You spray Round-up on a Saturday......

When can you plant?

It doesn' t seem you can injure the new planting, but how much time do you need to give the sprayed plants to die? When they start to wilt, are they dead?

I sprayed on Saturday, and the plants were just starting to turn and wilt a little on Monday. We recieve a great amount of rain last night, with a little in the forcast for Wednesday night into Thursday. I love planting in moist soil, and have time this afternoon. Also, I' m planting a clover/brassica mix, and in years past mid-july has been a great planting time for the mix for my area, as opposed to a mid-August planting in which frost and cooler temps hinder my brassica yeild. The moisture is right, the time of the year is right, but what about the Round-up?

What do you guys think, if I plant today, will the sprayed plants have been killed effectively?

Jeff...U.P. of Michigan

My experience is that is takes about two weeks for the sprayed area to turn completely brown. However, there is no doubt that the plants have already started to die. If you plan to disc or till the plot before you plant your clover you will get weeds back anyway. I don' t care what you spray a plot with if you disc it weeds will come back. The seeds are there and they germinate upon discing and bringing to the surface. The only way I think you can get a weed free plot after discing is to spray it yourself with a weed specific herbicide or spray the plot with round-up, never disc it and frost seed the next spring. It may take a while to get a strong plot with frost seeding but eventually you can. Also, if you have seed drift from neighboring weeds or fields, weeds will come back. This is why it is so important to mow before weeds in your plot have a chance to re-seed themselves. This is my opinion but there are a lot of other people on here with more experience than I.

Jeff I just read your reply on the atv plow thread. It sounds like you have used round-up in the past to help with a weed free plot. I have never had any luck with the method you mentioned. Did you disc your plot when you planted the clover/wheat/oat mix. My experience has always been if you disc it the weeds will come. Please tell us your experience along with anyone else that has used this method. Thanks

After I killed that original plot, I just dragged it with an old spring-toothed harrow behind and ATV. By then there was quite a bit of dirt exposed and it seemed to do very well when seeded with a good rain forcast in the near future.

One of the weeds that seemed to be controlled very well with Round-up was the Bracken fern, but although the ferns didn' t come back, the grasses did eventually. Unfortunately, the grasses in my area-at least 3/4 of them, can only be killed by Round-up, so Poast has only marginal results.

Sounds like it really wouldn' t matter if I plant today anyways? I don' t expect a total weed kill, but enough to set it back would be great. Maybe with rotational yearly round-up treatments I can make some positive steps.

I' d give the plot the 2 weeks before you plant. You' ll expose more mineral soil for better germination if you disk lightly.

Dan O.

Thanks for the advice, but I couldn' t resist the moisture after seeing 4 weeks with no rain, along with having the afternoon off. It seemed by the comments my new planting wouldn' t be harmed, and If I surpressed the weeds even a little, that would help as they were really not that bad.

I tilled last night until the dirt was nice and smooth, then planted, and then rolled it with a 30 gallon roller behind the ATV. We have rain in the forcast 5 out of the next 7 days, so I couldn' t resist the moisture opportunity. I' m hoping for just 2 days of rain, but even 1 would be perfect. The soil was still quite moist, but not too moist to pull my roller through. I' m sure on some parts I' ll get immediate germination.

I' ll let you know how it compares in weed growth to years past in a couple of months. It sure looks pretty, I just love the smell of fresh dirt and a freshly tilled and planted field.

Jeff...U.P. of Michigan

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Pat,

I talked to a chemical expert last night and he told me just about the same thing. Although typically 7 days is the waiting period, he told me that 3-5 days does the trick, with 3 days being pretty reliable with good conditions. He also told me Roundup Ultra works a little faster than others...for whatever reason. I look at it like it certainly didn' t hurt, and probably helped quite a bit.

Jeff...U.P. of Michigan.

NorthJeff; if you' ve got good equipment , you mix the spray correctly and you apply it with good coverage you' re on the mark with 3 days. If you want to see the full browning effect of the chemical it can take over a week. At least that way you' ve got a chance for a respray to make sure you don' t plant into live weeds if you missed patches the first time.

Dan O.

Techneclly you can plant the same do if your doing a no till. If you are working the soil you will need to wait about 14 days. We suggest that you mow the weeds/grasses before a rain, this stimulates growth. After the rain wait about 2 days ans spray the Round-Up. Round-Up is a broad spectrum herbicide and kills everything, unless it is specifically Round-Up ready. Working the soil will bring seed ans spore up to the surfacre where it will becing to grow.