Daver
PMA Member
Background - Last summer I mowed a couple of patches of my mostly brome CRP pretty short and then killed it with gly pretty well. I then had two well prepped areas that I frost seeded switch on in early March, right on top of the last snow of the year! :grin:
Things started slowly this spring, but I now have a fairly decent stand of switch in those 2 areas, it is a little foxtaily right now, but I think that will cure itself next year. When I last checked it about 2 weeks ago, some of it was a little over waist high and fairly thick. Seed heads were also evident on the 1st year switch, which caused me to start thinking...
Question #1 - can I , or is it advisable to, harvest some/many of the seed heads off of the 1st year switch for use this coming winter for a couple of new areas that I want to get going into switch? OR should I leave the 1st year stand alone so it can thicken itself by dropping seeds?
Question #2 - if I do harvest some switch seeds, how should I care for them between now and when I would use them this winter?
Another scenario - I have another area that I have mowed now and will also give it a double dose of gly yet this summer/fall to prep it for winter seeding for switch. I am wondering though if I can do this...
Spray it with gly to kill the mostly brome sod yet this year.
Broadcast rye, no clover, on the dead sod in about a week or two. I am pretty confident that I will get some to take and will thereby have at least a modest quality, low cost food plot yet this fall.
Knowing that by the time I will frost seed the switch this winter the rye will be mowed very close to the ground by the deer herd and it will be all but bare dirt, I think I will have a near ideal seed bed for frost seeding.
Frost seed the switch in late winter..
Hit the green, regenerating rye with gly in say about late March, early April to kill it, which would be well before the switch will germinate in early to mid May.
I think this plan could work, what do others think? Has anyone tried this sequence?
I am just trying to get the most out of that patch in terms of providing food yet this fall before "losing" it to cover(switch).
Note - this spot is about 5 acres in size and I will be dedicating about 2 acres of it to switch, leaving about 3 acres to be a rotating food plot. I also plan on splitting the 2 acre switch area in half, with a 15' clover strip being the divider. I figure this will allow me to burn 1/2 of the field in alternating years in the future, then I will always have an acre standing for fawns/nesting in those years that I do burn. I will also "ring" the switch with clover so I will also have a natural fire break next to the timber and a bit of clover for food/bugging.
Things started slowly this spring, but I now have a fairly decent stand of switch in those 2 areas, it is a little foxtaily right now, but I think that will cure itself next year. When I last checked it about 2 weeks ago, some of it was a little over waist high and fairly thick. Seed heads were also evident on the 1st year switch, which caused me to start thinking...
Question #1 - can I , or is it advisable to, harvest some/many of the seed heads off of the 1st year switch for use this coming winter for a couple of new areas that I want to get going into switch? OR should I leave the 1st year stand alone so it can thicken itself by dropping seeds?
Question #2 - if I do harvest some switch seeds, how should I care for them between now and when I would use them this winter?
Another scenario - I have another area that I have mowed now and will also give it a double dose of gly yet this summer/fall to prep it for winter seeding for switch. I am wondering though if I can do this...
Spray it with gly to kill the mostly brome sod yet this year.
Broadcast rye, no clover, on the dead sod in about a week or two. I am pretty confident that I will get some to take and will thereby have at least a modest quality, low cost food plot yet this fall.
Knowing that by the time I will frost seed the switch this winter the rye will be mowed very close to the ground by the deer herd and it will be all but bare dirt, I think I will have a near ideal seed bed for frost seeding.
Frost seed the switch in late winter..
Hit the green, regenerating rye with gly in say about late March, early April to kill it, which would be well before the switch will germinate in early to mid May.
I think this plan could work, what do others think? Has anyone tried this sequence?
I am just trying to get the most out of that patch in terms of providing food yet this fall before "losing" it to cover(switch).
Note - this spot is about 5 acres in size and I will be dedicating about 2 acres of it to switch, leaving about 3 acres to be a rotating food plot. I also plan on splitting the 2 acre switch area in half, with a 15' clover strip being the divider. I figure this will allow me to burn 1/2 of the field in alternating years in the future, then I will always have an acre standing for fawns/nesting in those years that I do burn. I will also "ring" the switch with clover so I will also have a natural fire break next to the timber and a bit of clover for food/bugging.
