# Weed control for pasture and hay field



## Hayjosh

My pastures are becoming dominated by broadleaf plantain, and it's creeping back into my hay field adjacent to the pasture. I also get a lot of Queen Anne's Lace (wild carrot). Since the hay field soil pH is up to correct levels I don't see hardly any wild carrot there this year...yet.

In the past I used 2,4-D for plantain but it seems like it's losing it's effectiveness.

I have clover and a little bit of alfalfa in the field.

I also get a lot of heavy brush along the fencelines, especially along woods.

Looking through all the herbicides is mind-boggling. Looks like I am limited to Pursuit or Raptor for this field (5.2 acres)? But it's expensive.

What are some good weed control options I could do?


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## Vol

If it is Buckhorn plantain, it is best addressed in the fall to get an effective kill. Brash will clean it up very good in the fall. Here, I have had very good success spraying Buckhorn in October. I would think that you could do so about a month ahead....in the cooler part of September.

Also I attached a excellent weed manual that is produced by the University of Tennessee. Obviously, there will be some things(especially timing) that will not be exact for your Northern climate, but the principles will mostly fit.

For fence lines, now is a good time for a application of Crossbow....especially after you have a good rain and the plant is taking up the moisture. I apply it out of a small 25 gallon tank sprayer with a spray gun while driving my UTV and I use 2 quarts of Crossbow and a pint of surfactant and get a good burndown. It will not kill your grass.

Regards, Mike

https://extension.tennessee.edu/publications/Documents/PB1580.pdf

See page 65 for relevant info on Plantain.


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## Hayjosh

It is buckhorn plantain. I know I said broadleaf earlier but wasn't thinking.

The most problematic weeds I have are first and foremost buckhorn plantain, then wild carrot, and spots of curly dock, horse nettle, and milkweed. The wild carrot and buckhorn plantain go pretty nuts.

Could I mix Brash and Crossbow together to get good action on my pasture (with surfactant)?

It looks like my fencelines would definitely benefit from Crossbow.


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## Vol

I do not think you really need to mix Brash and Crossbow together on your pasture as Crossbow is designed for mainly woody type plants. Brash will control everyone of your listed nuisances. It will not kill the milkweed and the nettle but will remove them temporarily. Brash will kill the plantain, dock, and carrot. You will likely need to spray for a couple of years to remove those completely as they are tough to kill with just one spraying.

You will have to use Grazon P&D or GrazonNext HL to remove the nettle. If you are not overwhelmed with nettle and can spot spray it, it would be better. Then you would not have to consider the residual.

Try to avoid spraying during a drought situation as the plant "skins" toughen up and do not absorb as readily. I prefer to spray mid-morning as the dew is leaving when I can....but not always possible. Always check your herbicide to see how long it needs to be applied to be rainfast.....typically 4-6 hours. That is also another benefit of applying in the morning as to become rainfast for the afternoon showers of the summertime.

Regards, Mike


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## r82230

Have you soil tested your pasture by any chance? Sometimes weeds will thrive in certain conditions, as you have experienced with wild carrot. Between wild carrot and what I call African Thistle, both seem to like mined soils and/or out of whack ph levels, at least in MY area.

Larry


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## Hayjosh

I was considering Grazon Next because of its residual properties since I compost the horse manure pile and then spread it back onto the pastures. It could help to control the weeds in the pile and what is spread back into the pastures.

The pastures are pretty mined and I know the soil pH is low from pasture soil tests. I should just get a buggy of lime and go heavy on them as it would help my weed problem. I do spread manure on them and most of it is from the winter accumulation when horses are on hay.


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## Hayman1

Grazon next is extremely effective if you are not trying to sell hay off the farm. Should clean up everything you mentioned but it isn't going to be kind to clover or alfalfa. I would get rid of the broadleaf stuff and then go back and add some legume by frost seeding. Spray now for plantain and horse nettle, for your area, I am guessing early October for cleanup of virtually all winter annuals. For us in Va, that is about the 3rd week in oct to get all of the winter annuals germinated enough to die. Plantain really gets to be a problem with overgrazing. I have the problem here and will try to address this fall when I spray my hayfields. Most of mine is broadleaf plantain


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## Hayjosh

Hayman1 said:


> Grazon next is extremely effective if you are not trying to sell hay off the farm. Should clean up everything you mentioned but it isn't going to be kind to clover or alfalfa. I would get rid of the broadleaf stuff and then go back and add some legume by frost seeding. Spray now for plantain and horse nettle, for your area, I am guessing early October for cleanup of virtually all winter annuals. For us in Va, that is about the 3rd week in oct to get all of the winter annuals germinated enough to die. Plantain really gets to be a problem with overgrazing. I have the problem here and will try to address this fall when I spray my hayfields. Most of mine is broadleaf plantain


I'd only consider Grazon for my horse pastures.

For mix hay fields what are options besides Pursuit?


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## Hayman1

Look at cimarron. Cheap, no residual. I’ve used it before and will be using it in October


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## endrow

If you are talkin about Cimarron plus we use that for our permanent pasture in some places and we would never use Cimarron Plus on a hay field. The residual in Cimarron Plus is a lot more user-friendly than Grazon... but most of your general rotational crops would be 1 year planting restriction... and if you've ever looked at a Cimarron label they give you an application rate I would like to 0.3 ounce. The normal low rate would be .6,, at a Growers meeting I was at a company rep explained that you should be very careful with Cimarron Plus he said if you were to go .6 two consecutive years he probably won't grow alfalfa or soybeans for 3 to 4 years...


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## Hayman1

endrow said:


> If you are talkin about Cimarron plus we use that for our permanent pasture in some places and we would never use Cimarron Plus on a hay field. The residual in Cimarron Plus is a lot more user-friendly than Grazon... but most of your general rotational crops would be 1 year planting restriction... and if you've ever looked at a Cimarron label they give you an application rate I would like to 0.3 ounce. The normal low rate would be .6,, at a Growers meeting I was at a company rep explained that you should be very careful with Cimarron Plus he said if you were to go .6 two consecutive years he probably won't grow alfalfa or soybeans for 3 to 4 years...


Yes, I was talking about cimarron plus. I understand your concern. I typically would only need to use that once every 3 or so years. For you guys that are rotating crops in with hay, you have a whole different universe. But then, you also aren't running the same field year after year in grass without regular roundup treatments or something equivalent. For us permanent hay guys, short of nuking a field and starting over, we can get some cumulative broad leaf and annual grass challenges.


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## Vol

You know another thing that I have noticed is that GrazonNext is not as nearly residual here as it may be in other places.....like the Northeast. For example, last July I sprayed Grazon(1.5pts./ac.) to kill nettle in a field. Come October I was sowing some grass and had about 10 pounds of Timothy left over. So, I decided to sow it in some wet areas in the field I had sprayed with Grazon in July. Much to my surprise it germinated and lived. I thought it would probably die during the winter but not so. It grew right on. Not sure if it was due to rainfall, temperature, or other conditions unknown. But, I did notice that I had much fewer broadleaf weeds early in the spring but it wasn't long until they started making an appearance.

Regards, Mike


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## Trotwood2955

Interesting point Mike. I've observed similar. It does wonders in my opinion but I think it takes a couple applications to get perfect control. Also have noticed clover coming back into pasture and hayfields far before the residual period. Our pastures are full of clover so I've been selective in how I've used Grazon on it as I don't want to lose that from the mix in everything at once. But based on what I've seen the clover comes back fast but not the weeds, which is perfect.

Our coop is also really pushing fertilizer treated wth Grazon. Saves a pass over the fields that way. I tried it for the first time this year and plan to use more next year. For a cattle/horse/grass hay person I find it hard to beat.


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## 8350HiTech

Vol said:


> You know another thing that I have noticed is that GrazonNext is not as nearly residual here as it may be in other places.....like the Northeast. For example, last July I sprayed Grazon(1.5pts./ac.) to kill nettle in a field. Come October I was sowing some grass and had about 10 pounds of Timothy left over. So, I decided to sow it in some wet areas in the field I had sprayed with Grazon in July. Much to my surprise it germinated and lived. I thought it would probably die during the winter but not so. It grew right on. Not sure if it was due to rainfall, temperature, or other conditions unknown. But, I did notice that I had much fewer broadleaf weeds early in the spring but it wasn't long until they started making an appearance.
> 
> Regards, Mike


That isn't too far off of what the label suggests. Fall grass seeding is supposed to be possible if applied same year spring or early summer.


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## Vol

8350HiTech said:


> That isn't too far off of what the label suggests. Fall grass seeding is supposed to be possible if applied same year spring or early summer.


I called Dow and spoke with one of their chemical representatives early last summer before spraying and they told me that I needed to wait 6 months on grass seedings from application. Therefore, apply Grazon in early spring and sow grass that fall. I sowed the Timothy in about 1/2 the recommended wait time frame.

Regards, Mike


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## dieselmike

Funny story about Grayzon. We had a new field with peanuts. There were spots all over the field that were turning yellow. Had several people check it out. Had an old fart look at it and he asked if we had any fields with grazon on it. We said the pasture next to it had grayzon. He then asked if we had cows coming from that field to this one and we indeed had some there before the peanuts grazing on winter grass off and on. He then determined where ever the cows took a wizz grayzon was applied!


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