Darron Posted February 16, 2009 Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 With the economy these days, I know a lot of us are watching how much we spend. Therefore, I have a question concerning brassicas and spraying..... If I were to plant a brassica mix in late summer (August), could I get away without spraying if I tilled the ground up really well? A buddy of mine has a tiller and it does a great job turning the ground up. I heard that brassicas (turnip types) grow extremely fast. If this holds true, wouldn't they shade out the weeds with their large leafs? My property is in SE Ohio and if I did plant in August, the weeds would only have about 45 days before things started to cool down. Having some weeds does not bother me as long as they do not overtake the plot. If I planted in late summer could I keep from spraying and still have a decent plot? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted February 16, 2009 Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 Don't know that I would skip that step here with planting in August, guess it would depend on the types of invasive growth you get in the fall. That said, I have planted fall plots before without using roundup, and have had them do ok with well prepared soil, but those plots were planted in late September. Guess another question might be, are you going to use more $ in fuel to better til the ground than what you would have spent on an herbicide? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darron Posted February 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 The answer to your question is yes. I would probably make an extra pass or two with the tiller and then cultipack. I thought the growth of the brassicas would shade out most of the grasses. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wtnhunt Posted February 16, 2009 Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 I thought the growth of the brassicas would shade out most of the grasses. Probably so. If your bed is well prepped and there is little growth anyway, you might be ok. With the costs of everything getting ridiculous, don't know how much food plot work we will do this year. Fertilizer prices also look to have taken another big jump. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tominator Posted February 16, 2009 Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 Don't really know. I normally till, wait a couple weeks, spray and plant a day or two later. That seems to work best. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darron Posted February 16, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2009 (edited) Probably so. If your bed is well prepped and there is little growth anyway, you might be ok. With the costs of everything getting ridiculous, don't know how much food plot work we will do this year. Fertilizer prices also look to have taken another big jump. That's something QDM TV was talking about today. They said if you were going to go short on something, go short on fertilizer and not lime. They said DO NOT skimp on lime. I think this year I may put more $ in lime since it is cheaper than fertilizer. Last year I bought triple 10 fertilizer on sale for $8 a bag. Hopefully I can catch it that cheap again. As far as the spraying goes. I'll see what the funds look like when it gets closer. I have access to a tiller and cultipacker, so I can prep the seed bed pretty well. My buddies cultipacker really get the dirt turned up. When I mean turned up it gets down about 4-6" deep. I would have to buy a backpack sprayer since I do not have a sprayer. Edited February 16, 2009 by Darron Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ravin R10 man Posted February 17, 2009 Report Share Posted February 17, 2009 I would summer fallow this ground during the growing season..that will eliminate many weeds. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Darron Posted February 17, 2009 Author Report Share Posted February 17, 2009 I would summer fallow this ground during the growing season..that will eliminate many weeds. What is that? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogdoc Posted February 17, 2009 Report Share Posted February 17, 2009 yes you can!! I never spray for my fall plots. Saves me much money! However, it does take a little more work. Here's the trick. Let say you are wanting to plant your brassicas mid to late august. Around the middle of July you need to till the plot killing everything with your tiller. If the grass/weeds are tall then I recommend mowing first and then tilling. The tilling will kill most if not all of the existing vegetation but will also disturb all the seeds. Here is the part that depends on mother nature---you need rain now to germinate all the grass and weed seeds. If possible try to time your tilling right before a rain. Then in about 3 to 4 weeks--when time to plant till again. This will kill everything that has germinated--the roots will still be very shallow. You should now have a nice clean seed bed and now is the time to plant--you should be around mid to late August. This is how I plant all my fall annuals--including brassicas and the cereal grains. You will probably still get a few weeds but there will be so few that they will not compete with your plantings. Then with your first good frost any of the warm season weeds/grasses--which will only be a few will die and all you will have is a nice green plot. IMO the less herbicides we have to spray the better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hyperflow Posted February 17, 2009 Report Share Posted February 17, 2009 I been doing footplots on my land for approx 10 years now. I found on my land the less work i do the better my foodplot grows. What i do is wait tell all the natural plants are grown then i spray, 2 weeks later i will brodcast my seed and fertalizer one after the other. What i think this does is make shade for the seed with the dead grass that i had allready killed and helps it in that crusal first stages. I found this out with my lazy buddy, he did half the field and i did the other. He didn;t till or pretty much do any work and on my side i put all this work and his side grew so much better then mine. So the next year i tryed not tilling and wow it grew so well. Donno if it will work for others but it worked great for me for a long time now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LETMGROW Posted February 18, 2009 Report Share Posted February 18, 2009 I am sure some have reached a high rate of success by not spraying for weed control. BUT, depending on what the ground is like before you decide to plant on it could be a big factor in how well you succeed. If the ground you are turning up to plant hasn't been planted in a few years or more you may till up dormant weed seed which is just waiting to get some sun light to explode into an overgrown weed patch. If the ground has been worked up year after year you might get away with tilling for weed control. There are so many variables here no one could have all the correct answers. I tend to be on the safe side and try to kill off as much weed as I can before I plant anything. I'll agree chemicals are costly, but I won't chance spending hard earned money on soil tests, lime, fertilizer, seed and equipment use to have a failed result. I prefer to do the job right the first time and enjoy the fruits of my labor. Brassicas are hardy plants, but remember you are only going to grow them one or two years in the same plot, so why not keep the weeds to a minimum so the next planting will be successful if you plan to keep using that piece of ground for plotting? Spending a little now could result in a savings later. Only my opinion! Lynn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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