roundup hayfield before corn next year

Jake Collie · Sep 23, 2012

I posted about a month ago whether or not to roundup my hayfield before planting corn next year. The vast majority of people think this is a good idea and I will hopefully start spraying in a few hours. One of my neighbors however thinks this is wrong because I will be loosing all of the green fertilizer. If I plow it under green, all of the nutrients will stay in the soil. If I spray it with roundup the nutrients don't evaporate into thin air, they must go back into the soil also. It is my opinion that, one way or the other, all of the green fertilizer ends up back in the soil. Does this sound right or am I all wet?

BIG RUH · Sep 23, 2012

When you plow, you're turning the green under where it will decompose and have a compose effect to the soil. Dead will do some but not as much

MSM · Sep 23, 2012

I would not spray until you are ready to plant, otherwise you will have weeds/grass regrowing in the spring.

Anonymous-0 · Sep 23, 2012

A long established hay field will be hard to kill out,no matter what you do. The last field I rotated to corn was in alfalfa hay for 9 years.After the last cutting, we had it sprayed with round-up and other burn down chemicals.Waited 4 weeks for everything to die and then plowed.Next sring there was a little green in the field so after working the ground and planting we sprayed pre emerge.Later came back with round -up again.Still was a little alfalfa at harvest time.Established hay is hard to get rid of .The roots are huge and can re-root itself very easily. Good luck in whatever you do. Doug

wilamayb · Sep 23, 2012

My plan would be to spray with a bit more than a full rate of roundup while your grasses are still growing well this fall. My opinion would be to no-till. Tilling will germinate every weed seed available! Next spring your old established grasses may have survived the first application of r-up which means they need another good shot to finish them off.

tomNE · Sep 23, 2012

your neighbor is wrong! spray about 64oz of roundup this fall and again in the spring along with a herbiside. then figure on spraying again before the corn gets too tall. your neighbor doesn't understand where nutrients come from! it will take 2yrs to get the weed seeds killed in the growing zone and then you'll be home free. if you till, you'll be bringing new weed seeds up to the growing zone every year.

Bruce from Can. · Sep 23, 2012

Is this for grain corn or silage? If for silage, you could spray per harvest round up on the hay wait two or three days harvest the hay. Then go at it in what ever fashion you like, plough,chisle no till. But getthat corn in first week of June. I do this double crop trick on about 10-12 acres each year. Only I do not do the per harvest spray, I plant rrcorn and spray a r up with a little atrzen for long lasting kill. RRcorn gives you a longer window to spray in, so let the hay grow back a bit. Just get it a good shot before the corn is knee high,or you could get some yeild drag. Going to chop my double crop field this week and it is 7-8 feet tall, has good cobs, and field is clean, I do coventional tillage. First pic , cutting hay end of May, second ploughing June 3rd. planted June 7th. Last pic mid Aug.Not trying to preach, just what I like to do. Bruce

tomstractorsandtoys1 · Sep 23, 2012

I like to put a quart of 2-4D in as well to help on broadleaf weeds.We like to spray in fall if possible as it makes the ground perfect for no-till in spring.It also works up nicer for tillage.Is compaction an issue? We like to subsoil our old hayfields in the fall before corn the following year(alfalfa that we harvest five cutting a year).This may not be an issue if you use smaller equipment and make less trips per year.

paul · Sep 23, 2012

Will this field be plowed either way?

If it i an old alfalfa field, there is plenty of N built up, so the green manure is a non-issue. N is the only varriable, green manure might offer more N.

However, some claim now that the exposed roots you urn up lose more N than the gren manure you plow under.....

Soooo......

I think there ends up being very little real-world difference.

Try to control the weeds the best you can. Which is spray now, spray in spring, and if you do tillage do so in fall, then the typical spring light tillage.

(This is a northern climate receipe. Those of you in the south don't do fall tillage because your climate allows time for heavy spring tillage, as well your exposed tilled soil wears out all winter long.)

--->Paul

Jake Collie · Sep 23, 2012

Yes it will be plowed either way. This is a small (3-1/2 acre) field that I am just playing with. I would like to no till but no one will come in for such a small field. The 6000 ford won't pull a chisel plow (way too many rocks anyway) so I will be mouldboard plowing in the spring. I am just hoping it will be easier to plow with most of the roots being killed.

JDseller · Sep 23, 2012

There is very little value in the late re-growth in a hay field. If you spray now in the fall you will have a much better chance killing the root system for a better weed kill next spring.

What I have learned dealing with farmers in selling them equipment. There are hundreds of ways to do things. There are usually several that will work well not just one. Also you can't convince any of them that "their" way is not the right one.

So look around at the better looking crops and emulate how they where done. It will usually work out.

Anonymous-0 · Sep 23, 2012

My field is being sprayed as I type, 1 litre per acre. I will sprat again in the spring after the crop comes up. Ya got to get rid of the competitive weeds

Bill(Wis) · Sep 23, 2012

I took back about 100 acres from a renter one time that had been in alfalfa and other "mixed grasses". He had until the end of that year and took most of it getting the crop off making it too late to spray. Everyone told me I had made a mistake not spraying in the fall. I went ahead and sprayed roundup on in mid May and a few days later disked the whole thing in and drilled in soybeans and had ther best crop I've ever had. P.S. The weather did help.

wilamayb · Sep 23, 2012

Using real round-up (ultra weathermax) at such rates is not only silly from an economical standpoint, but also defeats the effectiveness of roundup's ability to "kill the root". If much more than a quart of real roundup is used (22 oz/acre rec. rate) it becomes a burndown. Fake roundup can be used at rates near what you described so long as plants are not growing well. When plants are growing quickly they are easily killed and are easily burned down without killing the root if too much roundup is applied.

A much lower rate is needed in warm weather when plants have plenty of soil moisture. During a drought or cool weather the rate needs to be increased a bit to achieve a kill.

1.5 times the rate of glyphosphste will be plenty. It is more vital to apply the chemical with adequate water. 10 gallons per acre just won't cut the mustard unless weeds are small and sparse. 12 gallons is better than 10 but 15 is prime. I apply more like 18 gallons for late applications on tough weeds. I use 16 or more for any pre-emergent residuals. It makes all the difference! If its worth doing then its worth doing well!

K. Peters · Sep 24, 2012

Let me start by stating I'm one of those "young" farmers.
If you are going to plow anyway I would not spend the money on a fall roundup application. If you can no-till the corn in the spring I would spray now.
It was common practice here for my dad to take first crop off the poorer stands of hay, spread manure, plow, apply pre-emerge.,(no roundup back then) and then plant early maturing corn or corn we intended to chop for silage. By this time it was usually mid June and the corn was out of the ground in a few days. If needed he would send us out to cultivate the corn later to knock back any weeds. Now days I skip the pre-emerge and spray roundup 7-10 days after I have the corn cultivated. This is how I go about it and has given very good results, but I've seen it done many ways and by looks they get a good corn crop too.

roundup hayfield before corn next year

Jake Collie

Member

BIG RUH

Member

MSM

Well-known Member

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

wilamayb

Well-known Member

tomNE

Member

Bruce from Can.

Well-known Member

tomstractorsandtoys1

Member

paul

Well-known Member

Jake Collie

Member

JDseller

Well-known Member

Anonymous-0

Well-known Member

Bill(Wis)

Well-known Member

wilamayb

Well-known Member

K. Peters

Member

Similar threads