Like many others were thinking of reducing crops we plant for harvest 23. Our idea is to spend what we’d normally do on fertiliser and then plant less acres leaving our grass weed fields fallow for 12 months. If we did this we think that multiple chits and burn off would be the best plan of attack. We’ve got a shallow disc/press and thinking we run it then spray off when we get weeds chitted. Yes I know it’s going to cost but it seems like a good option to try to sort the issue out once and for all. Maybe 4 burn offs and four chits with discs?
12 months grass weed attack
- Thread starter Beefsmith
- Start date
Doesn’t work very well
Bloody hell I just tagged you
- Location
- Lorette Manitoba
Did the same to a field that drowned out 15 years or so ago. Works good but I used a cultivator to kill off the weeds. I would let them get3-4 inches tall then move the soil. Some would get transplanted again but after a month a new batch would be there again So would work it again. After a series of flushes were done I sprayed it out before any set seed again. If your ground is wetter you’ll want a crop of some sort to suck out the moisture or the following year it’s very wet again. Or mine can be. Main thing is to try to rotate the soil to encourage deeper seeds into growing. Multiple passes of roundup i find will lock up manganese.
For blackgrass niab have proven this technique to be a complete waste of time. We’ve tried it ourselves and numerous others i know have and it literally makes no difference if you have any level of seedbank.
best thing to do is just rotate spring crops and try to keep it at an economic level (which is sometimes easier said than done!)
the OP will end up very dissapointed in my opinion if he tries it.
I agree with @Flatlander don’t bother with so much glyphosate, just use the cultivator and only glyphosate is there is any risk of seeding. Will save you lots of money and be better for the environment!
- Location
- Near Colchester
Tried this for blackgrass, didn't work, messed up soil structure, better with spring barley or rotation or something.
- Location
- Oxfordshire
If you're going to fallow, much better off with a great big cover crop, fill it with legumes and get some free N
- Location
- Lincolnshire
Spread some wheat, barley and oats on top. Disc &press it in. Roll. Let it grow then mow the whole lot. Swap it with a stock farmer for a pile of muck. Slop the muck in and plant with osr nice and early?
SilliamWhale
Member
I'd grow some beans instead.
- Location
- Essex
I would go further. Spray off and drill your cover crop end of may early June. Bg won't compete at that time. Spray off and drill as normal. Limit your seed cost to around £20 a ha. In both situations a direct drill would be preferable
I love growing beans but they won't do anything for grassweed control unless you flail it all off before it seeds. I'd be planting some now if I had seed and a suitable drill.
ollie989898
Member
I need to find 2 ton of beans, just been and looked at a field, can see to a coulter where I changed seed batches, hardly a bean has grown. Drilled same day, same depth etc
Get talking to the seed supplier straight away?
Interested to know why? I would of thought continual germination in the top 2 inches would completely kill that off, then just no till after that fallow year never going below 2 inches again?
You may get 50% germination in that time...50% of what though...
- Location
- Oxfordshire
Because you will never get every seed to germinate