For those that spray fields prior to bushhogging and disking, what time of year do you spray to kill everything and presumably not let anything grow back?

Assume: Aliceville area, looking to plant anywhere from late September to end of October, final timing of the plant according to rain forecast.

First of September and don’t bush hog. You won’t need to as long as you get a good kill.

I been sprayin late august r early sept

I would like to lime few fields - limed 2 fields hard last year - was awesome

We always try to plant on early October. We bushhog plots in late July. Spray in late August or early September. Work up the plots mid September and again before planting.

Bush Hog
Disk
Plant


You can spray but if you have the right equipment you don't need to spray.

I sprayed 4-5 weeks before planned planting day last year and it done good

Thanks fellows. Big help.

We don’t need to spray all our fields but have a few that grow up some saplings and other tough weeds every year that are stubborn to discing . Our tractor guy wants to try spraying those few and then seeing if it saves time. Right now he’s just running it all over and over and over with the disc which is time consuming (and translates to money on our end).

So we will give it a shot and see

Usually takes 2-3 weeks to get a good kill.

3 weeks prior to planting is about spot on.

If you have the right equipment you don’t need to disc. 😉

I think this will be somewhat site specific, but I spray mine whenever I have the chance after August 1. Mine will still be dead at the end of September, even if I spray 8/1, so it's just a matter of convenience. But I only spray a field if that will eliminate the need to bush hog it. If the gly does it's job, there shouldn't be anything left to mow - just disc and plant.

I have some fields that are nothing but a mix of arrowleaf and crimson clover, and even the deer plots have these in addition to rye. The clovers die out in the summer and get weeds in them, but they are mostly low growing weeds. I can spray them using the ATV and get the gly over everything in the field, so the spray does it's job. Back when gly was cheap, it was more economical to spray with the ATV instead of running the bush hog with the tractor. I'm not sure that is now, but it's easier and quicker, so I still do it.

I sometimes help relatives in Wilcox county plant and the gly can't replace the bush hog on those fields. The weeds will be 8' tall and they have gotta be mowed down before you can plant. I've never seen any reason to bush hog and spray. A good disc will eliminate every weed in the field.

I don’t spray fields, unless I’m burning them.

Thanks to everyone who replied

These fields tend to get really thick weeds that grow tall and then lay down in dense mats when they go dormant. Even though our tractor guy has a relatively heavy disc, it gives him trouble and requires multiple passes to get the dirt the way he wants it. I want them dead and ideally rotting before we have to come through and prep the fields.

One or two of the fields get these small saplings as well.

For conventional planting , bush hog first then spray a couple weeks later.

What you do is get out there during August and just bush hog the fields down to the dirt and when you come back with the disk it works a lot better. Having a heavy disk is a relative thing... There is "heavy" and then there is one that works 1 pass through 7ft. high crap. When you bush hog in August you size everything then and eliminate all the balled up residual grass issues you'll deal with when planting your plots.

This is all really easy stuff. Unfortunately I think what most of y'all are doing with this scientific theory is 1) screwing around 2) making Dr. Deer money 3) creating problems that don't exist.

If you want to play farmer get some equipment and do it right. I can't imagine some of the expense and trouble y'all are going through to plant something that will literally come up just fine if you throw it out on the top of the ground.

I normally spray in early September because it is easier to disc up my plots and plant. But the last couple of years in my area we have had dry spells right after planting in early Oct and I've noticed that my neighbor who doesn't spray, and leaves a lot of chaff in his plots during planting., This increase in chaff was producing a lot better germination because it was holding the moisture down. It's got me thinking about just cutting , planting and running the disc over it this year. I'm also going to plant in late December instead of early Oct. in the hopes of getting some rain on it early.

I had pretty good luck last year with spraying and letting everything die and dry out. When it’s like this it doesn’t wrap around the disc blades it just chops up. I spread seeds in the standing dead grass and then lightly to moderately disc over it depending on soil type and knocked down the dead stuff and disturbed the top layer of dirt. This process saved me two days worth of bush hogging and the results were: the fields did not look as well groomed as normal but the plots grew as well or better than the normal way and they actually did better than the couple plots that I really tried to make look good.

What I’ve found is that when I wait until this time of year to start (that’s every year for me, not gonna lie) MOST of my plots are grown up pretty rank. Some stuff is green and growing and some has died or at least gone dormant.

Roundup (or any other chemical you spray) doesn’t do much to a dead or dormant weed. It takes an actively growing plant to take up the spray.

I like to bush hog now, wait 2 weeks or at least a few days after a good rain, THEN spray. What you’re spraying then is new green growth and I usually get a really good kill. Wait until planting time and spread seed and fertilize and either disc lightly or drag or just spread seed and fertilizer heavy and hope for the best.

Had a club with heavy clay “prairie” soils and you had to live there to catch the soil moisture just right for a disk to do anything at all. Too early and it balled up between the blades on the disc until it looked like you were dragging a tool with four 55 gallon size drums of solid dirt. Too late and once that soil dried no disc you can buy would penetrate it. If it did it would just make clods the size of softballs to volleyballs. Try riding over that on a four wheeler. Like the surface of the moon. No fun.

I like my program but I’m sure there’s a better way. Used a cultipacker on the prairie dirt. It sure helped.

Get a kick outta the guys that think they need to disc every inch of the soil or use high $ tillers just to plant a dang game plot.. Each to his own i reckon

I sprayed my fields today!

I sorayed ny fields last weekend - starting to look pretty dead now

I need to hit a field w lime. Did it late last year and fields turned great in January

I bushhog, then spray, then plant about two weeks later. I've done side-by sides and discing doesn't change a thing at my place. It just wastes time and diesel.

Does anyone burn after spraying?

Depends on how thick the thatch from mowing is. so, occasionally yes.

I’m in North Alabama. I bush hogged this past weekend, will spray this coming weekend or the next for a 21 SEP planting

Time and money.... is most of what you need when you are dealing with inadequate equipment.

I am going to bush hog next weekend. Probably cost me around $100 in fuel give or take I can run most of the day on 20 gallons. I'll be done before 3:00PM. I'll cut the 30 +acres and I'll get the roads cleaned up at the same time.

Pretty easy.

We'll disk mid-September cost me another $150 at most. I'll burn fuel pulling the disk.

Then we will throw seed on it and drag. If we can get lined up with some rain we'll do all that in a single weekend.

It just gives us more time to get the place looking nice and ready for season. We aren't out there on a toy going in circles spraying money out on the ground.

I cant believe you're still disking......I figured you knew better by now.

Unfortunately... despite what anyone "wants" with these other techniques.... disking is by far the fastest most cost effective option. That's not even up for debate.

Y'all are spending more $$ on Roundup than I am on just about all my input costs with the exception of seed/fertilizer. We are all paying the same for that.

If you want to do some math I can very quickly break it down for you.

I am not against "no-till" that's how I plant my crops. I just don't do this for food plots because it is stupid to do that IMO. Your mix is mostly wheat. You can just throw that out on the ground and it will come up? Everyone knows that we've been top sowing winter wheat in this Country since the 1930's.

Y'all are wasting a lot of time. Maybe you don't care about your money or time.

Why would you spray an area that you were gonna plant and bush hog? I’ve always just bush hogged mine after I planted. It saves me alot of time and money by doing it that way than when I disked my fields. Btw, none of mine are planted in wheat. 🤷🏼‍♂️

Probably to kill all the competitive root structure so the crop is healthier. I can see not utilizing herbicide if the current weed status is low. Mine is lush with unwanted species so I’m going to kill it this year. Next year I may not, especially if I plant the right fall crop or decide to plant a summer crop.

Yep

Maybe some folks dont hav a bushhog or a tractor - oh yea - those would be cheap to buy - just a few $100 dollars 🤣🤣

You dont need to do math for me and if i dont spray my fields - they will get over head high

Wish i had a bush hog - too Much dow for me to spend!! I sprayed my fields graveyard dead for $100 bucks - all 4 of them

Spray then disc and plant. When you spray you don't have to cut. Let the disc's do that. Everyone has their own method and I'm sure they all work in the end.

I would much rather use an atv/utv to spray than to put a heavy ass tractor on a plot. A tractor can cause compaction issues. Once you get a good kill, spread seed. The dead thatch protects the seed and soil and feeds the soil. Much rather ride an atv than a tractor.

So just reporting back here …

We sprayed a month or little more ago. Planting happened a couple weeks back just before the hard rain. Our tractor guy said it diced really easy after it all died. Visually, the field prep looks much nicer and flatter than before. I haven’t been down to the club but I hear it’s coming up nicely. Of course my fear is that yeah we caught that one rain right after we planted but it might not rain again till November. It’s going to be what it is. But as far as field prep goes, we will strongly consider spraying next year as well.