Thanks for the replys fellas. Here a few photos for reference. These matted down areas are almost 100% Foxtail. I have some Kanlow seed already that I would still like to broadcast in. I guess for me the issue with timing any spraying in the Spring if I seed again is having established switch green up before the new seed germinates. I thought I read that Quincloric would damage new plantings. I might have remembered that wrong. I am probably overthinking this way too much. Thanks again for the advice.
Thanks for the replys fellas. Here a few photos for reference. These matted down areas are almost 100% Foxtail. I have some Kanlow seed already that I would still like to broadcast in. I guess for me the issue with timing any spraying in the Spring if I seed again is having established switch green up before the new seed germinates. I thought I read that Quincloric would damage new plantings. I might have remembered that wrong. I am probably overthinking this way too much. Thanks again for the advice.
I have zero fear of burning first year switch. Done it many times without issue. The other natives, BB, IG, are a different story. Probably what I would do with above.
LoessHillsArcher
PMA Member
Snapped a couple pics of our first year CIR switch, drilled mid Nov 2017. Came in great! Mowed one time in early July. Lots of foxtail mixed in there too yet but that’s ok
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Jbohn
Well-Known Member
I have burned first year also no issues..
Pheasant6290
New Member
Here’s my experience with switch for past 12 years.
I see many posts about switch to thick for deer.
Deer do like it better if they can move through the switch easily in my opinion. I have 3 stands side by side totaling about 25 acres. When planting we ran out of seed on one side of planter without knowing. Big voids in the last stand now for about 10 years, the voids are full of fox tail that lays down at first snow and easy to move through when standing. Favorite stand for deer by far to bed up in and hang out. Most deer by far always in this stand for past 7-8 years.
My other stands where thick & very hard to walk thru and had less deer , I took a sprayer behind my 4 wheeler last spring and burnt in with glyphosate about 3 foot wondering paths not knowing how it would turn out & scared I was making them to wide. The tall switch on the edge of the paths now bends over into the paths, you can barely see there are paths in the switch. I got deer everywhere in these stands with beaten down trails everywhere I burnt in a path. I will be burning in more this coming spring it worked so well.
Fields were 10lbs an acre of CIR
Quinclorac My experience.
I have a new stand of switch I planted last year that had a bad foxtail problem. I sprayed with quinclorac that did great where I hit with one spray. No foxtail. I hit about a half acre with 2 to 3 sprays where the foxtail was a little thicker and it killed all the switch also.
Be careful with that stuff.
I hit another section of bad foxtail about every 3 -4 weeks with quinclorac and the new switch was fine.
8 Lbs Dacotah
BB & Indian grass
I have 12 year old indian , big blue , and Canadian wild rye that I will be pulling out this spring and doing 100% switch. BB & Indian are already laying flat for the winter like every winter if you get even one wet snow or some ice. Wild rye disappeared 5-6 years ago.
Theres some sparse switch that’s the only thing left standing every winter.
Planted some switch no till last February into heavey corn fodder. Crap. Switch very spotty. Never again. Only came up in the cleaner areas without fodder.
Planted 3 acres switch no til in February and then planted soybean over top my switch by mistake. I sprayed light 2-4d when beans got going killing sbout 80% of the beans. The spotty bean canopy seem to be making the switch stand a perfect thickness. Will see what it does next year.
Anyone ever plant switch with corn ?
Thanks. Good luck.
I see many posts about switch to thick for deer.
Deer do like it better if they can move through the switch easily in my opinion. I have 3 stands side by side totaling about 25 acres. When planting we ran out of seed on one side of planter without knowing. Big voids in the last stand now for about 10 years, the voids are full of fox tail that lays down at first snow and easy to move through when standing. Favorite stand for deer by far to bed up in and hang out. Most deer by far always in this stand for past 7-8 years.
My other stands where thick & very hard to walk thru and had less deer , I took a sprayer behind my 4 wheeler last spring and burnt in with glyphosate about 3 foot wondering paths not knowing how it would turn out & scared I was making them to wide. The tall switch on the edge of the paths now bends over into the paths, you can barely see there are paths in the switch. I got deer everywhere in these stands with beaten down trails everywhere I burnt in a path. I will be burning in more this coming spring it worked so well.
Fields were 10lbs an acre of CIR
Quinclorac My experience.
I have a new stand of switch I planted last year that had a bad foxtail problem. I sprayed with quinclorac that did great where I hit with one spray. No foxtail. I hit about a half acre with 2 to 3 sprays where the foxtail was a little thicker and it killed all the switch also.
Be careful with that stuff.
I hit another section of bad foxtail about every 3 -4 weeks with quinclorac and the new switch was fine.
8 Lbs Dacotah
BB & Indian grass
I have 12 year old indian , big blue , and Canadian wild rye that I will be pulling out this spring and doing 100% switch. BB & Indian are already laying flat for the winter like every winter if you get even one wet snow or some ice. Wild rye disappeared 5-6 years ago.
Theres some sparse switch that’s the only thing left standing every winter.
Planted some switch no till last February into heavey corn fodder. Crap. Switch very spotty. Never again. Only came up in the cleaner areas without fodder.
Planted 3 acres switch no til in February and then planted soybean over top my switch by mistake. I sprayed light 2-4d when beans got going killing sbout 80% of the beans. The spotty bean canopy seem to be making the switch stand a perfect thickness. Will see what it does next year.
Anyone ever plant switch with corn ?
Thanks. Good luck.
LoessHillsArcher
PMA Member
I agree - weedy switch is almost better than thick 100% pure switch
Matt Bowen
New Member
Hello guys, I have been following and reading this thread for quite some time. We planted some switchgrass for the first time this year, we are down in SC, just 5 minutes from the NC line. We planted it late February, into freshly disked, and cultipacked dirt. Just left the seed on top without cultipacking again. Sprayed with gly, and Atrazine in March. There is a wealth of knowledge here, so I figured I would ask for some advice. We planted 3 fields, the first field is 2 acres total, but 1 acre of switch, and 1 acre for food plots. The second field is about 3 acres of switch, 3 of food plot. The other is about 20 acres of switch, and 3-4 acres of food plot. The large field done great, the switch came up and made a nice stand. The other (1 acre, and 3 acre) both didn't do very well. I will attach a photo that shows how it looks as of today.
We have some seed left over from the planting this year, and we are planning to re-seed those two areas, and any bare spots we find in the other. The question is how should we go about reseeding it? We do not have access to a no-till drill with the small seed box. We have a new bushog on order, so we are thinking we should either just bushog, Frost seed some new seed in this grassy area, and spray later. Or option two is to turn this land over with a bottom plow, disk and start the whole thing over, again with seeding in February. I believe the other grass eventually choked out the small switch seedlings, but there are a few standing stalks that appear to be switch in areas. I will also attach another picture of the large field that done pretty well, it had some weeds/peas growing in it, but it looks pretty good since the winter took the weeds away. We are mostly using the switch as a road screen and bedding area.
We have some seed left over from the planting this year, and we are planning to re-seed those two areas, and any bare spots we find in the other. The question is how should we go about reseeding it? We do not have access to a no-till drill with the small seed box. We have a new bushog on order, so we are thinking we should either just bushog, Frost seed some new seed in this grassy area, and spray later. Or option two is to turn this land over with a bottom plow, disk and start the whole thing over, again with seeding in February. I believe the other grass eventually choked out the small switch seedlings, but there are a few standing stalks that appear to be switch in areas. I will also attach another picture of the large field that done pretty well, it had some weeds/peas growing in it, but it looks pretty good since the winter took the weeds away. We are mostly using the switch as a road screen and bedding area.
Matt Bowen
New Member
Here is another photo of the large field from the opposite side setting in the stand. I'm pretty happy with this field, it has some gaps, and some weed growth, so it looks perfect. I'm thinking about taking the 1 acre area and turning it completely over, and trying some of the real world bedding in a bag there, it is a pretty good spot, but its pretty easy to see everything from the road.
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Jbohn
Well-Known Member
Matt IMO , first year hard to tell what it's going to be if you want to frost seed some switch to make you feel better and you have the seed go for it. I have had seed that didn't take off till the second year or small plants that needed to be released. I took till my 3rd growing season to see what I though I would see the first. It's a long process IMO I wasted a lot of money being Impatience years ago. If your goals are pure switch took a bit for me I don't mind the diversity I have some solid and some weedy. I try to keep the pure switch with a few trails and funnel the deer. I can tell you what worked for me..
Id burn late spring / set invasive back and clean it up if it was me.
- I burned after the first year in areas foxtail took over I never had a negative effect, But I burned late first of May.
- I sprayed Platuea at 6oz on a second year stand in spring , clean as a whistle just stunned the growth of the switch to about 2 ft and turned purple , next year it was solid switch.
- I have also let it take of care its self and 3 years later plenty of cover with weeds mixed in . burn to clean up and looks great just some weeds which is not a big deal.
- I like to use Atrazine and dual magnum on new seeded plots kept them cleaner for me. Atrazine has never worked good on foxtail for me.
- I have used Oust on second year stand early had good results, some people are iffy on this because Oust KILLS. But it worked for me if you want 100% pure. Spray early before Switch gets going , don't frost seed it will not come up.
- I have also tilled before in spring , Sprayed pre emerge with good results but I did wet chill my seed for 30 days before I planted first of June worked fine and was clean.
- Also if you want thick I had to hammer the seed at 10LBS an acre. 5 lbs as always been thin , depends on your goals.
Id burn late spring / set invasive back and clean it up if it was me.
Jbohn
Well-Known Member
I tried this with Corn/ Milo , didn't work only a few plants. I would not recommend with corn if you want a full stand of Switch. You wont be happy
Good stuff from Jbohn above. If it was me, I would also burn it late spring. Bet you'd be surprised (in a good way) with what you get out of it.
Really good stuff above!
Agree. Heavy atrazine!! Atrazine is inneffective on foxtail & crabgrass. Timed right- like above- s-metolachlor with it. Or 2-6 oz plateau (can go 4++ oz if spray earlier). Or quinclorac 1-2 times. Or combo.
Don’t turn soil over. Frost seed & spray 2-3 times if able. What u spray & when has several factors (timing, soil temp, weed issues, etc). Good luck & Fire back with pics & specifics.
Agree. Heavy atrazine!! Atrazine is inneffective on foxtail & crabgrass. Timed right- like above- s-metolachlor with it. Or 2-6 oz plateau (can go 4++ oz if spray earlier). Or quinclorac 1-2 times. Or combo.
Don’t turn soil over. Frost seed & spray 2-3 times if able. What u spray & when has several factors (timing, soil temp, weed issues, etc). Good luck & Fire back with pics & specifics.
Matt Bowen
New Member
The first field will probably be left as is for this year, we are pretty happy with it, we are just a little concerned that the large field done so well, and the others show little to no sign of switchgrass. The 3 fields are within 500 yards of each other, and were all treated the same. On the smaller field I think it sprouted ok, but then the other grass took over.
I don't think we have foxtail here, I haven't seen any, but we do have some other grasses that will choke it out. The picture of the smaller field is pretty much just the other grass, but I might try to burn it off around April if the weather works out.
I don't think we have foxtail here, I haven't seen any, but we do have some other grasses that will choke it out. The picture of the smaller field is pretty much just the other grass, but I might try to burn it off around April if the weather works out.
I think I am about to give up on this whole Switchgrass dream. I have 2nd year switch (plus I frostseeded more Kanlow into the stand) due to my impatience.
I was all set to burn this year but it was entirely too wet for a majority of spring and still is. I thought I had a small window and when I went out to check on April 21st I had a lot of switch already emerging from the clumps. Half of the switch is 4” tall already and the rest of 2nd year is poking out of the soil. No sign of any germination yet of the November 18 seeded switch but due to the damp wet clay I don’t think the new switch germinated until mid June last year. Soil temps peaked at 56 degrees for a few days but then it got real cold and real wet.
The issue I have with this field is I can’t get into in the Spring to spray ever. Middle of May is about the best I can do and this year that looks to be in serious jeopardy. I hand sprayed the switch with a back pack sprayer and Simazine this year but the heavy foxtail mat I think was a problem. I also spot sprayed a week after the simazine with glyphosate. I have all kinds of weeds popping up Foxtail, thistle, and a variety of other weeds. My hope is the switch does a better job of competing this year. It should because the established clumps are coming to life and that puts them light years ahead of last years seedlings.
Is there anything you can put on in the fall to help with Spring weeds once the switch goes dormant? I have read this thread two or three times and it’s seems like Paul mentioned Oust XP the fall before but I haven’t reached that point as I reread the thread again. I can see where mowing the dormant switch would be beneficial and give the established switch less debris to blow through. Burning may be out of the question going forward as I have started to add fruit trees near the switch. I know patience is the name of the game I just don’t have any and growing ever frustrated.
I was all set to burn this year but it was entirely too wet for a majority of spring and still is. I thought I had a small window and when I went out to check on April 21st I had a lot of switch already emerging from the clumps. Half of the switch is 4” tall already and the rest of 2nd year is poking out of the soil. No sign of any germination yet of the November 18 seeded switch but due to the damp wet clay I don’t think the new switch germinated until mid June last year. Soil temps peaked at 56 degrees for a few days but then it got real cold and real wet.
The issue I have with this field is I can’t get into in the Spring to spray ever. Middle of May is about the best I can do and this year that looks to be in serious jeopardy. I hand sprayed the switch with a back pack sprayer and Simazine this year but the heavy foxtail mat I think was a problem. I also spot sprayed a week after the simazine with glyphosate. I have all kinds of weeds popping up Foxtail, thistle, and a variety of other weeds. My hope is the switch does a better job of competing this year. It should because the established clumps are coming to life and that puts them light years ahead of last years seedlings.
Is there anything you can put on in the fall to help with Spring weeds once the switch goes dormant? I have read this thread two or three times and it’s seems like Paul mentioned Oust XP the fall before but I haven’t reached that point as I reread the thread again. I can see where mowing the dormant switch would be beneficial and give the established switch less debris to blow through. Burning may be out of the question going forward as I have started to add fruit trees near the switch. I know patience is the name of the game I just don’t have any and growing ever frustrated.
Breathe. Deep breathes. All these things we do are to help switchgrass and accelerate the timeline to the desirable outcome, but the reality is the switchgrass will be just fine. One spring you will have good burning conditions and smoke weeds and switchgrass will take over. It will be juuuuuussst fiiiiiiiiine..
I am sure your right thanks for the pep talk.
