Alfalfa removal from cropland

[luvnlife]

Would appreciate anyones experience with how to successfully (ha-ha) remove 4 to 5 year old hay stands to return land back to grain crops. There has been some experimenting done in our area (east central Alberta)over the past several years with including alfalfa in cropping rotations, but getting rid of the stuff is definately a problem. 2 litres of glyphosate, sometimes topped up with 2-4,D seems about the best, but starts to get pretty costly, although having to try controlling for 3 years may be worse. Would appreciate anyone else's experiences.

[wilb]

My experience with irrigated alfalfa has been quite successfull. Spray 2 litres of glyphosate on the third cut about the third week of September on crop that is more than a foot tall. Cut 3 or 4 days later, just before the leaves start to turn yellow. Escapes have been controlled with Refine extra in the following crop.

The crop should be actively growing, with good moisture. Any areas with a bit of drought stress have not been controlled very well.

Hope you've had enough rain and no frost yet for this strategy to work.

[ado089]

A liter and half to two litres in the fall, any escapes can be controlled with anything containing lontrel in crop, you may want to add something like flurasilam or express for your pre seed burn, it will help but neither is overly strong on alfalfa alone.