Stone Cold

When putting in a new plot, I am thinking that I should spray the entire area with a RoundUp typ product to kill the grass before I break the ground. After killing the grass and then turning the ground over, how long should I wait before planting and fertilizing?

Hiawatha

Till all the plants are dead, turned yellow and keeled over. It depends on how much roundup you lay on them but probably takes about 5 days or so at least to notice a good kill. Once they are dead go ahead and plow it up but whatever you do don't disk the land. Disk will chop up the weeds and give you 10 new weeds instead of 1. I would pick a nice hot day and spike the land then let is sit for a few days so the weeds can bake in the sun a bit. This should killem deader than dead. Might be an idea to harrow the land to collect all the dead weeds....Then crack it with a cultivator and seed. After the land is broken i would say probably a good week before the seed goes in the ground......

Darton02

If you are worried about the herbicide effect on the planting, don't. We have drilled seed into the ground directly after spraying. Roundup is a postemergent and does not carry a residual effect. It must make contact with foliage to have an effect, so as far as the herbicide goes, you can plant it as soon as your seedbed is prepared.

RonM

If you are going to turn ove ( moldboard plow) the field you are wasting money to use roundup, you dont need to kill the vegetation you are going to trun it under, it will decompose in the soil, then you disc it anddprepare your seedbed. If you are going to no-till it then you can kill the vegetation and plant soon after . When I overseed a lawn I spray roundup then wait about 15 minute for it to dry, then slice in new seed, while the old vegetation is dying the new seed is germinating and starting its root system.

lunchbucket

With Ron on this. We suggest against plowing as seed/spore, that has been in the soil for we don't know how long, may reappear and contaminate the plot. We suggest that the area be mowed and if possible raked offor burnt. This will allow most of the seed/spore that was on the thatch to hit the ground and germinate. After mowing and raking you would want to wait until after a rain, so check the weather and make you selection.
The rain and mowing will stimulate growth and seed/spore germination.
Spray a few days after the rain. Wait a few weeks and if possible do a slow burn off against the wind. This should sterilize the remaining seed/spore and remove thatch and dead plants.
Grasses are you worse enemy, you pay now or you pay later...
Do soil samples... Ground prep is 95% of the process. If you have the right type of soil you will want to look into the more targeted blends. If you have much work to do on the soil it may be a year or two before anything meaningful can be planted. Check out all your options.