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Switchgrass

I was at Fred's farm planting his native grasses and it's gorgeous switch grass! I love that bottom picture! Fred told me that when deer walk through the grass they disappear. . . poyfect! ;)
 
So if I wanted to get ready for a CIR planting next year I could drill beans this spring, then broadcast rye in the fall so I have food in the area and then just frost seed my CIR next winter and spray in the spring, Correct would this work Ok ?
 
Jbohn said:
So if I wanted to get ready for a CIR planting next year I could drill beans this spring, then broadcast rye in the fall so I have food in the area and then just frost seed my CIR next winter and spray in the spring, Correct would this work Ok ?
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Yes but kill rye asap in early April
 
If it were me- I would not plant the rye. Leaves a residual on top that makes the spray much less effective. U have a perfect situation if u have a clean surface that beans will give u.
 
February 17th, 2014

Mid winter thaw is a perfect time to dormant seed switchgrass, 2-4" snow ideal to check coverage. Broadcast 6-10# per acre and travel both ways for even coverage

 
dbltree said:
February 17th, 2014

Mid winter thaw is a perfect time to dormant seed switchgrass, 2-4" snow ideal to check coverage. Broadcast 6-10# per acre and travel both ways for even coverage
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Paul - it so happens that I have a couple of pictures from about 1 year ago now when I frost seeded some switch at my place. I think these pics give a good image of criss-crossing your steps to eliminate gaps and help to ensure good seed coverage.

Seeing the small switch seed on top of the thin layer of snow really helped me to be sure I was getting good coverage. The area pictured was just about 1 acre and I had mowed it and killed it with gly the previous fall. The switch came in fair for the first year, but I anticipate this area to really grow up nicely this year now. Although it was not too weedy this past year, I think I will still hit it with gly in about mid-April to kill off any competition before the switch starts growing in early May.

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Daver,
Were you considered about blowing snow and blowing your seed away? I'm thinking about doing some frost seeding myself while snow is on the ground.
 
MN Hunter said:
Daver,
Were you considered about blowing snow and blowing your seed away? I'm thinking about doing some frost seeding myself while snow is on the ground.
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I suspect there are circumstances where that would be possible at some level, but that area came up nice and even, so I am pretty sure I did not experience that as a problem. But I would think it would have to pretty windy and then some, for that to be a problem. I would be more concerned about frost seeding in too deep of snow and then if the snow melts off real fast, pooling up or washing away of seed. (That was a tortured sentence, hopefully it made sense. :D) So I have tried to frost seed over about the "latest" snow I can in the season.

When frost seeding switch over a 1"-4" amount of snow, you can see where the seed is landing, but it almost instantly penetrates the top layer of snow and is probably down from the surface about 1/8" right away. I have never checked back on it, but I would suspect it then "falls" through the snow even more as it is a dark object and would gather sun and sort of melt its' way down a little more.

I suppose I would avoid the actual seeding in a strong wind, because I think it would be hard get an even coverage, but once the seed is out there, I don't think wind is going to bother it.
 
Scott said:
How often do you recommend burning Paul?
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Every 3 years minimum but every year is ideal, best to divide and burn 1/2 one year and the other 1/2 2nd year and rotate that way. This insures undisturbed nesting cover is always available
 
Thanks for the info Daver, we have quite a bit of snow right now but a lot less in the open areas. I was just worried about losing the seed before it got into the ground. The winds have been just brutal. I'll try to wait as long as I can with snow cover, I'm assuming you just used a regular bag seeder.
 
MN Hunter said:
Thanks for the info Daver, we have quite a bit of snow right now but a lot less in the open areas. I was just worried about losing the seed before it got into the ground. The winds have been just brutal. I'll try to wait as long as I can with snow cover, I'm assuming you just used a regular bag seeder.
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Yes, an Earthway seeder. I do have an ATV mounted seeder too, but I have yet to use that for frost seeding either clover or switchgrass, I have always used the over the shoulder bag seeder.
 
Can I spray Oust Xp with my Gly and Atrazine the establishment year this May ? This is a new planting I want to make sure I have it nuked good ?
 
Jbohn said:
Can I spray Oust Xp with my Gly and Atrazine the establishment year this May ? This is a new planting I want to make sure I have it nuked good ?
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NO!!! Oust will kill switchgrass seedlings the seeding year!

Spray Oust the fall before seeding or before emergence the 2nd year.
 
Double check a few pages back if you want, but I was advised to NOT use the Oust XP on the first year. The first year give it the 1-2 qts/acre Gly and 2-4 qts/acre Atrazine. The second year use the 1 qt./acre Gly and 1-2 oz./acre of Oust XP.

Always best to measure twice! :)
 
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