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Switchgrass

Daver said:
While I have not actually done this yet any previous time...it is my intent now to do this in the coming weeks in prep for drilling some switch this spring. I have researched and believe that this plan is solid...I just don't have the first hand experience to relate on this subject...at this time. :) See link below.

Don Higgins explains...switchgrass stratification
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I was recently told this past weekend by Jesse Knox that he plants all his switch in June now with a drill. He said he has far better luck with it and has lots of it germinate. I asked him if he stratifies it at all and he said no but some of the seed in switch does not have the hard coating so that stuff germinates and then the stuff that does then comes on the following year.

basically about a million ways to skin this cat
 
Tmayer13 said:
I was recently told this past weekend by Jesse Knox that he plants all his switch in June now with a drill. He said he has far better luck with it and has lots of it germinate. I asked him if he stratifies it at all and he said no but some of the seed in switch does not have the hard coating so that stuff germinates and then the stuff that does then comes on the following year.

basically about a million ways to skin this cat
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Don Higgins mentions drilling when soil temps get warm enough is his new favored method on his latest podcast. He stratifies the seed in his freezer as Daver mentions.

I have an area that I didn't get killed off last fall that I want to get switch into so I'm going to try planting in June. I'll get it sprayed at green up and again when I drill. Hopefully that will get the grass killed off dead so the switch has a chance. I've had the seed for a year so I don't want to wait any longer to get it in the ground.
 
I have planted in June also , I did stratify the seed but I had great results , weed free but switch only came up 2-3 feet super clean . 2nd year it was money ..
 
I have been told deer really don't bed in the switchgrass as much as some people are saying. Anyone who has planted it have any comments about this? I have 7-8 acres I may plant in switchgrass but I'm not sold yet.
 
tall@wide said:
I have been told deer really don't bed in the switchgrass as much as some people are saying. Anyone who has planted it have any comments about this? I have 7-8 acres I may plant in switchgrass but I'm not sold yet.
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When we bought our farm, about 90 acres out of 120 was in mature switch grass. Pheasant hunting it, I rarely jumped deer out in the middle of a patch of switch. Deer tended to bed in draws, creek bottom, fence lines and other cover on the edge of the switch, using it as an escape. That said, during shotgun season one year I did jump a nice buck that was in the middle of a field. Add some hunting pressure to an area and switch can be a refuge. I think the issue is limited vision for the deer. I did kill a really nice buck one shotgun season as he herded a hot doe out of the switch. I think he pushed her out there to hide her from other bucks.
 
I would like to see someone actually do a scientific study on "Freezer Stratification". I'm skeptical that throwing dry seed in a freezer is going to do anything to the seed shell. Freeze-thaw cycles of moist seed is what would cause the hull to crack...The moisture would expand and contract as it freezes and then thaws....how nature and physics intended it.
 
jlwdvm said:
I would like to see someone actually do a scientific study on "Freezer Stratification". I'm skeptical that throwing dry seed in a freezer is going to do anything to the seed shell. Freeze-thaw cycles of moist seed is what would cause the hull to crack...The moisture would expand and contract as it freezes and then thaws....how nature and physics intended it.
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Been wondering the same. Would adding moisture to it before freezing increase seed viability?
 
Then you would have to worry about mold, clumping, etc. Frankly, I'm impressed with the CIR seed I have purchased from Pheasants Forever the past 2 years. The seed I drilled on my own this May with my 7-row JD cut down drill did very well by the fall...3-4' tall by fall. My second year stand that went in with a professional no-till drill was 5'tall this fall.
 
tall@wide said:
I have been told deer really don't bed in the switchgrass as much as some people are saying. Anyone who has planted it have any comments about this? I have 7-8 acres I may plant in switchgrass but I'm not sold yet.
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My thinking...planting 7 acres of pure thick switch would be like digging a 7 acre pond with no structure. Add some pockets of shrubs, cedars or hedge and it will come alive. Thin some areas and paths with gly and that alone will help. For me...planting switch is just the first step.
 
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tall@wide said:
I have been told deer really don't bed in the switchgrass as much as some people are saying. Anyone who has planted it have any comments about this? I have 7-8 acres I may plant in switchgrass but I'm not sold yet.
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Switch on fairly flat ground that's lower than surrounding cover is not real attractive for bedding, if you have switch on a hill that's above the surrounding terrain, they'll bed in it.
 
jlwdvm said:
Then you would have to worry about mold, clumping, etc. Frankly, I'm impressed with the CIR seed I have purchased from Pheasants Forever the past 2 years. The seed I drilled on my own this May with my 7-row JD cut down drill did very well by the fall...3-4' tall by fall. My second year stand that went in with a professional no-till drill was 5'tall this fall.
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Did you stratify ahead of time? Might help to plant at slightly higher rates if not stratifying your seed to get a better stand early on?
 
First year switch plavted March 2021 i checked in or today
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PERFECTION!!!!^^^^^^^

IMO, frost seeding is still the safest. A guy can get a great stand with planting April to mid June, etc..... The later you wait.... There is more risk of failure if you were to average out year after year.... IF you get good wet weather that summer, be just fine. If you have a dry summer, you will have some failure (& next year germination). My ideal method would be to have full germination from properly stratified seed planted early.

Frost seeding is a very solid method that does 3 things: 1) effectively gets soil to seed contact & 2nd) Guarantees you don't get the seed TOO DEEP!.... clearly, that is a very common problem. 3rd: Seed is properly stratified creating ideal germination. I'd suggest bumping rates up 10-20% while frost seeding but that's splitting hairs.

Like above says, a gazillion ways to skin a cat too!!!! So many ways to effectively do this. Good weather, good germination & good weed control - as long as they encompass all 3 of those items, doesn't really matter which approach you take.
 
I have went into my fields and tilled pockets for bedding has seemed to work very well.. Disk up let weeds get going throw a little clover if you want , I will tell you the deer I have jumped have been mature bucks in solid stands. Normally on edge for me .. I don't think does are in it much until I put the diversity pockets in it.
 
Jbohn said:
I have went into my fields and tilled pockets for bedding has seemed to work very well.. Disk up let weeds get going throw a little clover if you want , I will tell you the deer I have jumped have been mature bucks in solid stands. Normally on edge for me .. I don't think does are in it much until I put the diversity pockets in it.
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How big would say these pockets are? And when you tilled them did you have any problems with foxtail coming in?

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This how I did the pockets , it was a game changer , food plot to the west , hinge 3 acres to west of that . Mowed trail to stand out of bedding areas and funnels through hinge to plot . It made it place you want to hunt every evening .
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Tmayer13 said:
How big would say these pockets are? And when you tilled them did you have any problems with foxtail coming in?

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That's what would happen here, blanket foxtail any time I kill the competition and don't successfully get something else going quick. Foxtail is my #1 weed I battle.
 
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