summer or winder plots

[easports]

I've planted food plots now for the last 3 or so years. Traditionally I spray the plots with round up and wait 10 days before turning the ground over to get ready for seed.  I’m interested in your feed back regarding this process.  Would it be better to cut the grasses that grow in the plot then turn it into the soil or kill it with a product like round up?  I understand the round up will kill the existing plants but the concern is the palatability of the product that I want to grow.

[ZEEK]

For what it's worth, here's what I do.
1) Till the ground, don't spray first, cut it down if it's high, but save that round up.
2) smooth out, put down lime if needed, and till it in, smooth out again.
3) wait until geen stuff starts to show up and spray Round Up.
4) wait a couple more weeks spray again.
5) wait a couple more days and hopefully before some rain, and put down the seed and fertilizer and roll. (not drag roll it, with a roller)
6) wait and see if any grass shows up and spray with Arrest.
This is the method I use for clover, if you do an annual don't need to worry about the Arrest.
Weeds don't seem to give me the problems grass does, for weeds mowing them a couple times will kill'em off.
FYI I just bought a one gallon jug of glyphosate 41% for $20.00 @ T/S this weekend.

[gunther89]

Last year we cut the grass as short as we could and sprayed round up and that seemed to kill the majority of the grass.  After we got our plot planted, we had some grass come back but not much.  We plan to do the same this year with our clover plots.

[easports]

Zeek & gunther89

Thanks for your feed back. One of the reasons for my question regarding the round up product is the ability to have some plants come back for several years. I’ve planted over the years Bio Logic products, premium perennial, maximum and outfitters blend to name a few. Each year is the same….at this time the fields are over taken with grass and it’s like starting over year after year. Traditionally I kill the grass with round up and till in lime, seed and fertilizer and get a pretty good result.
I guess I’m looking for ways to work smarter rather than harder. Zeek is the roller attached to an ATV or are you using a tractor?

[Modeerhunter]

If grasses are your biggest problem, I'd suggest a grass selective herbicide application every spring. Arrest (Sethoxodim) works good on seedling grasses, and some more established grass varieties. For hard to kill grass like fescue or johnsongrass, I'd try to get some Select Max or the generic form, which has the active ingredient Clethodim. Coupled with periodic mowing, you should get years of life out of clover/alfalfa plots without replanting.

[JFry1969]

You said that every year your plot is full of grass and you start over. Here is the thing about Roundup, it is a contact killer. It will kill the existing plant but not the seeds that are laying dormant in the soil. Everytime you till the ground you stir those seeds up, some of which has been dormant for years, and then they start to germinate.
What I do is I first till my plot mixing in lime and fert., wait a few weeks and spray Ru on the new grass/weeds, roll my seed in and then go back and spray any new grass with Arrest. I deal w/broadleafs simply by mowing before they mature and go to seed. You can easily add more lime/fert in the early spring by simply spreading on top and the freeze and thaw will usually take it in. The less you disturb the soil the less problems you will have unless your plot starts to die out. That's just been my experience hope it helps.