50 acres,of weeds,what can he do?

Have a friend that finally got his land back in his control,it sat a year and weeds have taken over. I told him cut them all down,let them dry then moldboard plow them under.He is against spraying so I told him I don't have a answer what to grow next year,with out weed control.What can he plant this year yet to try to choke out the weeds,rye grass or some other cover crop? iam in se wi on somewhat clay ground thanks steve
 
Does he want grain crops or hay crops? If hay plant now, frequent timely cuttings will choke the weeds out.

Grains, oh boy. Cereal rye planted now will suppress some weed seeds, but organic row crops is a lifetime learning experience, wish him luck and smile knowingly is about the best advice......

Paul
 
He not sure what to plant? I told him my sugestions and that required spraying at least one time so I told him I would see what I would find.Some type of grass would work for hay,Does rye grow fast?
 
I currently farm certified organic so I know a little about not using synthetic sprays. you have a few options available. Some may be viewed in a negative way because they are not the most environmentally correct but here goes. to kill the weeds this year about the only option is steel, fire or vinegar. Either plow, disk or roll the weeds, chisel the outside and light a fire or spray the whole field with 15% acetic acid vinegar (reg stuff is only 5%). There are a few organic certified sprays that will do the same thing. My suggestion is to spray the whole field with vinegar or organic approved burn down spray mixed with a few gallons of lemon concentrate and dawn dish soap or clove oil. That will turn that field brown and will kill everything. Then chisel the outside 10 to 20 feet of field and light a match and grab some marshmallows or hotdogs. you may want to contact your rural fire department to 1 make sure it's ok to burn and 2 find out if they want a fire fighting exercise. then wait a few days for ground to cool. If you can either no till in rye or use as minimal disturbance planting practice as possible. Even a broadcaster, spreading into a 25 foot drag harrow will work. The winter rye cereal grain will come up in 7 to 10 days and will smother almost any weed. Then next spring either harvest the rye, seed into it in spring time, hay it before boot stage or plow down the green manure and plant what ever. That's about the only way to do anything yet this year.
 
I often hear about vinegar.

What does it do, how does it work? Does soil ph matter in how it works? Or does it just burn the green vegetation no matter what? How heavy a solution do you need, and can you find industrial size tubs of it?

Just idle curiosity. You seem to actually know something about it.

Paul
 
One trick I used was till the ground just before the fall rains start and Indian summer that way any weed seeds germinate and start growing frost does the rest rye works good to suppress weeds. Interesting thing I found in the fall is that cattle like weeds I've got a small area I just turned the cattle in and they turned the grass down for weeds first
 
Run goats and cattle in a field for a couple years and almost all the weeds will disappear,actually they're smarter than most farmers that own them as most weeds have
have far more nutrition in them than most common pasture and hay grasses.
 
Yes the ph of this stuff is an acid. Not sure exact ph level but I know it's on the acid side of the scale. Basically it burns (dehydrates) the vegetation and kills all plants. A product called avenger weed killer will also work. It's organic certified and is basically citrus concentrate. I've used the concentrate weed killer around the farm on leafy spurge and simple vinegar around the house in town. The vinegar worked great to kill field bindweed and even little trees which have came up in our rock beds.
 
Enlighten me as to what weed has more nutrition than most pasture and hay grasses? If that statement were anywhere close to true no one would spend money on seed and fertilizer. Goats may favor many weeds above grass but TDN wise it's a bust.
 
Many weeds are scavengers of minerals and nutrients. field bindweed for instance is capable of releasing acid from it's roots to lower the ph around it's root area to absorb non plant soluble calcium from the soil and sub soil. Thus bind weed is actually very high in calcium for sheep and goats which is needed for nursing or preg stock. In many cases weeds are higher in minerals and nutrients on poor to average soil then your average grass, especially cool season grass. bindweed seeds for instance are 16.76% crude protein and have excellent amounts of phosphorus and potassium. I've had mine tested by dairyland labs in Mn. Far as what to do with these 50 acres, animal introduction would be a very good idea and most livestock would benefit from this weedy forage. The main reason why weeds are not used as pasture or hay is because many are poisonous to cattle, horses and many are on the band list which may upset/anger your neighbors if not controlled. Also weeds can be very hard to control unlike grass which is relatively easy to control when converting land from pasture to tilled crop.
 
Yes, many weeds are nutritious and palatable to many classes of livestock, but the reference was to cultivated pasture or hay grasses. There is a major difference between rangeland and cultivated hay or pasture land, if a person wants to make money with livestock on traditional pasture they had better plan on keeping the weeds at bay and allow the forage plants to utilize the nutrients, existing and applied.
 
I make money off cattle and meat goats and have for well over 50 years,turn cattle into a new pasture the weeds,Johnson Grass and the like are the first thing they eat.Lambs Quarter is as good of forage as Alfalfa and a whole lot cheaper to grow(LOL)
 
I never said livestock would not eat weeds, as a matter of fact I agreed that they would eat weeds and that many weeds are fairly good feed, but to claim that weeds are superior to pasture grass is ridiculous. It may be cheaper to graze weeds if a person is ''land rich'' as was common in my area back when land was $10.00 $50.00 per acre, running 1 cow to 20 acres was feasible with no improvements to the land but if a person is trying to maximize forage yield for livestock production then they have to buy a little lime, fertilizer and seed, in that order. You go ahead and graze weeds and I will graze ryegrass, oats and crimson clover this winter followed by bahai grass and lespedeza next summer.
 
This field has subdivision surrounding it and a main highway. Also the house has been on fire unhabitol. Its been a mess for him to get control of this ground,so it wouldn't go to the state.I don't think he can have animals on it till he gets a house put up or the old one remodeled. thanks steve
 
Ouch that's tough it's nice to live in deep country but you're city country a lot of eyes and opinions looking over the fence. Maybe some buffalo and call it a zoo? What part of wisc are you in?
 
You need to get an old Morrison's Feeds and Feeding back when farmers had some common sense they gave anaylsis of all sorts of plants and you'll see I'm right like Lamb's Quarter has as much food value for livestock as Alfalfa and weeds tend to have way more mineral content than common hay and pasture grasses.
 
I have several copies of feeds and feeding, my Father taught animal husbandry and nutrition at LSU for 35 years, Morrisons was the text book of choice for many of those years. No where does Dr. Morrison advocate promoting weeds over cultivated grasses, cereals and legumes, you go ahead and depend on weeds and I will stick with forage crops and we can compare profit notes any time you want.
 
I forgot that you are one of the original old hippies who ruined this country, it won't do any good to explain anything to you, obammy or nnalert or Bernie has you number.
 
Wrong side of the state there's a group in iowa county on south west side that do a good job thinking out side off the box . In one place they actually sold the trees to the power company the trees were cut chipped and burned for fuel not a bad way to get rid of trees and make a little money. Unfortunately that plant has been closed bad for the environment they even burned railroad ties. One other group is the nature conservatory they might have some ideas
 
(quoted from post at 07:33:22 10/18/15) burn it off, then no till plant with RR seed.

Not wading in here to stir the pot, but I think he wants to avoid spraying chemicals, and I doubt he can afford a no-till for 50 acres. Just saying it sounds like he is looking for an alternative to chemicals and expensive equipment.

By the way.....does the vinegar formula work on cudzoo?

Tim
 

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