Neglected land...what to do?

[Jay-mo]

I'm considering working some land that has not been cropped for a number of years.
The weeds are armpit high. What would be the best way to get it in shape to get a crop on it this year.
Also thinking of what crop would do well on this situation. I grow mostly cereals and canola.

[ado089]

I looking at some of that stuff as well, I'm thinking of burning it, alot of roundup in the spring, seeding cheap rr canola straigh in with plans of using a healthy does of Assure and another good wack of roundup in the fall. Depends on your weed though, if there are alot of grasses I would stick with canola, if it's mostly broadleaf oats would be a good option. If it gets out of control you can wrap it up and sell it as feed.

[skip]

How many acres?

I don't have any ground like that but I remember my dad burning an old field that was a mess of weeds....it did the trick.

[AG_guy]

Burning it is a good option. I wouldn't pile on the round up just because i know what glyphoaste can do and how it can stick around impairing next years crop. RR Canola is a good choice. Adding a high dose in the spring two more for the canola and a another big dose in the fall is way to much and next years crops could suffer and why waste your money. By treating your glyphoaste with some of the amazing additives out there you could use a lower rate and get better results this year and for the next. I do think glyphoaste is a good and easy way to clean things up but get the generic get some great additive and it will do a better job then any roundup product.

You have some great soil there be carefull what you add and you can have great crops year after year. If you start adding tons of fert and gallons of chem you will put your soil into an unhealthy balance like 75% of the soil. This is why alot of guys say there best years were the first couple after breaking it up.

[Ron]

A 1/2 liter of glyphos followed by a match followed by a heavy harrow and a low disturbance drill with RUP canola OR 1/2 L glyphos/match/plow and conventional tillage (and hope it rains).

[ado089]

Ag guy and I will probably disagree on many things but I will agree with him that adding something like LI 700 or pHix to a $3/L glyphosate will work better then any $6 glyphosate. I however don't buy in to R-up causing residual dammage. Your biggest problem will be getting your perennial grasses under control and that won't come easy. 2/3 a litre pre-seed, 1 litre in crop and 1.5 L/ac in the fall for a total of 3.16L or $9.48/ac is cheap and will be very effective. This works out to about 1,100grams/ac of a releatively inert product, most of which will never hit the ground. Don't forget to take into consideration Roundup was originaly registered at 2.5L/ac. This will set you up well for using some more target specific products in year 2.

Also ag-guy I want to pick your brain on some of this foliar fert buisness, are you intrested?

[AG_guy]

Sure pick away.

And for an additive i was thinking more like N-Tank or electrodyne. I've actually got two articles that tell the damaging effect that glyphosate does, one was from the western producer and one is from the states that has alot of report's and studies done. Also that phix stuff, hope its cheap very cheap i can do the same job for pennies an acre.

But get ahold of me i'm free most everyday for now. But i don't know for how long.

[AG_guy]

The Glyphosate may not hit the ground but think of the path it takes. leaf, stem, roots. Now with roots full of glyphosate and the roots being in the soil were you plant seed. When the seeds germinate into soil with any amounts of glyphosate they will be stressed, may not die but be stressed, added to cold soil and cool weather. Farmers pay good money for seed with good germ and vigor then potentally put the seed into soil which can stress the young plants. Then in the first to second leaf stage you get a frost and you get alot of frost damage, possibly beacuse the plants could not deal with the cold as well as healthy ones could. there has actually been peas that have got hit with frost and turned black but been able to grow through the damage and yield quite good.

We have to stop thinking always above the ground and start thinking of what happens below it.

[ado089]

Using that thought process would you not ecpect RR canola to tolerate early season frost? I assure you that was not the case last spring.

[AG_guy]

NO just because it's RR doesn't mean it can handle soil conditions that have been decreasing for years. Why can RR canola tolerate glyphosate ? It's been genically modified to do so. Has the canola been genically modified to handle unbalanced soil and soil with high levels of harmful substances ? NO. As well sometimes the frost is to much for any plant. We can debate this for days and days but i can look at soil tests if they were done properly and examine the tests from 5 years ago to todays and show the damages that are been done. The proof is in the soil test. This is why every farmer needs a complete soil test not this N,P,K,S crap

[ado089]

You defflected there, I was making refrence strictly to the the glyphosate residue issue. You have made the connection between glyphosate residue and diminished stress tolerance, using that link you could deduct that in a zero till glyphosate dependant system RR crops should outperform other crops under stress due to the iserted tolerance to glyphosate.

[Jay-mo]

These two additives you refer to N-tank and electrodyne, what are they doing to boost the glyphosate?
Are they a ph adjuster?
I have been using citric acid to ph adjust for glyphosate.
Is it doing something similar?

[AG_guy]

Citirc acid adjusts the ph of the water and thats all it does but that is a great start.

Electrodyne has the unique ability to help translocate applied chemical within the plant. Thats just the tip it also can help with hardpan soil compaction poor water infiltration poor fertilizer response and salinity. on average .5 of a litre is all you need for anything.

N-tank is a water conditoner and ph adjuster. For an example with straight glyphosate on grass you may get 65% control with N-tank it raises that percent to 92%. it also increases rain fastness of glyphosate. N-tank states it is the most active ( patent pending) water conditioner-ph adjuster on the market.

These two products have been around around for years and have a proven track record.

[AG_guy]

glyphosate ends up in the roots then were does it go ???

[grgsrvc]

Doesn't glyphosate turn to a benign salt when broken down by the
bacteria in the soil? Ther is some work and issues with magnesium
and glyphos but I'm not to well versed to comment on these issues.