cleaning/clearning a grownup field.

[jonbravado]

Hi Guys -

I am located in central SC.

I need some help. I just got 5.5 acres and although it's pretty, has old barns on it, and a creek in the back - I have 2 acres out of 5.5 to clean up and plant "grass" (what my wife wants) It's about half broomstraw, cactus, and sandspur. The OTHER half of the 2 acres is grown up pretty good. It's got scrub oaks, puny pines, black cherry, and lots of wild plum trees. I am getting all the big stuff knocked down or drum-chopped this week. What do i do then?

I just got a kubota 25 hp 4wd for the job of disc harrowing and cutting.

do i disc harrow THEN spray? or vice versa? What kind of herbicide do i use? and what kind of grass seed do i plant? I have a finishing mower already to deal w/ the 'aftermath' of the cleaned up field. This will act as the front yard. The BACKyard is gonna be my play area - see picture of backyard below.

I hope to build a small pond and a garden as well as a new home for my tractor back here.

thanks in advance for your help - i have learned a lot already on the site. great place for info.

J

 

[Coyote]

<<I am getting all the big stuff knocked down or drum-chopped this week>>

Is that a dozer? Dozer operator can groom it for you if you tell him you want to be able to disk it with your 25HP. If no dozer then I would bush hog it as low as you can, then RoundUp with brush RoundUp, wait a week and disk....and disk...and disk again. It will take several times to get something plantable, don't think that one pass will get it. Do a soil test to determine lime and fertilizer requirements for the seed you choose. Good luck, you have a lot of seat time ahead of you!

 

[MrJimi]

I wish it was mine, I would run a RC ( rotary cutter )over it and then take another look at it and go from there
You are so fortunate to have such a fine piece of land, I envy you, get your tractor out and make it work for you and you will be a happy camper really
Jim

 

[jonbravado]

thanks coyote -

indeed, i DO have lots of seat time ahead of me - i can't wait !!

the BACK yard is gonna be the real task - i was even thinking goats / hotwire to clean that out over the course of a few months.

i need to research grass choices a little bit more and figure out what will grow in my area in full sun.

thank again for the feedback. i have been told to drag an old matress (inner springs only) behind the harrow for the smoothing effect. Would that work good enough for a 'drag' harrow step?

J

 

[MrJimi]

thanks coyote -

indeed, i DO have lots of seat time ahead of me - i can't wait !!

the BACK yard is gonna be the real task - i was even thinking goats / hotwire to clean that out over the course of a few months.

i need to research grass choices a little bit more and figure out what will grow in my area in full sun.

thank again for the feedback. i have been told to drag an old matress (inner springs only) behind the harrow for the smoothing effect. Would that work good enough for a 'drag' harrow step?

J

Not to poop on your parade but the mattress thing will just ride over what ya got.. You need something to dig in and scratch it up for you and the chain-link fence is a joke also
and I have done both with zero results, don't waste your time on them ideas....
Jim

 

[jonbravado]

Thanks MrJimi -

here's a picture or two of the 'creek' in the back - i thought it was gonna be a puny creek, but the beavers have it dammed-up into a small pond. I'll irrigate my place from here, eventually. It's made by a spring fed pond up the road.

the first photo was taken while staning on the beaver dam in the center of my property.

thanks again for the input. I can't wait to get started.

J

 

[KentT]

Not to poop on your parade but the mattress thing will just ride over what ya got.. You need something to dig in and scratch it up for you and the chain-link fence is a joke also
and I have done both with zero results, don't waste your time on them ideas....
Jim

I've had good luck with both chainlink fence & old bedsprings to smooth out the soil, after the ground had been worked up (tilled or plowed/disked) However, I added weight to each one. I've even drug old oak loading pallets turned upside down, with rocks piled on them...

IMO, a drag harrow is more or less a "one-time" need for most situations, so I've always just improvised at the lowest $$ cost possible.

 

[jonbravado]

any comments on the goats/hotwire solution for the backyard?

J

 

[Trac-Tech]

Go for it with the goats, but be sure to have your tractor locked well away and anything else that they may want to chew, cause a goat will eat anything if it's easier to get at than the scrub you want him to eat!!!

 

[MacLawn]

jonb, great looking place there. I am not too far from you, and know central SC fairly well. I am pretty certain that you won't beat centipede grass for the grass part of your project. You can either use seed (after preparing the soil), or sprigs/rolls. I used rolls on mine, but to save money, cut it into blocks about 1'x1' and kind of checker boarded it in the ground. My centipede has withstood a LOT - but it won't grow in the shade. Keep us posted.

 

[jonbravado]

will do - i should be able to take some more pictures, PRE-tractor work - this weekend.

thanks again for all the comments.

any particular breed of goat i should consider? I have heard they love eatin briars and thorny vines, because there is a TON of them in the backyard.

J

 

[VABlue]

I'm a big fan of incorporating dutch white clover in with the grass seed. It will provide enough fertilization (nitrogen) naturally that you won't need to apply near as much down the road. It also grows well in any condition and only gets 5-6" tall. It will come in quick and provide some cover for the grass to get going, as well. Good luck with the clearing, have fun with it!!

Goats? What will you do with them when they're finished clearing everything? Allow them to graze your newly seeded lawn, or keep buying feed?

 

[jonbravado]

That's a good question - i will probably turn them into my wife's 'pets' - she wanted a couple of goats anyway. So it'll serve a dual purpose.

thanks for the tips.

J

 

[Z-Michigan]

We looked at goats recently for dual use - eating weeds and making milk. Nubians are the most common variety chosen for milk production, and are fairly large goats. Large should mean easier to contain. Lots of people get pygmy goats as pets - they are small and cute, but really don't do anything useful and their size will make it easier for them to under fences and through small openings (unless you overfeed them like most people do, then they're wider than they are long!).

If you have coyotes or large cats in the area, will you bring the goats in at night or have a guard animal?

 

[jonbravado]

that's a good question, too. - i hadn't thought of that - we do have coyotes around, but not sure how bad.

i was gonna use a hotwire and have the strands run pretty thoroughly on the t-posts. small area at a time. would this keep the coyotes out? or should i get a jack donkey in there?

J

 

[jonbravado]

VA blue - how much clover should i put out when i get around to seeding the grass?

J

 

[VABlue]

When I did my lawn I used a 10% mix of clover to 90% grass. That left me with plenty of clover (and basically everything I have left after heat and drought this summer) and looked really good. For your use, I'd go with 20% at least. It looks decent and keeps out other unwanted weeds until the grass can really get established. Be careful with weed control products, though. Most people think of clover as an unwanted weed...

I found this website to be quite useful in selecting a grass variety and clover mix...

 

[HC-80]

I have goats and they surely do work well to clean things out as high as they can reach. Also, we have occasional coyote issues as well. Someone gave us an old llama and he has taken the herd under his wing. He protects them from any new visitors==Cows, horses, etc. They stay in the barn until he lets them out. He even put himself between my wife and a bull we had. Bull backed off fast when the llama spit at him.

Good luck clearing the property. I've been working on mine too this summer, and like someone else warned, the goats tried to chew the wires on my new tractor. A field full of grass and leaves, but they wanted my wires. They really made a difference quickly in the brush. I can now walk through the area and get my chainsaw low enough without beating my way through the undergrowth.

 

[jonbravado]

OK - we finally started clearing the front a little bit.
We used a skidsteer w/ drum chopper attachment (before an O-ring blew out)

Here is a view of the corner of the front - the area is about 1.5 acres to clear - the rest of the front is a field w/ broomstraw, random grass, occasional cactai, and sandspurs

when he's done w/ the front, i can disk, and disk, and disk some more - then when it's level enough, i'll seed it (after fertilizing) - the GOOD thing about having it drumchopped, is that it produces great mulch to turn into the ground. This is going to be a long long job - but me and the kubota are ready for the task.