I have about 18 acres of grass on my 32 acre property. About 10 of it gets hayed, and the other 8 I keep either finish mowed or nicely bush hogged depending on the time of year and my availability to mow. A flail mower purchase hopefully is in my future. The property is kept more as estate/gardens than a farm, and I do all the work myself except the haying and the very high, big tree work.
My question is mainly about the 7 more manicured acres. I apply no product (fertilizer, herbicide, etc), and I don't mind the clover and assorted weeds. But I do mind the wire grass - it is everywhere, it looks like **** starting in June, and then is even worse when in the winter when it goes brown. I intend to do battle with the wire grass, although I know every year forever I will have to spot spray new areas of invasion.
Last July/August I sprayed about an acre or so of different parts of the property (close to house, around the rose beds, etc) with Glyphosate from a 25 gallon tow behind sprayer. I got it good and dead, and then used an old Ryan Mattaway self-propelled (barely
) slit seeder to seed it in Sept and October. I added no product and did no irrigation. It came up beautifully and in all the areas totaling about an acre, there are only a handful of frisbee sized areas of wire grass which I have already killed this year and plan to reseed. I am very pleased with last year's results, but it took a LOT of time to do.
So here's the issue. My success last year has me hungry for more good looking lawn. My plan has been to repeat each year what I did last year, and eventually get all 8 acres done. Last year I did most of the tight areas that would be difficult for a tractor, and now I am doing more open areas. I've already sprayed a fair amount. A neighbor has for sale a 5 foot JD rototiller and 5 ft Brillion seeder. He used them together to redo his lawn. The Brillion can't overseed - it needs a prepared bed. The price seems good for two items stored under cover for years ($2600 total) by a meticulous owner. Initially I was excited about purchasing the two items for use in the more open areas, but then I wondered if this was really the best way to go. Digging up relatively flat lawn, exposing all the weed seeds, then having to drag it, etc. seems like more work than just slit seeding. And either way I have to spray the lawn first to kill the wire grass.
My tractor wheel spread is 7 ft, and the implements are 5 foot, but I doubt this is a big issue. The seller suggested that slit seeding without tilling and amending would not work. It seemed to work last year, but maybe I just got lucky? The Ryan seeder is a $@)*%$ to push, and is about 30 years old, so the idea of doing nice long passes with a newer implement is tempting, but the rototiller/brillion seeder combo seems like a "lateral move". Landpride and Kaspro and a bunch of others seem to make some nice overseeder units, and I could see maybe using one for even the hayed property in the future. I could also see using them for planting wild flower seeds for meadows etc. But even used they're over $4k. I've seen that some people use aerators as seeders, and they are cheaper, but I doubt one could get much grass density this way, but perhaps I am wrong?
How would you take on this project (other than just live with the wire grass )?
My question is mainly about the 7 more manicured acres. I apply no product (fertilizer, herbicide, etc), and I don't mind the clover and assorted weeds. But I do mind the wire grass - it is everywhere, it looks like **** starting in June, and then is even worse when in the winter when it goes brown. I intend to do battle with the wire grass, although I know every year forever I will have to spot spray new areas of invasion.
Last July/August I sprayed about an acre or so of different parts of the property (close to house, around the rose beds, etc) with Glyphosate from a 25 gallon tow behind sprayer. I got it good and dead, and then used an old Ryan Mattaway self-propelled (barely
) slit seeder to seed it in Sept and October. I added no product and did no irrigation. It came up beautifully and in all the areas totaling about an acre, there are only a handful of frisbee sized areas of wire grass which I have already killed this year and plan to reseed. I am very pleased with last year's results, but it took a LOT of time to do.So here's the issue. My success last year has me hungry for more good looking lawn. My plan has been to repeat each year what I did last year, and eventually get all 8 acres done. Last year I did most of the tight areas that would be difficult for a tractor, and now I am doing more open areas. I've already sprayed a fair amount. A neighbor has for sale a 5 foot JD rototiller and 5 ft Brillion seeder. He used them together to redo his lawn. The Brillion can't overseed - it needs a prepared bed. The price seems good for two items stored under cover for years ($2600 total) by a meticulous owner. Initially I was excited about purchasing the two items for use in the more open areas, but then I wondered if this was really the best way to go. Digging up relatively flat lawn, exposing all the weed seeds, then having to drag it, etc. seems like more work than just slit seeding. And either way I have to spray the lawn first to kill the wire grass.
My tractor wheel spread is 7 ft, and the implements are 5 foot, but I doubt this is a big issue. The seller suggested that slit seeding without tilling and amending would not work. It seemed to work last year, but maybe I just got lucky? The Ryan seeder is a $@)*%$ to push, and is about 30 years old, so the idea of doing nice long passes with a newer implement is tempting, but the rototiller/brillion seeder combo seems like a "lateral move". Landpride and Kaspro and a bunch of others seem to make some nice overseeder units, and I could see maybe using one for even the hayed property in the future. I could also see using them for planting wild flower seeds for meadows etc. But even used they're over $4k. I've seen that some people use aerators as seeders, and they are cheaper, but I doubt one could get much grass density this way, but perhaps I am wrong?
How would you take on this project (other than just live with the wire grass
)?
