We have a big issue with grass weeds and it’s getting worse. We are ok if we have a big spread of crops but it simply just doesn’t pay due to poor yields of spring crops such as spring linseed, spring barley, spring beans spring wheat. We’ve also tried grass but without our own livestock we get hammered on the selling price. We find ploughing isn’t helping and under Direct Drilling the problem is by far worse. Ryegrass, Blackgrass and Brome appear any time now in winter cereals and from late June in spring cereals. If we can’t grow cereals we might as well pack up.
We min tilled in the 90’s and 00’s and never had this issue. The soil movement got weed chits which we destroyed before drilling. We never used pre-em’s and just did a post em herb followed up with a clear up in the spring. Under DD we get a weed chit but I’m thinking we aren’t getting a full chit so when we run through with the direct drill seeding we are then germinating the dormant seeds that would of germinates had we moved the soil. We have used contractors with JD 750, Horsch Avatar and Horsch sprinter with Bourgault tines as well as our own Sabre Tine. They are all the same and germinate grass weeds. We have tried late drilling which does help but risky if it comes wet in late oct because then you can’t get on the fields. We’ve tried grazing a cover crop which doesn’t help either and is a loss leader without our own livestock.
So I’m thinking shallow min till disc and press straight after the combine, then spray off, then disc again and then spray off before a mid oct drilling? Anybody else in this mess?
We min tilled in the 90’s and 00’s and never had this issue. The soil movement got weed chits which we destroyed before drilling. We never used pre-em’s and just did a post em herb followed up with a clear up in the spring. Under DD we get a weed chit but I’m thinking we aren’t getting a full chit so when we run through with the direct drill seeding we are then germinating the dormant seeds that would of germinates had we moved the soil. We have used contractors with JD 750, Horsch Avatar and Horsch sprinter with Bourgault tines as well as our own Sabre Tine. They are all the same and germinate grass weeds. We have tried late drilling which does help but risky if it comes wet in late oct because then you can’t get on the fields. We’ve tried grazing a cover crop which doesn’t help either and is a loss leader without our own livestock.
So I’m thinking shallow min till disc and press straight after the combine, then spray off, then disc again and then spray off before a mid oct drilling? Anybody else in this mess?