# getting rid of milk weed



## TessiersFarm

I have a small field with a lot of milkweed, it is next on the rotation of maintenance. I do not spray chemicals, will plowing, harrowing and replanting get rid of it, or will it be back next year just as dense? I currently dry and bale a crop and then green chop until snow flies on this particular field. The milk weed has never hurt anuthing but it is hard to dry and if I am working the field anyway, I would like to get rid of it.

Thanks
Jason


----------



## JD3430

I am inexperienced and dont want to ruffle your feathers, but why dont you spray it? What few chemicals used t eradicate it shouldn't be any worse than the animals that have to ingest the milkweed.


----------



## Vol

TessiersFarm said:


> I have a small field with a lot of milkweed, it is next on the rotation of maintenance. I do not spray chemicals, will plowing, harrowing and replanting get rid of it, or will it be back next year just as dense? I currently dry and bale a crop and then green chop until snow flies on this particular field. The milk weed has never hurt anuthing but it is hard to dry and if I am working the field anyway, I would like to get rid of it.
> 
> Thanks
> Jason


You have to either dig it up by the roots or live with it as ag tillage will not get rid of it....very persistant...even with herbicides...although it can be eradicated with herbs. Tessier, if you could edit your profile and add your location, either state or more specific, it would be very helpful to all as far as giving you more relevant advice for your general area. Thanks.

Regards, Mike


----------



## Mike120

Mike is right....It's a perennial and if you don't get the root, killing the top will just make it mad. You should have lots of butterflies though. They like it.


----------



## JD3430

Mike120 said:


> Mike is right....It's a perennial and if you don't get the root, killing the top will just make it mad. You should have lots of butterflies though. They like it.


Yeah I noticed that. Very slow dying. Dont expect to spray it and it be gone in a week. lol
I sprayed it and there it stood tall, brown & dead. It ended up getting baled for the most part.
I read that it's just as toxic dead as alive. I think I will spray it earlier with roundup next time instead of 24D. Wish I could get the roots to die without killing the lower cool season grasses that wuld take over the patch.


----------



## TessiersFarm

JD3430 said:


> I am inexperienced and dont want to ruffle your feathers, but why dont you spray it? What few chemicals used t eradicate it shouldn't be any worse than the animals that have to ingest the milkweed.


We are not certified organic but have some philisophical issues with chemical controls and fertilizers. We have had limited sucess with mowing early and often, and not letting it go to head, but if you miss 1 cutting, which I did this fall, it seams to come back stronger than ever. The field is degraded to the point of re-planting anyways, was hoping to reduce the milkweed while in the process.


----------



## JD3430

Then I guess you would have to grubb it out or cover the infested area with a dark tarp.


----------



## slowzuki

My experience is you can kill or weaken a stand of it with repeated, ie weekly mowing for a whole summer. Everytime it pops up, you knock it down. I had bad luck spraying even at the times recommended. I have 5 acres severely infested and the neighbour has 20 acres that is really bad.

On the good side, the milkweed here is much less toxic than reported for some species.


----------



## JD3430

slowzuki said:


> My experience is you can kill or weaken a stand of it with repeated, ie weekly mowing for a whole summer. Everytime it pops up, you knock it down. I had bad luck spraying even at the times recommended. I have 5 acres severely infested and the neighbour has 20 acres that is really bad.
> 
> On the good side, the milkweed here is much less toxic than reported for some species.


Yes I would think that cutting the leaves off would reduce photosynthesis to the point of killing it. 
I did hear that milkweed was strongly over rated for toxicity.


----------



## slowzuki

What the neighbours field looks like. I couldn't find the pic I wanted. The light colour is all milkweed that was cut.


----------



## JD3430

slowzuki said:


> What the neighbours field looks like. I couldn't find the pic I wanted. The light colour is all milkweed that was cut.
> View attachment 465


Wow your neighbor has more than just milkweed in that picture. I get both milkweed and dogbane in my fields in the same spots. Stuff can be very tough, fast growing and slow dying. I can get lily of the valley, horse nettle and some other nasty weeds.


----------



## slowzuki

The strange thing is we baled that for the sheep to keep busy on yet my sisters horses took a liking to it. They don't eat the milkweed but they will eat every lick of the bale up before touching "good" hay put out for them.



JD3430 said:


> Wow your neighbor has more than just milkweed in that picture. I get both milkweed and dogbane in my fields in the same spots. Stuff can be very tough, fast growing and slow dying. I can get lily of the valley, horse nettle and some other nasty weeds.


----------



## Vol

Looked like alot of Goldenrod in the field Slowzuki....was that a dog or coyote in the pic? Reason I ask is that it appears to be a coyote with a white foot....which I have never seen....or is that just a weed/leaf that gives it the appearance of a white foot?

Regards, Mike


----------



## slowzuki

Yes there is golden rod too over in the other side see attachment to this post. That gets mowed and left. Just a little juvenile coyote in the pic. He hung around for 3-4 hours, could get about 20 ft from him with the door open but he was gone once the neighbour showed up with his rifle at the field edge. Can't remember on the foot but guessing not white.


----------



## JD3430

So you cant burn off the goldenrod field and grow something desireable there?


----------



## gradyjohn

There is a certain time to spray and achieve a major kill. It might take several times. Not spraying ... Good Luck.


----------



## slowzuki

Both are areas of my "free" rent fields with the no spray or chemical fertilizer permitted. So yeah, no spray, plus the last "tenant" had RR soybeans in there but didn't seed anything after removing crop and walked away with owner having no method to reseed 40 acres so she is very anti-round up unfortunately. Some 24D would go a long way in the areas of heavy timothy and golden rod but she won't even let a small area be sprayed.

The one whose owner is paying for some lime, I've got 5 acres plowed up to reseed this spring. Maybe a waste, we'll see.


----------



## JD3430

So what can you do with a field of goldenrod, other than look at it?


----------



## slowzuki

What do I do? I mow it all and bale the areas without goldenrod. The photo of it tall was the first time in her field, I'm going to try more aggressive mowing next year and some discing besides the 5 acres I'm plowing. I've read it doesn't like being disturbed.


----------



## Nitram

JD3430 said:


> So what can you do with a field of goldenrod, other than look at it?


Put bees on it! That makes great honey! Martin


----------



## slowzuki

lol I hit two huge bees nests built up high in the stems of the golden rod. They were not happy going through the conditioner or when I tedded them by accident later. I at least remembered to tell the people picking up bales!


----------



## JD3430

slowzuki said:


> lol I hit two huge bees nests built up high in the stems of the golden rod. They were not happy going through the conditioner or when I tedded them by accident later. I at least remembered to tell the people picking up bales!


I luv laughin' at them damn things when I'm inside the cab and they're all mad and cant get in.
Makes the money you spent on the cab all worthwhile.....lol


----------



## Nitram

slowzuki said:


> lol I hit two huge bees nests built up high in the stems of the golden rod. They were not happy going through the conditioner or when I tedded them by accident later. I at least remembered to tell the people picking up bales!


They were probably swarms, you damaged the queen most probably couldn't fly away they will stick with her. added protein to those bales! lol


----------



## pengs68

My neighbor has a bad milkweed problem which is now becoming a problem for me. He sprayed 50 acres with *Dicamba*. I am going to watch his results this season. I tried walking a small field with a sprayer a couple weeks after my last cutting and hitting them with roundup. We will see what that did.


----------



## swmnhay

pengs68 said:


> My neighbor has a bad milkweed problem which is now becoming a problem for me. He sprayed 50 acres with *Dicamba*. I am going to watch his results this season. I tried walking a small field with a sprayer a couple weeks after my last cutting and hitting them with roundup. We will see what that did.


Dicamba/Banvel is a good product but it can drift.Even days later.It's not as bad as it used to be they have improved it but it can drift to gardens,flowers and soybeans.They don't recomend using it after a certain date here June 15? I think.


----------



## pengs68

swmnhay said:


> Dicamba/Banvel is a good product but it can drift.Even days later.It's not as bad as it used to be they have improved it but it can drift to gardens,flowers and soybeans.They don't recomend using it after a certain date here June 15? I think.


Good Info. Thanks.


----------



## Bonfire

pengs68 said:


> My neighbor has a bad milkweed problem which is now becoming a problem for me. He sprayed 50 acres with *Dicamba*. I am going to watch his results this season. I tried walking a small field with a sprayer a couple weeks after my last cutting and hitting them with roundup. We will see what that did.


Especially with milkweed, make sure you use a good quality surfactant. You need that spray to stick to the leaf. Without a surfactant, chances are that your spray solution just beads up and rolls off.

Make sure you get good coverage. That spray needs to penetrate the canopy (AI tips).

Last year, I had good results using generic Triclopyr @ 2 qts per acre along with a high quality non ionic surfactant. I slowed down and increased my rate to 25+ gallons per acre. You have to consider your grass specie tho. Triclopyr can damage some of the warm season grasses.


----------

