after burning. Any thoughts or suggestions?
 
I am trying to rejuvinate a switch field that was let go by previous owner. Original plan was to burn late april early may. 2 weekends ago i sprayed with gly to knock down some of the cool season grasses. I sprayed with approximately 1 quart per acre. I see now that some grasses are dieing but still lots of green popping up. Should i spray again or just burn as soon as possible. (rain, rain, rain) field is getting greener and is going to be hard to burn. I also purchased enough oust xp to spray after burning. Any thoughts or suggestions?

I would burn if possible and then spray the Oust but if rain prevents burning, just go ahead and get it sprayed.
 
Looks like I might of missed the boat for spraying Oust on a 3 yr old SG field by looking at some of the previous posts?

I was overrun with foxtail last year! So right now the field is mainly matted down foxtail, I was gonna frost seed some more SG but didnt b/c was planning on spraying the Oust.

So what are my options here? spray, seed, or just round up? No access to Atrazine...

Thanks
 
Looks like I might of missed the boat for spraying Oust on a 3 yr old SG field by looking at some of the previous posts?

I was overrun with foxtail last year! So right now the field is mainly matted down foxtail, I was gonna frost seed some more SG but didnt b/c was planning on spraying the Oust.

So what are my options here? spray, seed, or just round up? No access to Atrazine...

Thanks

The foxtail may not be a problem this year but one option is to spray it later with Paramount/Drive 75 to kill the foxtail. Check the first page for some links on those herbicides. ;)
 
Refresh my memory please, when can I spray Oust?
Only when SG is dormant? How soon prior in spring?

Thanks Dbltree
 
I got my switch burned over the weekend. It was a very hit and miss burn as i am trying to rejuvinate the switch. I sprayed with gly about 3 weeks ago, so it really knocked out a lot of the csg but was just to sparse to burn in some areas. I have oust xp to apply, but will not be able to apply till atleast tuesday. Should i still apply or skip and wait a while and use atrazine? Not for sure how much switch is even there but according to nrcs it was all planted in switch. I can save the oust for next year or use now?
 
I got my switch burned over the weekend. It was a very hit and miss burn as i am trying to rejuvinate the switch. I sprayed with gly about 3 weeks ago, so it really knocked out a lot of the csg but was just to sparse to burn in some areas. I have oust xp to apply, but will not be able to apply till atleast tuesday. Should i still apply or skip and wait a while and use atrazine? Not for sure how much switch is even there but according to nrcs it was all planted in switch. I can save the oust for next year or use now?

I would get the Oust on before the switch starts coming back up...and you can add atrazine with it for more control. Because you burned you won't have to worry about spraying the emerged plant yet...;)

April 30th, 2011

Switchgrass sprouting from established 5 year old plants

CIMG2707.jpg


I have sprayed gly and Oust XP at this stage and got away with it but it's risky at best!

CIMG2708.jpg


The leaves have not unfurled and so don't absorb the gly but of course over a field, some are farther along, some have not yet emerged so I prefer to spray gly and Oust in early to mid April to be safe. ;)
 
We are having an unusually cold wet April this year...only a tiny fraction of the nations corn has been planted and that which has is in danger of rotting in the ground. Even pastures are dormant and not growing as they should and therein lies another problem...cool season grasses are not growing and that makes them even more difficult to kill with glyphosate!!

Nearly a month ago I sprayed the CSG in a tree planting with gly and Oust XP and the landowner still cannot see any evidence I did a doggone thing. Eventually the plants will start to grow and the Oust will poison them but the effects of the gly may never be seen.

All of this is a stark reminder to kill cool season grasses in the FALL! There is no better more effective time to kill CSG then in the fall when they are storing root reserves and are easily killed. Wet weather is rare in the fall so getting into fields is not likely to be a problem.

There are options to kill annual grasses like foxtail by using herbicides like Paramount and Drive (quinclorac) but cool season perennials are nearly impossible to deal with once NWSG has emerged as well. The exception is to use Panoramic/Plateau (imazapic) in split applications of 2-3 ounces per acre on seedling switchgrass or 6-8 on established switchgrass. The ultra low rates however are not going to have the desired impact on tough to kill CSG like fescue.

Fair warning to anyone who has attempted to kill cool season grasses with gly alone this spring...you may find you didn't get the job done.... ;)
 
If the cool season's are late, will the warm season's be late as well and thus spraying gly now give simliar results to a typical shot of gly in early April.

That's what I am hoping for as I applied gly and atrazine today. After being too wet and then finding my roller pump locked up on my sprayer, it's the first chance I have had.
 
If the cool season's are late, will the warm season's be late as well and thus spraying gly now give simliar results to a typical shot of gly in early April.

That's what I am hoping for as I applied gly and atrazine today. After being too wet and then finding my roller pump locked up on my sprayer, it's the first chance I have had.

New NWSG seedings normally don't germinate until mid May in most of Iowa so they certainly would be unlikely to germinate early that's for sure...;)
 
dkelley said:
If the cool season's are late, will the warm season's be late as well and thus spraying gly now give simliar results to a typical shot of gly in early April.

That's what I am hoping for as I applied gly and atrazine today. After being too wet and then finding my roller pump locked up on my sprayer, it's the first chance I have had.

Ha, the exact same thing happened to me yesterday. Got in the field with 300 gallons of chemical only to find my pump is locked up. When I hit the pto it destroyed all my hoses.
 
When i sprayed my gly a few weeks ago, i actually hade some csg popping up already it gets a lot of sun. It took a couple weeks by my field is about 80% dead. So i think it worked good for me. I finally got my oust sprayed yesterday so hopefully this will help revitalize my switch. if not i will spray in fall and frost seed. I would have sprayed last fall but i did not own the property. We will se what happens . Thanks for all the info.
 
Ha, the exact same thing happened to me yesterday. Got in the field with 300 gallons of chemical only to find my pump is locked up. When I hit the pto it destroyed all my hoses.

Fill your pumps with dsl fuel in the off season to help keep that from happening...;)

We will se what happens

Keep us posted :way:
 
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