# planting bermuda in the sprng



## SSF13

Hello all. New to the site and to hay farming. I am looking to start a small hay operation in the spring. About 25 acres. I have spent countless hours studying and im learning a bunch. I was wondering what you all would recommend planting in the west tennessee area. I have read a bunch about vaughns#1 but I cant seem to wrap my mind around planting from clippings and not seed  anyone know anything about new stands and there success rate of this variety. Thanx in advance


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## somedevildawg

Welcome to haytalk ssf13, nice touch "liking" your first post too.....b that as it may, I'm sure some folks from up n your neck of the woods will be by to opin about Vaughn's. I believe Tift 44 would be a good grass but if yu thnk clippings are a pita, think about sprigging live roots......once again, welcome to haytalk, go vols


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## SSF13

Didnt mean to like my own post. Im new to forums and I was trying to figure out what the buttons do  I was actually trying to edit my misspelled tittle. But thanx for the welcome and I look forward to learning a bunch from you all. I can tell there is a bunch of smart folks here. Im not sure the clippings are a pita its just hard to wrap my head around that they would actually grow. I have talked with Mr Vaughn and he said he would come plant them for me in mid June but it is not cheap. Just wondering if there is any other options with comparable yeald and tdn.


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## somedevildawg

Lol, no problem, I've seen it many times before......

A lot of hybrid Bermuda grasses can be propagated from clippings off the top of the plant. The clippings are spread on a prepared seedbed and disced into the ground, usually followed by a packing drum. Normally down here, Bermuda grass is planted by doing the same basic method but using live sprigs or roots. How much is the cost?


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## somedevildawg

Forgot to mention, most hybrids produce very few viable seed heads, that's why they are not usually planted in that method.....


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## SSF13

The cost is 88$ per acre for the clippings if I do it myself. For him to come do it was 5500$ for 30 acres plus 1k for travle. Its about 200 miles. All I have to do is prepare the seed bed. He said he has a machine that plants the clippings. I know its a lot but I dont have the experience or equipment and I feel like I would rather pay him than take the chance at screwing it up and throwing a bunch of money away.


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## somedevildawg

Damnit Jim! That is expensive.....bu then again, we pay around $200 per acre for sprigging normally spring is the time....June is kinda gettin late for us, unless its early June, but that's here....


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## SSF13

I thought june was late also but I guess he needs time for his bermuda to grow so he can clip it. Not sure


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## FarmerCline

Something else you might want to consider is a improved seeded bermuda like Cheyenne 2. It is supposed to yield close to tift 44 and coastal. I can't say that first hand but it is what I have been told. I wanted to sprig some tift 44 but with no local availability of sprigs and no equipment to plant I decide to give seeded bermuda a try since it was cheaper than sprigs and easier for me to deal with since I have seeding equipment.


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## SSF13

Thanx FarmerCline I will definitely look into it. I know there is so many factors like climate that play into what works best. Im starting a stand from scratch so I want to make sure I do it right the first time.


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## ANewman

I've cut and baled a few stands of Vaughn's #1 hybrid. Most of the Bermuda in this area is his hybrid. I also talked with Mr Vaughn about two yrs ago. Iirc the cost for him to sprig was about $225 per acre, but I'm only about 45 miles from him.(Southern middle TN) Clippings were $10-15 less. The stands I've dealt with were sprigged. For this area it yields very well when managed well. One 7 ac patch I cut about a month ago made 38 4x5 rolls. It had already been cut once (can't recall what 1st cutting made) and had been slightly grazed early. Another patch I cut was about 13.5 acres. The guy had let it go early so the first time it was cut this year was at the end of July. It made 90 something 4x5 rolls


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## Tim/South

I faced the same problem this spring only could not find anyone to sprig. Ended up seeding Cheyenne 2 and am well pleased.


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## SSF13

Thank you to everyone for your info. I wonder what the difference is between the sprigs and clippings. Is one better than the other?


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## SSF13

Tim/South said:


> I faced the same problem this spring only could not find anyone to sprig. Ended up seeding Cheyenne 2 and am well pleased.


how well did the cheyenne come up. Were you able to cut the first year?


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## somedevildawg

SSF13 said:


> how well did the cheyenne come up. Were you able to cut the first year?


His pic is of this years crop, just planted in the spring....


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## SSF13

Im sorry. Thought it said last spring. Looks great!!!


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## TJH

You all may laugh at this, but there have been several around here that got their Bermuda patch by buying square bales and flaking them off behind a pickup and let the cattle hoof it in over the winter, and by next spring walla, a patch of Bermuda. Add fertilizer, make hay round the middle of June. You can do 20 acres pretty quick that way.


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## bluefarmer

You all may laugh at this, but there have been several around here that got their Bermuda patch by buying square bales and flaking them off behind a pickup and let the cattle hoof it in over the winter, and by next spring walla, a patch of Bermuda. Add fertilizer, make hay round the middle of June. You can do 20 acres pretty quick that way.[/quote]

It'll work boys!!


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## Tim/South

SSF13 said:


> how well did the cheyenne come up. Were you able to cut the first year?


The Cheyenne 2 has done really well. I am pleased.

I could cut it for hay right now. I have decided to let it grow and not cut and bale until next year. I want a good insulation against the cold of winter.

I could probably cut and bale, then add nitrogen and get enough growth before frost. It is just doing so well I do not want to run any risk of not having a great stand next year.


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## Lewis Ranch

Tim/South said:


> The Cheyenne 2 has done really well. I am pleased.
> I could cut it for hay right now. I have decided to let it grow and not cut and bale until next year. I want a good insulation against the cold of winter.
> I could probably cut and bale, then add nitrogen and get enough growth before frost. It is just doing so well I do not want to run any risk of not having a great stand next year.


Why not shred it to help spread?


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## somedevildawg

Tim/South said:


> The Cheyenne 2 has done really well. I am pleased.
> I could cut it for hay right now. I have decided to let it grow and not cut and bale until next year. I want a good insulation against the cold of winter.
> I could probably cut and bale, then add nitrogen and get enough growth before frost. It is just doing so well I do not want to run any risk of not having a great stand next year.


Have you harvested this year Tim?


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## Tim/South

Lewis Ranch said:


> Why not shred it to help spread?


It does not need to spread. It has full coverage. It is the roots surviving winter I am concerned with.


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## Tim/South

somedevildawg said:


> Have you harvested this year Tim?


No, not for hay. I did clip the tops with the batwing to kill the Bermuda Stem Maggots.

In some areas the seed did not germinate until about a month. THose areas are not as tall as what came up in a week. I considered cutting it for hay. The extension agent I have been leaning on wanted me to cut it 4 inches tall and not stress the grass. The yield over the entire field would not have been worth tying up 3 days. Needed to be cutting other places.

Just going to let it grow this year.


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## luke strawwalker

bluefarmer said:


> You all may laugh at this, but there have been several around here that got their Bermuda patch by buying square bales and flaking them off behind a pickup and let the cattle hoof it in over the winter, and by next spring walla, a patch of Bermuda. Add fertilizer, make hay round the middle of June. You can do 20 acres pretty quick that way.


It'll work boys!!
[/quote]

yeah, some guys still do that around here...

Depending on your weather and climate, sprigging or planting tops can be a risky proposition... Here, it takes some good, steady rain to really ensure success...

Generally, the "Preferred" method is planting sprigs, which are dug up roots of the bermudagrass. Some guys used to plant "plugs" which was dirt and roots, like from a coring renovator that dug little 1-2 inch round plugs of dirt with the roots in them. I've known some guys to plant that way by hand... make a nursery plot and then pull plugs from that to seed the rest.

There's machinery made to dig sprigs which basically leaves most of the dirt behind. The sprigs are then planted by a planter that opens a furrow, a chute follows behind that a picker wheel pulls sprigs off of the pile on the machine and ducts them down behind the sweep, then some shovels cover them with dirt and a press wheel firms the soil over them. I picked up a one-row sprig planter built in the 50's years ago for a few hundred bucks, since there was no way I could afford what sprigging guys wanted...

Planting "tops" is another common practice, especially where one is trying to reduce the cost of the planting... "tops" are mowed-off "clippings" of hybrid bermudagrass THAT HAVE INTACT "JOINTS" between the nodes of the stem... these joints or nodes will put down roots when in close contact with soil and will form new plants, sending up a new green sprig to the surface, and then will start to grow and spread.

Planting "tops" can be accomplished in different ways-- I've seen guys that use an upturned car axle with a spinner plate with paddles attached to it, pulled directly behind their trailer, so that the plate spins as the axle turns the plate attached to the driveshaft yoke, into which they throw flakes of freshly square baled tops that are baled green right behind the mower... Of course due to the high moisture content of the tops, this has to be done in a very short period of time. The tops are then disked under by a tractor disking the field behind the area that has been scattered with tops. It's important to get the tops disked under as quickly as possible, as they can dry out and die on hot ground in full sun...
Some guys plant tops much like sprigs, using similar machinery (what I did). It's also highly beneficial to roll the ground firmly behind the disking operation to seal in moisture.

I had a neighbor that got a beautiful stand of bermudagrass behind his barn where his round bale feeder rings sat... the hay stomped into the ground by the cattle feeding in the wet winter months would 'sprig out" the following spring from the joints pushed down into the dirt and mud over winter.

Once the bermudagrass starts to "run" (send out runners), it helps to thicken the stand to LIGHTLY disk the field with a disk set to minimum gang angles (to minimize dirt throwing), or run a rolling stalk chopper, or a "pasture renovator" equipped with coulter blades... It's best to run these implements in two different directions, which will create a "diamond" pattern across the field between the blade cut marks. This severs the runners and where the runner joints are pushed into the soil, new plants will emerge from the runners, thickening the stand...

Best of luck! OL JR 

[/QUOTE]


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## luke strawwalker

Few pics to make the point...

Red Bermuda King sprigger equipment, the "car axle" spreader for loose sprigs or tops or baled tops, and semi being loaded by a large sprig digger...

Later! OL JR


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## SSF13

Great info. Thanx for the pics. Gives be a better idea of what to expect.


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## JayTN

Cheyenne 2 seed will be expensive as well. The 21 acres I just replanted this year was around $2100 for the seed alone. I got it planted late because of the wet spring but baled it 6 weeks after planting to help remove any junk and am about to make my second cutting this week. As Tim/South said, winter survival is the big key to new stands. I will cut mine pretty high this last cutting. One thing that no one mentioned is you better have a spray rig and get a chemical license for the pests associated with Bermuda, you can't rely on someone being able to come when you need them. Armyworms can and will eat an entire field in a couple days and stem maggots will drive you crazy. I am an hour north of Jackson, so if I can help you in any way let me know.


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