# Rabbit brush



## rroberts53 (Nov 11, 2019)

Got 40 acres and it has never been touched. It is full of rabbit brush. Looking best ways to get rid of it.


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## SCtrailrider (May 1, 2016)

Had to google that one, did a little reading, glad that stuff isn't around here, looks like it's a hard fight to get rid of, does list several chems that work but none sounded easy or once and done..

Good luck to ya...


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

rroberts53 said:


> Got 40 acres and it has never been touched. It is full of rabbit brush. Looking best ways to get rid of it.


Regards, Mike

https://www.fs.usda.gov/Internet/FSE_DOCUMENTS/stelprd3828960.pdf


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## Rockfrmr (Jun 30, 2019)

Close cutting alone doesn't do it, impossibly difficult on a bladed mower and the tractor and then it sends up new shoots each spring.

On the last 20 acres I cleared successfully... a chain wrapped around the bush at the base and hooked to the 3 point arms. That damaged enough root that it has not come back. I have read about herbicides that address it but have not tried any. Given it still has to be removed once killed, after a half dozen shear pins on the Brush Hog, I decided to pull it all and save the gearbox cost.... but not before cracking the blade hub on the mower

Dried on the fence line for one summer and then burned in the winter. It burns so intensely hot it sterilized the soil for 8 years at the burn pile spot, even 9 years later only Yucca will grow there! The second pasture cleared I burned in in a dry creek bed, that working out far better.

The folks on HT have been helping me with suggestions on bringing back my dryland pastures I have outside of Lyons CO, much of the valuable information they have shared with me would surely help you as well given the same conditions and soils. You might want to track some of those conversations as they have proved immensely helpful!


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## rroberts53 (Nov 11, 2019)

Thanks. I will. I am south of Alamosa.


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## Rockfrmr (Jun 30, 2019)

A little higher and a bit drier than the area I am in but I would hazard a guess the high PH soils are similar.

I am right in the shadow of a 14'er, Long Peak, so the weather patterns often break to either side of me making it quite dry... Rabbit Brush, Yucca and Prickly Pear are the norm in my non irrigated pastures.

One very important lesson learned here is to formulate a plan before the clearing starts. The decades old weed seed bank is all in place waiting for the land to be disturbed and the shading of the brush to be removed... I assure you the weed seed will take full advantage of that situation!

Soil test is the first step, study the weather patterns to see when there will be adequate rains to geminate seed and have a weed plan in place. Generally we are too high, dry and Hot for establishing summer grasses, we have to shoot for cool season where we Hope to get spring and fall rains. Wheatgrass mixtures and Sainfoin are my target here and seem to do fairly well in NM and 4 Corners area, everything changes if you have irrigation potential.

With our altitude and arid conditions, timing for each step is critical. If I had it to do over again I would have cleared and immediately put the land straight into a year cover crop of Sorghum, that followed by a summer planted winter cover crop to get weeds under control and build the soil.

Like yourself, I am a transplant from MN where you can throw any seed on the ground and it will grow... a whole different ballgame here!


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