# Cant' hold out any longer... need to start spraying for weeds.



## Josh in WNY (Sep 7, 2010)

So I've held out as long as I can, but I admit it's time to start spraying for weeds in my hay. There are two main problem weeds that I am dealing with, horse nettle and knapweed. I know my neighbors field is where the knapweed is coming from, but I'm not sure where the horse nettle came from. I don't want to just refit/reseed the fields as I'm sure that won't help too much.. just prolong the problem.

I do have a 3pt hitch sprayer, but I do not have a pesticide license. Whatever I use also has to be OK to use on grass/timothy hay fields and I would prefer to not have anything with a residual. I know I'll probably kill all the broad leaf plants that I don't mind (like birdsfoot), but I'm OK with that if it means I get rid of the bad stuff. What sprays would work in my situation? When would be the best time to apply them?

Thanks in advance for all your help!


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

You could spray now if you did not have a hard freeze


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## Josh in WNY (Sep 7, 2010)

endrow said:


> You could spray now if you did not have a hard freeze


We've had a couple good frosts, but no hard freeze yet. They are calling for snow over the next few days, so I don't know as I'll have time to get everything in place prior to a hard freeze. Would an early spring spraying work? I know this will be a multi-year process so I'm willing to not rush things right now and get a good plan put in place.


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## Vol (Jul 5, 2009)

Best time to spray nettle is when it is flowering. You won't kill nettle without residual, but you can control it. GrazonNext or similar is about the only herbicide that will kill nettle. I think spring is too early for nettle. I do not know a lot about knapweed.....does it grow early season?

Regards, Mike


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## endrow (Dec 15, 2011)

Josh in WNY said:


> We've had a couple good frosts, but no hard freeze yet. They are calling for snow over the next few days, so I don't know as I'll have time to get everything in place prior to a hard freeze. Would an early spring spraying work? I know this will be a multi-year process so I'm willing to not rush things right now and get a good plan put in place.


 You can only do what you can do... If you don't want to use residual Use weed master. Or any other combination of 24D and dicamba. If you can do it. Only way you can spray for nettle in spring is residual. I think now would really be good timing. Shorter moving intervals help


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## Hayman1 (Jul 6, 2013)

Josh, you are likely a bit cooler than we are-only had one frost so far. Otherwise not too different. That said, the only thing I would spend money to spray right now are winter annuals. They only emerged about Oct 7-10 due to the extreme dry conditions we had in September. Chickweed and henbit mostly, but probably some plantain in there as well. Ground was squeaky clean Oct 1 but now there are 1/4" WA plants everywhere. I would love to spray but have too much tender new og coming. Grazon is absolutely the best for cleaning WA up but at the seedling stage 2-4-d and dicamba should work if you get it on with several warm days.

To me, now is totally wrong for spraying horse nettle. best time is 3 weeks after first cutting. Grazon is the only thing that totally smokes it. Yes, I did read you really didn't want a residual. I had the coop spray my fields on Aug 6 after second cutting with quinstar and 2-4-D. I was targeting general broadleaf, mostly plantain and summer annual grass-crabgrass and foxtail. Interestingly enough, that mix completely eliminated the horsenettle. It wasn't the drought as horsenettle did fine in the area not sprayed right next to my fields I don't know if that combination is labeled for nettle but there is none in my fields.


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## Josh in WNY (Sep 7, 2010)

Vol said:


> Best time to spray nettle is when it is flowering. You won't kill nettle without residual, but you can control it. GrazonNext or similar is about the only herbicide that will kill nettle. I think spring is too early for nettle. I do not know a lot about knapweed.....does it grow early season?
> 
> Regards, Mike


Knapweed seems to grow later on in the season, similar to what I've seen with the nettle. Unfortunately after looking up the label for GrazonNext I found the following "Not For Sale, Distribution, or Use in New York State". This seems to be another problem I've been running into, NY seems to be trying to keep any sprays that actually work from being used.



endrow said:


> You can only do what you can do... If you don't want to use residual Use weed master. Or any other combination of 24D and dicamba. If you can do it. Only way you can spray for nettle in spring is residual. I think now would really be good timing. Shorter moving intervals help


I've been looking at the 2-4D options out there although it looks like it would take a lot longer to get things under control. Dicamba's weed list looks like it will cover all my problem weeds, but it's a restricted chemical isn't it? I might see about having the fields sprayed by a local company which would open up options on sprays. Even if I just have them do the first dose and then follow up with a 2-4D program myself, it might get things under control. My big concern with the particular field that has the nettle is spray drift because the field is on a corner with houses across the street and one house on the end of the field. I think my neighbors aren't the type to mind a field being sprayed, but they might not like their flower beds/gardens hurt. Some pre-spraying visits might help smooth things over especially if I help with covering any nearby plants.



Hayman1 said:


> Josh, you are likely a bit cooler than we are-only had one frost so far. Otherwise not too different. That said, the only thing I would spend money to spray right now are winter annuals. They only emerged about Oct 7-10 due to the extreme dry conditions we had in September. Chickweed and henbit mostly, but probably some plantain in there as well. Ground was squeaky clean Oct 1 but now there are 1/4" WA plants everywhere. I would love to spray but have too much tender new og coming. Grazon is absolutely the best for cleaning WA up but at the seedling stage 2-4-d and dicamba should work if you get it on with several warm days.
> 
> To me, now is totally wrong for spraying horse nettle. best time is 3 weeks after first cutting. Grazon is the only thing that totally smokes it. Yes, I did read you really didn't want a residual. I had the coop spray my fields on Aug 6 after second cutting with quinstar and 2-4-D. I was targeting general broadleaf, mostly plantain and summer annual grass-crabgrass and foxtail. Interestingly enough, that mix completely eliminated the horsenettle. It wasn't the drought as horsenettle did fine in the area not sprayed right next to my fields I don't know if that combination is labeled for nettle but there is none in my fields.


Thanks for the info, I'll have to look into Quinstar as that spray is one I haven't heard of. I've also been considering spot spraying with roundup, but even with a small 5 acre field, that would be a lot of work.


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## 8350HiTech (Jul 26, 2013)

Unless you have different rules there, dicamba is not restricted. I would also check the cimarron label. It’s anotger good product to mix with 2-4d


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