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Warm Season Grasses- HELP

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MObowhunter10

Member
Hey guys,

I planted warm season grasses (big blue stem, switchgrass mix) last January (So January of 2015)...

All I did was no-till drill them into fields, 5 of which being cut bean fields, and 3 of which being hayfields.

I had no idea about how to go about establishing native warm season grasses, I just listened to multiple old style farmers who said basically plant it anywhere over anything and it'll come up and take over in a couple years.


Obviously I messed up, and should have prepared the seed bed better, but I was just wondering, is this a total failure at this point? I can't tell in the hayfields whether any of the warm season grasses are coming up, or if it's just the original timothy grasses etc. I believe the cut beanfields are okay, as I'm pretty sure the stuff thats coming up is the young switch grass and blue stem. Should the warm season grasses be easily noticeable right now, or will I be okay on them?
 
At this stage of spring 2016 I would not think you could determine that you have a problem with WSG's yet. A rule of thumb for spring germination of switch grass is May 10th...but it can be hastened with consistent warm spring weather. Having said that, I would be very surprised if anything has germinated yet this spring.

Soooo...if you are seeing competition now where you planted switch last year I personally would hit the new growth with gly right now...killing your newly growing cool season grasses, but prior to WSG germination.
 
Agree with daver, Def not the good stuff at this point. Smoke with gly and AMS. You might have to do it again in the fall.
 
Not the two you have listed (BB & switch). If you have any that came up last year they will be completely dormant at the moment (and for several more weeks) and roundup will only kill the junk. Same thing applies in the fall. You can spray roundup again when the NWSG goes dormant and the cool season grasses start taking off again.
 
MObowhunter10 said:
So spraying Gly will for sure not hurt my Warm season grasses? (if there are any)
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Timing is everything as they say...:D

NORMALLY, WSG's have not yet emerged at this early date in April...and I doubt yours have. (But, about 3 or 4 years ago we had a really early, warm spring and many people were seeing WSG germination in April. Normally though, you are pretty safe up until about May 10th for WSG germination.)

So, to me, it is about 99% likely that whatever you are seeing growing now are cool season grasses...and since gly only kills what is actively growing, you most likely have a "window" right now where you can spray gly on what is growing now without worrying about killing your yet to emerge WSG's.

But...you should do so sooner, rather than later. I would suspect that the next 8-12 days should be a safe window for you. BUT...this is without the benefit of seeing your place too...so it never hurts to get other, more local opinions. :D
 
MObowhunter10 said:
I appreciate the input! I will call the local seed guy and see if I can't get him out to look at my fields!
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No problem, be sure to post later and let us know how it worked out...unless of course our advice led to you inadvertently cooking your switch grass! :rolleyes: Then you never heard anything from me! :D

But seriously, I have sprayed gly in early to mid April a couple of times to kill competing CSG's in an area where I had desired, but still dormant, WSG's and as far as I could tell...the plan worked. Good luck!
 
If it were me - I'd blast it asap with round-up, atrazine & some 2,4-D. 2,4-D will help fry stuff & should not hurt what sounds like possibly established NSWG's that sound like they have been mowed last year in a hay field, which partially isn't bad actually. Not perfect and competition sure isn't good for em but you might have a decent stand, possibly. Now it's time to free it up and see what's there. BB & switch are both tolerant to Atrazine. with a lot of top cover, atrazine impact could vary, depending on how much, how much of a water rate you use, rain, etc. Absolutely can't hurt & most likely will help. Plenty of ways to deal with this. 2nd way..... Blast it and maybe go lighter on 2,4-D (so it's gone in about 2 weeks) and interseed some more BB & switch into it to thicken it up. Killing now is a pain, I echo above also with the AMS additive. Heavy duty blasting it with high rates & doing on the warmest parts of the warmest growing days asap would be nice. Good luck.
 
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