# brushhog first or Roundup?



## Big Al (Sep 11, 2000)

I have a 3-4 acre field that I tried to plant clover in this spring. My clover didn't take (no rain) and it has become overrun with weeds and grass. At this point I'm planning on killing it and replanting rye this fall. The weeds and grass are mostly waist high or better and I was wondering if it is better to brushhog them before spraying or spray and then come back through and brushhog them a week or so later?


----------



## MGV (Jan 22, 2002)

Brush hog first. The round-up will get to the roots better.


----------



## QDMAMAN (Dec 8, 2004)

Big Al,

Round-Up works best when a plant is growing so if you brush hog then wait a week or two to spray you will get a good kill. It would be best to spray twice so... if you mow now then spray in two weeks and again mid August you would have a well preped site for rye, oats, or wheat which is also a good kill plot in the fall.

That site would also be a good candidate for frost seeding clover in the early spring.

Good luck and have fun.

Big T


----------



## bishs (Aug 30, 2000)

If you can raise your spray boom high enough to get above the weeds; I would spray now. If you cut it when the weeds are tall, your piles of dead weeds will prevent your spray from getting good coverage.


----------



## 4x4_Hunter (Jan 2, 2002)

Okay, I guess the ideal situation would be to spray first, wait a week then brush hog, then wait a week and spray again. This might not fit the schedule though. I would do what QDMAMAN stated, it is much easier to kill off weeds that are trying to regrow than those that are very mature and waist-high!!!


----------



## Jeff Sturgis (Mar 28, 2002)

Whatever you do there is still time to get a good crop in this fall. I might even consider only spraying. Just spray right now, again the last week of July, again the last week of August, and plant a week to 10 days later with a rye/oats/clover mix. This will leave you with rye, clover, and dead oats in the spring, and you should set yourself up nicely for either broadcasting brassica into the clover in the spring, or just letting the clover go. Also, you can skip the clover, move one of your sprayings back until next spring to kill the grain, plant buckwheat for summer, till under in late summer and plant a great grain/clover or brassica/clover combo. No need to not plant something for fall and you can still get multiple sprayings in to eliminate your weed problems.

Late summer is an excellant time to plant for many reasons!! Good luck.


----------



## Big Al (Sep 11, 2000)

Thanks for the help guys, I think I will start brushhogging tonight and plan on spraying sometime in the next week or two. My plan is to plant oats and rye this fall, keep the field in rye all next year and see how the deer respond to it next summer if I keep it mowed. I'm leaning toward rye instead of clover because as someone said its pretty much idiot proof and I have already screwed up the clover once. If the deer don't seem to be interested in the rye after next spring then I'll consider killing it off and replanting clover next fall. As of right now I don't have the money to spend on lime to get the whole field to the correct ph for clover so rye seems to be a easier choice.


----------



## Brad Gehman (Jun 6, 2004)

I had a plot mowed first and then we sprayed and it did not get a good kill where the piles of grass laid. Spray first, if you can.


----------

