Kyler

Please tell me where I went wrong.

Last year we attemtped to put in a one acre food plot of alfalfa. However, we did it half heartedly and with little preparation and it failed due to our lack of planning and the weeds went crazy.

So last fall around late August we mowed the plot, sprayed it with Round Up killing everything.

In March, a soil sample was taken and the pH was right on from liming the previous year.

In early April of this year we turned over the soil with a spring tooth and three weeks later there was very minimal growth of anything, however we sprayed it again with Round Up, once again, killing everything. (We did this in fear of bringing new seed to the surface etc.)

A week later we raked the entire plot by hand to remove all of the dead grass etc. (Still nothing green showing.)

In mid-May, the dragged the surface with a fence and minimal weight roughing up the top inch of the soil. Still not much for weeds showing. A few here and there but none of the problematic grass.

The seed, Imperial Alfa-Rack was broadcast, slightly heavier than was suggested. The seed was packed with a roller pressing into the surface, not burying it. We immedately, began to water the plot with a garden sprinkler.

A week later, we had green growth showing. We continued to water throughout Memorial Day weekend.

Yesterday was my first chance to get up to the land because my wife was pregnant and recently gave birth to our second son. Well I got up there and saw nothing but weeds.

It looked like a type of crabgrass. It was a much lighter color green than anywhere else other than the plot. I guess it was about about a 95% loss. This grass, was about 4 inches high and is totally in charge of the plot. We mowed it to about 2 inches in hopes of getting something out of it, but I doubt it.

PLEASE help me and tell me what I did wrong.

Dan O.

A few things could have been the problem:

- 3 weeks is an awfully short period to let the weeds grow before spraying. That spraying probably did nothing.
- The grass may have been growing low when you sprayed the tall weeds last fall or their seed heads were ripe
-Grass spreads from rhizomes (roots). You nicely planted the whole area with the crab grass when you disked it up.

Spray it all down when the grass is actively growing again. Don' t let it set seed.
Disk it under when you' re sure it' s all dead. It should get better as you do repeated kills.

Dan O.

Mantis Mayer

So let me get this straight! you can grow kids but you can' t grow alfalfa! hummmmm..... Congrats on the newcomer.

Deleted User

[Deleted by Admins]

Kyler

Hey guys thanks for the tips. I really thought I was going to get ot right this time. Trial and error I guess. Anyone who thinks food plots are anything like baiting is ****** in the head. It' s not even close. All the time, $, and commitment that was spent all for basically nothing but an education I guess. We' ll put in our fall oats, those are pretty easy. That should be ok.

Dan O., Last fall, we mowed the grass down to about 2 inches, left it like that for three weeks and then sprayed it, was this right to do?

Mantis, thanks for the congrats. Hopefully I grow better kids than food plots. Otherwise, I will have two serial killers on my hands.

Pat, I try your tips next year I was just a little concerned that may be a little too late to plant. I guess it' s a little better to plant later, kill all the weeds, or most, and have a better plot for the next year. I wanted instant results with a good plot this year, but what i am left with now is a light pocket and a field of weeds.

All I know is, someday I will have a very successful perennial plot. It may cost me to go broke and my family may have to live on the crop that is grown, but i am going to do it.

My new signature quote will be, " Death to all weeds"

Thanks again!!!!

Dan O.

Kyler; you want two things for a good kill-off with herbicides:
- good leaf surface to affect the spray (usually a minimum of 5" tall for weeds)
- actively growing plant (usually spring or fall)

This combination will give you the most for your money. Roundup will work at other times but you may need higher rates etc. The instructions with the Roundup will tell you what the proper growth stage is to spray different plants.

Dan O.

Uncle Al

Kyler, I see you are from the Milwaukee area. Where is your plot located? Our land is near Antigo, 3 hour drive to do any work.

I was just reading " Wildlife Food Plots" by ed Spinazzola, He recommends adding sprayable Ammonium Sulfate to your Roundup to enhances it' s effectiveness. 1/4 cup Roundup + 1/4 cup Ammonium Sulfate to 1 gal water. The sulfate is suposse to give the plants a little growth spurt incressing the roundup' s effectivness. I have not found any around the Milwaukee area, so I have not tryed it.

Good Luck!!

" Plant it and they will come" I hope they don' t mean weeds.

psandhu

i read it on the label too, the fact that the gly can be more effective with the addition of am sulf. this was on several different brands. i asked for some at an ag store and they just scratched their heads. i looked in several hardware stores too, couldn' t find any.

i went to a yuppie nursery/greenhouse/fancy home and garden center, and they had it. it was $3 for a 5lb bag.

make sure you dissolve it in a separate container. it has about 2% non-disolvable matter in it, like rocks and bits of organic things. i spray in small quantities, so i put about 6 oz in a big glass then add hot water, then i pour it back and forth in and out of another glass. pretty soon the crystals will dissolve. this is when you pour it through a fine mesh strainer. the strainer will catch all the organic crap and the rocks and sand will stay at the bottom of the glass.

Dan O.

One source of ammonium sulphate is a by-product of the coking operation at integrated steel mills. It' s hard to give the stuff away now adays.

Dan O.

whitetail1

if you kep the plot mowed for the first year at 6 inches you might be suprised at how much of the aflarack makes it. the first year the plot will look thin but the second year it should fill in nice. with the grasses you could spray with vantage or poast. when planting a perrenial plot i like to disc in the spring and let the plot sit for the summer spraying with roundup once a month or whenever theres weeds growing. then just before planting lightly drag the plot and plant. another option would be to spray the plot with roundup now and disc in some buckwheat in 2 weeks. the buckwheat will help the soil and it helps with weeds. good luck