Soil building question

[whitetailnut]

If you had a plot of say red clover or buckwheat or some other soil builder and you didnt have the tractor to disc it into the soil could you still get the benefit from it by hitting it with round up and then disc it in. Im having trouble with a red clover plot planted this spring, mowed once and now is about 18" high. I want to seed it into brassicas soon but using a quad cant seem to get it chopped up enough to where I feel the brassicas will grow well?? Any ideas??

 

[dbltree]

If you had a plot of say red clover or buckwheat or some other soil builder and you didnt have the tractor to disc it into the soil could you still get the benefit from it by hitting it with round up and then disc it in. Im having trouble with a red clover plot planted this spring, mowed once and now is about 18" high. I want to seed it into brassicas soon but using a quad cant seem to get it chopped up enough to where I feel the brassicas will grow well?? Any ideas??

Yes...most (but not all) of the stored N will be in the root system, so killing it with herbicide will still help with soil imptovment and N that will be released as the plant decomposes.

You will have some losses with this method over plowing/tilling it under but in your case it's not big deal.

If you noticed in some of my ongoing threads in the cereal grain or soybean thread, I have found both white and red clover nearly impossible to kill with roundup.

You need pretty high rates, crop oil and better yet several quarts per acre of 2-4D to kill clover.

If 2-4D is used you need to wait several week before planting brassicas because it does have some residual effects and it may not come up if 2-4D is still in the soil.

I have the luxery of larger equipment to get clover tilled under and tilling pretty much takes care of it without needing herbicides. Little tougher with small equipment, so spaying may be your only option but just allow some time afterwards if you use 2-4D...

 

[whitetailnut]

thanks dbl, pretty sure ill use round up, let it dry out a week or two and then seed. Thanks for the help!!!