# Dodging Weeds



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Some good advice for those that are just on the fringe of Palmer Amaranth.....I wish that would have been the approach here.

Regards, Mike

http://www.dtnprogressivefarmer.com/dtnag/common/link.do?symbolicName=/free/news/template1&product=/ag/news/bestofdtnpf&vendorReference=1b861f28-ff0b-4ef5-b365-607270b90575__1412707679601&paneContentId=88&paneParentId=0


----------



## cornshucker (Aug 22, 2011)

Good post Mike, I remember when I was getting old enough to run the bush hog Daddy and Grandpa was stay on my butt about cleaning the bush hog off before leaving one field and going to another. As a teenager naturally I thought they were just being hard on my ass but as usual they were right even if at the time being a typical teenager I thought I knew everything. At the time we were doing a lot of moldboard plowing and you absolutely did not go from one field to another with out cleaning the debris off of the plow at the risk of Daddy's boot LOL.


----------



## Teslan (Aug 20, 2011)

In addition to blowing off combines. Blow off hay swathers, mowers. Even balers (I know my baler get's lots of hay on parts of it that could fall off in another field). Pretty much anything.


----------



## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

Crop rotation was my grandfather's way of weed control. And I'm talking more than just corn/beans rotation.

He went corn--wheat--clover--alfalfa--fruit trees--sorghum--pasture--fallow. (What's fallow? I'll bet most young farmers don't even know of that word. And probably can't afford to let ground sit idle for a year either).

Ralph


----------



## deadmoose (Oct 30, 2011)

rjmoses said:


> Crop rotation was my grandfather's way of weed control. And I'm talking more than just corn/beans rotation.
> 
> He went corn--wheat--clover--alfalfa--fruit trees--sorghum--pasture--fallow. (What's fallow? I'll bet most young farmers don't even know of that word. And probably can't afford to let ground sit idle for a year either).
> 
> Ralph


The fruit trees has got me. How many years before taking them out?


----------



## IHCman (Aug 27, 2011)

I do try and clean equipment off in the same field as it was used to limit the spread of certain weeds. But I'm kind of defeating the purpose by haying CRP here. Its full of Canada thistle and I know I've drug that stuff home to the pastures we feed on but I am spraying it in those pastures as I see it to limit its spread.

Another thing I should quit doing is baling weeds on farmground (neighbors and our own). I've baled quite a little kochia and pigeon grass this year that came out of small pockets none of us could get into to seed or spray. Makes good feed though when ground and blended with other things. We only pile our manure once and let it burn down before hauling out. Maybe if we'd turn the piles and compost it better to kill those seeds it probably would help.


----------



## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

IHCman said:


> We only pile our manure once and let it burn down before hauling out. Maybe if we'd turn the piles and compost it better to kill those seeds it probably would help.


Some seeds will not cook in the pile.....like Palmer Amaranth....a tough customer.

Regards, Mike


----------



## IHCman (Aug 27, 2011)

I never knew that about palmer amaranth. Read an article where they've found it in SD. So far not in ND but moving closer, prolly only a matter of time till its here.


----------



## rjmoses (Apr 4, 2010)

deadmoose said:


> The fruit trees has got me. How many years before taking them out?


Remember: He was farming with horse drawn equipment--A big field was maybe 10 acres. Most were around 5 acres. He originally bought 320 acres at $1/acre, but later gave parts to my aunt and uncle. In the end, he had a total of 80 acres which I now own. My cousins own 200 acres split about 10 ways.

He raised a family of 6 and kept them all fed and clothed. His garden was about 1 acre. He kept 5-6 cows for milk and beef, half-a-dozen hogs, usually around 100 chickens.

The fruit tree fields, apples and peaches, would occupied up to 10 acres and would last somewhere around 5 years (productive years).

This area used to be known as the Apple Kingdom but that has changed. We are in the northernmost area that can grow peaches. Nowadays, we have a reputation for "Calhoun peaches". Fruit trees have become terribly expensive because of the seasonal labor required. Most growers have switched over to row crops.

My other grandfather grew mostly apples and operated a sawmill on 80 acres. His ground was extremely rough, but right on the river, so he could ship apples via riverboat to St. Louis and Chicago easily. At one time, I hoped to buy his farm as well, but $100,000 for a 20 year old making $3/hour was a little out of reach. It was sold to a doctor from St. Louis as a summer place. I have another cousin who farms for cash rent.

Just a little family history.

Ralph

Our family tree doesn't branch, just intertwines a lot.


----------



## mlappin (Jun 25, 2009)

Strange, I keep clicking on the link and it takes me to an article about ear rot, and not the kind you get from Lady Gaga or Michael Jackson songs.


----------



## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

Fallow is very important for me. Shallow topsoil on these "gently rolling" (real estate agent description) glacial ridges needs to be refreshed with large amounts of organic matter at least once in 5 to 10 years. I have anywhere from 5-20% of ground in a fallow period. Usually preceding corn in the schedule.


----------



## IHCman (Aug 27, 2011)

No one fallows anything here anymore. Died out in the 80s. I remember one old guy that still did during the drought of 88 and 89 here. Looked like the dirty thirtys with dirt blowing so bad you couldn't see across the road. He actually ruined 160 acres of land that he was renting because it blew out so bad. Family that owned the land took him to court to make him level it but the court sided in his favor as it was a weather event. Not sure I agreed with that one. Another neighbor ended up buying that land pretty cheap a few years later but spent about $150 per acre leveling it.

Summer fallow and blow sand don't do well together.


----------



## hillside hay (Feb 4, 2013)

Here there is enough surplus seed or heany sod that we don't have much wind erosion


----------

