Gett'n Rid of Brome
- Thread starter pheasantaddict
- Start date
FCSpringer
Moderator
I agree. Can't wait till when when mine goes from brome to two varity's of switch, little blue, MN big blue, side oats, black eyed susan and a few other flowers with some clover hiding in as well. Nice for winter cover for roosters.:thumbsup: Hope it looks as good as yours in a couple years.
Last edited:
Prairie Drifter
Well-known member
As I tell both coaches and kids in sports, there's no reason for any of us to get in a butt biting contest with each other. We're on the same team and should be trying to bring each other up. We all have different perspectives and experience. So as to brome: brome is a sod-forming grass that has a lust for nitrogen and frequently becomes root bound and dies back withouit manipulation. From an agricultural standpoint, that is all part of doing business. From a gamebird standpoint, the sod-forming characteristic leads to significant brood loss and limited useability for gamebirds early in their life cycle and limited diversity always because the sod-forming characteristic chokes out forbs which limits the stand to just a cover niche. The cover is generally lost after the first significant frozen precipitation or even after heavy rainfall post-frost. The straw strength is significantly less than NWSG on an average stand. The need for frequent mechanical management and nitrogen inputs makes brome a financial burden when used for habitat. NWSG can be managed with fire or even cattle with positive financial returns without the inputs associated with brome. Yes, I have harvested a number of pheasants in brome fields, but that was all the cover that they had. I suspect that losses due to predation and environmental conditions are much higher in brome due to it losing much of it's cover value post snow/ice/rain. I have hunted after an ice storm to find many pheasants frozen to the ground in brome when in adjacent NWSG patches that was not found. Brome is cheaper to establish than NWSG, but the maintenance costs soon make NWSG the cheaper choice for the long run. In drier areas and areas that experience significant snow and ice, brome should not even be considered. If nesting and brood rearing are to be part of the desired function, brome scores way down the list too.
Do Not use Plateau if you are trying to establish Switchgrass. From the label:
http://www.cdms.net/LDat/ld2LP012.pdf
Page 8
Switchgrass (Panicum virgitum):
Plateau is not recommended for the establishment of pure switchgrass stands as severe injury or death may result. Plateau may be applied at a rate of 2 to 4 oz per acre if switchgrass is planted in mixed stands with tolerant species, but only if some stand thinning or loss of stand can be tolerated. Mature switchgrass planting can be reclaimed from certain perennial weeds such as tall fescue, leafy spurge, johnsongrass, ect., with Plateau at rates of 10 to 12 oz per acre. However severe stunting and injury is imminent. DO NOT apply Plateau to switchgrass if such injury can not be tolerated.
In other words, if you are going for switchgrass just stick to spraying glyphosate before the switchgrass comes up. Even on the native grasses I would wait until you have a good stand established before using Plateau. Just my opinion, not trying to say anybody is wrong, because Plateau can work, but it is not the safest for the establishment of new grasses.
http://www.cdms.net/LDat/ld2LP012.pdf
Page 8
Switchgrass (Panicum virgitum):
Plateau is not recommended for the establishment of pure switchgrass stands as severe injury or death may result. Plateau may be applied at a rate of 2 to 4 oz per acre if switchgrass is planted in mixed stands with tolerant species, but only if some stand thinning or loss of stand can be tolerated. Mature switchgrass planting can be reclaimed from certain perennial weeds such as tall fescue, leafy spurge, johnsongrass, ect., with Plateau at rates of 10 to 12 oz per acre. However severe stunting and injury is imminent. DO NOT apply Plateau to switchgrass if such injury can not be tolerated.
In other words, if you are going for switchgrass just stick to spraying glyphosate before the switchgrass comes up. Even on the native grasses I would wait until you have a good stand established before using Plateau. Just my opinion, not trying to say anybody is wrong, because Plateau can work, but it is not the safest for the establishment of new grasses.
Prairie Drifter
Well-known member
Good catch wirehairs. I had forgotten that!
FCSpringer
Moderator
Well I already sprayed Curtail at a very high rate. So the thistle trouble is my worst weed here. That should take care of that for the most part. Will it hurt the seedlings as well? I could not find info on it. And the plan was to just hit it with round up again in the spring. To nail the rest of the brome. Sound good?
The curtail will not hurt your grass seedlings but you may have trouble with your forbes. The rotation back to Alfalfa is 10.5 months. It does state on the label not to spray before establishing CRP if Legumes or bentgrass are going to be part of the mix. If the forbes do not come through you can always interseed them in a couple years. It can take them that long to come up after they are planted sometime anyways. I would still say you did the right thing by focusing on getting rid of the thistle as it is a real problem and is one of the weeds the county weed board will get all over you for.
FCSpringer
Moderator
Thanks, this is embarrassing, but I used a coffee can for a measure. oz's right?, so I figured out that I needed 3 oz per gallon, always done that. But the coffee was weight, not oz. So after using my Curtail up rather quickly I scratched my head. Hmmm looked at the can again and realized I just put down 16 oz per gallon because it was weight, not fluid oz's. So the thistle is dead.
I hope it does not cause other trouble then just Forbes. truth is I will just spray to control this small stand anyway down the road. And yes I can just toss in some flower seed later if it does effect it. I was worried about applying so much, if that would intern effect the grass seedlings. I know Dumb ass the good thing is all the surounding grass is full of all kinds of forbes.
I hope it does not cause other trouble then just Forbes. truth is I will just spray to control this small stand anyway down the road. And yes I can just toss in some flower seed later if it does effect it. I was worried about applying so much, if that would intern effect the grass seedlings. I know Dumb ass the good thing is all the surounding grass is full of all kinds of forbes.
Last edited:
birdman652001
New member
they are expensive but very effective. Ive sprayed acres of grassland with this. Milestone works in hours.. not days. great product.
my dad has been using 2-4-d and tordon for years til milestone came out, then flat out used that instead. but i dont think it kills brome grass. it kills majority of the thistles.
While I'm not familiar with trying to kill brome, I have killed my share of fescue and to do it takes about 6 or 8 months to accomplish with great results. First I think I'd recommend is a fall appliation of RU as fall is the time when grasses are putting nutrients into their root system, thus getting a better kill with the RU. Next thing you'll want to do is burn it off, and this can be done either during early winter if erosion is not a problem or you can wait till early spring. After you've burned off the area, give it time to get about 8 inches or so of new growth and then hammer it again with the RU. Also add some sprayable ammonia sulfate to the mix along with a surfactant. After your spring spray, your ready to drill your NWSG. Hope this helps.
Last edited: