Spring Weed Control (Courtesy of Kim Woods, Livestock Agent Granville and Person Counties)
Last spring, did you have beautiful yellow flowers covering your pastures? Although these
flowers, commonly known as buttercup, are pretty to look at, they have no nutritional value
and can take important nutrients from the plants you are trying to grow in your pasture.
Now is the time to go out and scout your pastures and see if the little rosette stage of buttercup is there already. These weeds will be short since they have just emerged. If you wait until they are blooming to spray, you will be wasting your time and money as the blooming plant has already set seed for the following year’s plants. It’s too early to spray right now. But never too early to start planning (think about late February to mid-March as your target date).
For effective herbicide applications, make sure you spray when we’ve had several warm
days (above 55 degrees). Your control will be very poor if you spray when the air
temperature is too cold. It may take a couple of years of applying herbicides to control the
weed.
Spraying to kill buttercup can also provide some effective control over other winter annual
weeds like henbit, creeping charlie and chickweed. These all have the same growth
pattern - germinate and emerge in the fall, sit there over the winter, start growing in late
winter/early spring, bloom in mid spring/early summer and then die. If we kill these weeds
prior to them going to seed, that will help reduce the number of these weeds we have next
year. These are annuals; they are going to die when it turns hot whether you spray them or
not. Spray them early so you can control how many seeds are produced.
Remember: Always read and follow the label directions prior tousing any chemicals.
Virginia Tech has a really good, easy to follow publication on hay and pastureherbicides. It can be accessed at:
https://augusta.ext.vt.edu/content/dam/augusta_ext_vt_edu/files/Pasture_Herbicide_Recipes.pdf.
Frost Seeding Clover (Courtesy of Kim Woods, Livestock Agent Granville and Person Counties)
Hopefully everyone knows the benefits of adding clover to your pasture. Advantages of adding these legumes in pastures/hayfields include 1) potentially increasing Crude Protein and Total Digestible Nutrients of the forage; 2) diluting the negative effects of endophyte infected fescue; and 3) fixing nitrogen to reduce the needs of commercial nitrogen.
One way to do this that is fairly easy and inexpensive is frost seeding. A couple of things to keep in mind before you frost seed clover into your existing grass pasture or hay field: 1) most herbicides are going to kill the clover so if you have a serious broadleaf weed problem, get those under control before adding clover, 2) soil test and apply amendments to encourage the clover growth. Success of frost seeding the clover depends on the existing sod being short
(mowed or grazed) so that it doesn’t shade out the clover seedlings.
Additionally, make sure your site is sparse and not a thick, vigorous stand of grass. The seed should be broadcast between late January and early March because the sod is not actively growing and freezes should still occur. Overnight frosts with thawing the following day will bury the seed at a shallow depth. Timing is important because you want to make sure that there are still several weeks of freezing and thawing to “plant” the seed after it has been broadcasted. Allowing livestock to stay on the area can be beneficial as they will help tread in the seed. If you can't frost seed clover prior to March 10, then plan on using a no-till drill as there likely won't be enough freezing/thawing cycles to incorporate the seed into the soil
adequately.
Red clover will last about two years and should be broadcast at 8-10 pounds per acre. White or ladino clover may last four years and should be broadcast at 3-5 pounds per acre.
As spring starts to arrive, graze or mow the area periodically to make sure the established sod does not crowd out the new clover seedlings. Monitor grazing heights to make sure the area is not overgrazed. Grazing too short is more detrimental than the competition from the existing sod.
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