Planting Cedar into established brome??

[ryang]

Here's the game plan.......we'll start by plowing the area and turning over the soil, then come back later that same day (time constraints) and disc it down. I'm planning on planting my cedars into this area and I'm wondering about the strategy and is there a pre-emergent that would work to put on the soil in granular form....or is the typical round-up going to be my best bet??
Thanks guys. This is pretty well established brome and I'm concerned we're going to get a fair amount of foxtail springing up as well as some thistle. In the past I've just used round-up????

Ryan

 

[Sligh1]

I'm not the expert here and the EXPERTS will surely chime in BUT....
I know you could put them in brome without doing any plowing and they'd be ok- NOT IDEAL (you'd spray later down the road possibly). My worry is if you only use roundup you'll have a worse weed situation than plain brome. You could use some Oust before the trees get in there too (or some others like Simizine and Pendulum) and spray rows.
I guess if it were ME and you were planning this NOW, I'd either put them in there with tree planter behind tractor and (if there was not over 1,000 of them. How many are we talking???) I'd bucket spray them as needed with round-up. Most likely if it were ME- I'd mow the rows, spray with Oust and a good month or two later come in and plant them. Just my opinion, the pros will help you with some more input. good luck!

 

[JNRBRONC]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: Sligh1</div><div class="ubbcode-body">I'm not the expert here and the EXPERTS will surely chime in BUT....
I know you could put them in brome without doing any plowing and they'd be ok- NOT IDEAL (you'd spray later down the road possibly). My worry is if you only use roundup you'll have a worse weed situation than plain brome. You could use some Oust before the trees get in there too (or some others like Simizine and Pendulum) and spray rows. </div></div>

I won't profess any expertise either, but plowing is going to dredge up all kinds of weed seeds I would rather leave dormant. I think Sligh is on to something with his approach.

 

[hillrunner]

I see no reason to plow up the brome and doing so will make weeds a major problem. Cedars r tough and easy to establish. Like was said before , plant em directly into the brome then come back when the brome is starting to grow and spray around each tree w/ roundup.Use a bucket to cover each tree when spraying. Cedars will probably make it with no spraying at all but thinning out the competition will speed the growing process up.This pic is from late last summer. I planted this tree and about 600 other cedar seedlings directly into brome in April and hit em all one time in may w/ roundup using the bucket method. Most the trees look great.

 

[dbltree]

<div class="ubbcode-block"><div class="ubbcode-header">Originally Posted By: ryang</div><div class="ubbcode-body">Here's the game plan.......we'll start by plowing the area and turning over the soil, then come back later that same day (time constraints) and disc it down. I'm planning on planting my cedars into this area and I'm wondering about the strategy and is there a pre-emergent that would work to put on the soil in granular form....or is the typical round-up going to be my best bet??
Thanks guys. This is pretty well established brome and I'm concerned we're going to get a fair amount of foxtail springing up as well as some thistle. In the past I've just used round-up????

Ryan </div></div>

I would encourage you to read our thread on Tree Planting because it will explain all facets of planting trees including the use of herbicides.

As already mentioned I would not encourage to to plow as it will just turn into a mess of weeds. We also want the sod between the trees to hold the soil and moisture.

We just want to kill strips of grass the width of the row (1-3 fet wide) with roundup and then use residual's like Princep, a.s. surflan, oust and others.

Check ou the informational thread and then holler back with more questions and kudos for thinking ahead...spring will be here before we know it! /forum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smile.gif

 

[m_kat]

I've planted better than a thousand cedars into established brome. Most have been with a forester tree planter that you pull behind a tractor and some with a tree bar. I have done nothing other than stick them in the ground and I would say that I easily have a 90% survival rate. I don't know what your soil is like out there but where I've done mine it is mainly heavy clay, some more fertile stuff, but the brome has always been at the stage where its used up most of its resources and is pretty short. Cedars are some hardy little buggars and out compete the brome easily.

What I have done with other less hardy trees is mulch. See if you can get some wood chips free from a tree service or landfill that takes yard waste. Mulching takes some time and sweat, but it saves on herbiced costs and has more benifits as far as holding moisture in the soil.

Good luck!