After glyphosate - till or burn

[thebmrust]

Prepping for reseeding of pasture grass.
I applied a 3% mix of Gordons Big-n-Tuf 41% glyphosate to my 1 acre pasture. Appx 15gal of water/gly mix to the acre.

It has been just over 48 hours and it looks like I have a 95% success rate. There are a few weeds that seem to be alive, so I might spot spray those in a few days.

The question:
After the 1-2 weeks and the weeds are dead... what is most optimal? Burning the weeds or tilling them under?

I can burn almost for free. But I will have to rent a tractor and tiller or a dingo and Rotadairon. The Rota looks much more desirable than the tractor/tiller option.

I will be hand seeding after the weeds are dispensed.

Edits: typing on phone left weird characters. Fixed.

 

[oosik]

Rotadairon - man, I had to look that one up. You must have somewhere you can get one of those units. I've never seen anything like it.

I'm about 100 mile east of you. For me burning would not be an option. It's either too wet to burn or too dry. One person simply can not control a "burn" here when it's dry. I've tried - results were almost disastrous.

Kill the weeds with poison before they go to seed. Then some type of tilling operation.

 

[DJ54]

You may want to check rental dealers, and see if they have a 3 pt slit/slice seeder. If your pasture was mowed down some before you sprayed it, the slit seeder will plant right through it. You could always mow it down fairly tight if not. Stubble, or clippings will provide some mulch to protect from washing if you get a heavy rain, and hold moisture until the grass takes off.

I have a 4' toro I bought 6-8 years ago cheap. Great for reseeding in an existing stand. I mostly use it to plant Timothy seed in Sept. after last cutting hay. No worries of planting on windy days. Puts the seed in a slit you set the depth for, and cover discs behind the slit cutter covers the slit, and roller on the back presses what little loose soil there is.

In this picture, I've made multiple passes to show just how little the surface was disturbed.

Here isan advertisement from a semi-local rental company showing the rate for a day. $245. SLICE SEEDER 3 PT. 48 INCH Rentals Centerville OH, Where to Rent SLICE SEEDER 3 PT. 48 INCH in Centerville OH, South Dayton, Beavercreek OH, Kettering, West Carrollton, and Springboro Ohio Being you only have 1 acre, you may have a local dealer that would rent a tractor (if you don't have one) and seeder for half a day for a similar price. Recommended seeding speed for mine is 5-7 mph, so you can scoot right along with them.

 

[ovrszd]

In my area the Fire District will bring a truck and monitor a burn. Voluntary donation.

A burn will give you the cleanest seedbed. Then slice seeder or some equivalent.

 

[kthompson]

Burn of course is a fire danger but as Richard has said will give the cleanest seedbed. If you have weed seed in the field the glyphosate probably did not or will not kill them. So for me the type of weeds and if any seeds would be how I decide. Along with how thick the residue is. If you burn, you burn against the wind. Want some breeze to slow it down as it burns across the pasture.

If it is not too much residue or no weed seed like the no till planting.

"I will be hand seeding after the weeds are dispensed." The ground needs to be worked somehow for the seeding. Spreading by hand is fine but if not worked somehow into the ground even firm contract don't think you will be pleased with the results.

 

[skipperbrown]

If you disk, after a weed kill, you are going to expose millions of seeds to germinate. You have to hope your new crop out grows the weeds which it probably will do with proper soil conditions. If you just spread your new seed on top of ground that has not be disturbed (tilled), you will likely have very poor germination and end up with a new field of weeds. In your situation, I would mow the dead grass as low as you can and hire someone to drill the seed and fertilizer. If you need lime, lime now.

 

[ovrszd]

I agree with Skipper. Also, might benefit from a "cover crop" of wheat or oats to shade the ground and give the grasses time to sprout without weeds choking them out.

 

[sixdogs]

In my area the Fire District will bring a truck and monitor a burn. Voluntary donation.

A burn will give you the cleanest seedbed. Then slice seeder or some equivalent.

Good idea. A burn will also burn the weed seeds on the ground. Burn with a fire truck nearby and slit seed in the new grass. You could also broadcast in early September and likely get a decent stand. Slit seeder best.

Whatever weeds show up will get mowed off and if you put down enough seed will likely not be able to survive the competition with the grass come spring. Fertilize late fall.

 

[thebmrust]

All good info... there are a few rental places with slit seeders. But I think we would still have to rent a tiller to prep the ground. Which was why I was thinking the Rotadairon. At the least it would be to do some basic grading and leveling. There are a few mounds here and there where the prior owners used a skid steer to move burn piles around.

I know mid summer isn稚 the best for seeding, we do have reliable irrigation (so far). But we really want some sort of cover before the fall winds blow (spring dirt/dust was really bad) and our dogs are getting cheatgrass in their paws every day, but mostly the goat heads will make the acre completely unusable if we don稚 do something. So, I知 willing to try the hard route to pasture grass.

Note: this pasture grass is for two years to put nutrients back into the ground before we switch to a different blend for turf.

I値l revisit a slit seeder and I値l see if the fire dept has guidance when I ask about a burn off.

 

[sixdogs]

If you rototill--or heavily cultivate-- it you're going to need something like a cultimulcher that will pack the ground and also remove your tire tracks. If you don't pack tilled ground it will become an irregular and lumpy seedbed. If you pack it with just a roller you will have tire track ruts.

My vote is to slit seed the bare ground with your final choice of seed, fertilize it and you'll be happier. I do this a lot and this method gives an excellent job with minimal effort and disruption. It's nice to rip the ground up but you need lots of followup equipment to do the job satisfactorily.

Another method would be to disc harrow the ground to get a better seedbed and smooth things out and then seed with a regular seeder or just broadcast the seed and press it in with a roller. Fertilize as well. This won't leave tire tracks because you aren't tilling that deep but will give an excellent seedbed and final result. If you have piles of dirt, smooth with a skid steer. This actually might be my first choice. Good luck.