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Mid Contract CRP Maintenance

MN Slick

PMA Member
Anyone used the herbicide option for their mid contract maintenance? I'd like to have it burned but getting good conditions during the allowable burn period and finding someone to do it has proven itself difficult so I'm looking at having it sprayed.

Thanks
 
I have used the herbicide option before...probably about 5 years ago or so. In fact, I had Paul Knox(Dbltree) spray it for me and if I recall, I did about 1/2 of my acres one year and then the rest of them the next year. I am pretty sure I had him come two separate times, maybe three times. At any rate, it worked out fine.

Personally, I would only ever burn or use herbicide, I would not disk as an option. Just because those that I know that went with the disking option regretted it due to the rough spots left behind.
 
Amen on the discing option! It'll turn a nice pheasant field into an ankle busting obstacle course... Many years later the field is still an SOB to mow.

Exactly the type of feedback I heard from others that did go ahead and disk. ^^ And...a real teeth chattering ride across the rough ground, especially when frozen, in a truck or ATV. DO NOT DISK!! :) :)
 
I had the local volunteer fire department burn mine. @ 30 an acre that is 50% cost shared. Worked out well.
A neighbor did the strip disking, wow, rough ride is an understatement.
 
I had the local volunteer fire department burn mine. @ 30 an acre that is 50% cost shared. Worked out well.
A neighbor did the strip disking, wow, rough ride is an understatement.

Pheasant Forever Chapters or a local fire departments almost everywhere do this!!

MN Slick have you contacted either of them??
 
There just seems to be more burning to do than there are folks trained & willing to do it. At least in SW IA, you better plan a year ahead of when you want something burned and make some contacts then in order to get on their list. Last time I hired an outfit they still wanted me to mow/till the borders ahead of time.
 
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Yeah, my neighbor chose the disking option. Damn near has to wear ankle braces to walk through it now.

I had a local FD do another farm, they charged $50/acre. They were unable to get it done the first year and barely got it completed a year later. I may still hire someone and have the herbicide option as a back up.

Is the herbicide suppression designed to supress the WSG or the undesirables in the fields to let the WSG flourish?
 
Yeah, my neighbor chose the disking option. Damn near has to wear ankle braces to walk through it now.

I had a local FD do another farm, they charged $50/acre. They were unable to get it done the first year and barely got it completed a year later. I may still hire someone and have the herbicide option as a back up.

Is the herbicide suppression designed to supress the WSG or the undesirables in the fields to let the WSG flourish?

For $50 an acre I would travel all over the Midwest doing burns!
 
Yeah, my neighbor chose the disking option. Damn near has to wear ankle braces to walk through it now.

I had a local FD do another farm, they charged $50/acre. They were unable to get it done the first year and barely got it completed a year later. I may still hire someone and have the herbicide option as a back up.

Is the herbicide suppression designed to supress the WSG or the undesirables in the fields to let the WSG flourish?

From when I did it several years ago, my understanding was that we were trying to kill off brome mostly and let others plants come on so there was more diversity, etc. I would say it worked for that purpose and I am a big believer in not having a solid stand of brome when you are trying to aid wildlife/gamebirds.
 
Depends what u want..... for example.... if u wanted more natives and not as concerned with Forbs - I'd highly suggest cleaning a field with a 10-12 oz/acre spray of plateau on existing established natives. Yes- even switch (established!!). If weeds are a mess or perennial weeds up before desireables- a post emergent included before natives green up. This will make your stand clean and go nuts. Following year- fire. That's just one of million examples. Can substitute atrazine for plateau on ESTABLISHED grasses. Heck- could do both.
For brome: late fall spraying. Late spring - early summer burning. Also- an early spring spraying. Could do all 3 in reality. Agree with above- except for waterways- it's worthless. And PLEASE don't do what too many guys do and start burning in March for example. All u are doing is clearing a slate for cool season garbage to dominate and go bananas. Drives me insane seeing this!!

Now- when a guy wants Forbs- big change of plans. Plateau tolerant - answers itself (let me know if don't understand). Non-plateau tolerant..... earlier burning, interseeding, mowing super high to cut off weed plant tops to prevent from seeding (for example, this year was a pain with marestail in fields). Ain't gonna kill stuff like marestail or whatever but u wanna keep em from going to seed and promote desireables from mowing, timely spray or burn, etc. if no grasses & want forbs, clethodim & crop oil.

Such a loaded question with dozens of scenarios and answers. U throw out a specific scenario: what's planted, when, how it took, weeds there, how long it's established, goals and pry have 3-4 viable options depending on scenario.
 
... And PLEASE don't do what too many guys do and start burning in March for example. All u are doing is clearing a slate for cool season garbage to dominate and go bananas. Drives me insane seeing this!!

...

Skip - a point of clarification/question relative to your comment above...I believe I know what you are getting at, but just to be sure...I have burned a mostly brome field in March or early April and then let it grow back a little and hit it hard with RUP, etc. to really kill it off. Assuming that the goal is to kill the brome, I think that is a sound approach. Do you see a problem with that?
 
That'll work well if you do both. Burning that early will expose new brome to your glyphosate. It certainly won't kill it and I think that was the concern with an early burn.
 
Skip - a point of clarification/question relative to your comment above...I believe I know what you are getting at, but just to be sure...I have burned a mostly brome field in March or early April and then let it grow back a little and hit it hard with RUP, etc. to really kill it off. Assuming that the goal is to kill the brome, I think that is a sound approach. Do you see a problem with that?

Will help. May not kill it but pry Could if done right. Agree with u. Later fall easier but what u are trying to do- correct - agree and not what I was saying I was discouraging. Worst case- u setting brome back which is great. Hitting greened up brome BEFORE natives green up.... any combo: massive glyphosate doses on warmer day, IDEALLY with ams & crop oil. Likely id add a pre emergent as well. That's one of many options. Paul used to hit with oust late fall.
If my goal was trying to spring kill brome, here's my dream scenario: green up after mow/burn (well into green up- not after 1st of it Starts).... hit with 4 qts gly or 60 oz ignite. + ams + crop oil + plateau. In magic world, id do 2 sprayings, one about 4 weeks before natives green up and second Bout week before natives green up. If I had $ to burn, I'd add clethodim as well for additional action for kill. Reality: one nuclear spray about 1-2 weeks before natives green up. ***plateau if on established natives there or going to plant plateau tolerants. Sub/Switch that to atrazine & 2,4-d if it's BB & switchgrass u are starting those and not yet established. So- existing vs. new spring seeding can change dynamics. Killing brome and fescue in spring is a pain & hard but possible & agree with ur approach
 
That'll work well if you do both. Burning that early will expose new brome to your glyphosate. It certainly won't kill it and I think that was the concern with an early burn.

I definitely agree that burning a brome field in March'ish will not kill it. At least once in the past though I burned it and then let it come back a bit and then hit it with gly. That resulted in A LOT of dead brome and then predominantly other stuff grew then. BUT...although it seemed to work well, it may not have been the best way.
 
I have a hard time finding a decent Crop oil. I can't find anything decent at Farm and Fleet. What do you guys recommend for crop oil and what is ams?
 
I have a hard time finding a decent Crop oil. I can't find anything decent at Farm and Fleet. What do you guys recommend for crop oil and what is ams?
I use bean oil with no problems, same as HorseDoctor. If you're having issues.... I think adding a water conditioner or ams may be needed anyways as you may have other water issues, etc....
There's also water conditioners that are substituted for AMS....
http://www.farmershelpingfarmersco.com/adjuvant-cost-comparison.html
Read that.
AMS or water conditioner is really going to help your kill.
When it comes to killing brome and fescue, etc, especially in spring, "you can't kill it too dead" and most often. The opposite occurs - you think you got it with a medium dose of Gly and it comes back a couple weeks later. It's a pain. So, all I'm saying, throw all you can at it & I'd rather go "too heavy" on it than too light if you want it dead. As long as you're not running risks with long term residuals (pre-emergents) - upping the amount of Post emergents and anything else you can pack in for a better kill - do it, imo.
 
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