Over-seeding Weedy Pasture with a Seed Drill...Worth it?

[airineek]

My farm is in Chester County, PA. I have about 7 acres of pasture I am trying to renovate for horses. There are no horses on it currently and there will not be until next Spring.

This pasture has a lot of grass but also a ton of weeds. There are not many bare spots. My goal is to establish more good pasture grasses out there so that they can largely out-compete the weeds.

Last season it was soil tested and limed accordingly. It was mowed several times. This season, it got mowed every 3-4 weeks, which has helped the grass a lot, but it still needs more help.

Is it worth it to overseed this pasture with a seed drill (hopefully less wasted seed with the drill)? I have done my research and it is more cost effective for me to overseed than to spray with broadleaf herbicide even one time, but will overseeding work? If the grass doesn’t come up, then it’s not worth it. Any experience out there?

[kcmel]

Why is the herbicide so expensive? Are you having to pay someone to do it? I have a sprayer that pulls behind a lawn tractor if you want to borrow it. I think this would work better than overseeding. We use Cimarron plus and it works well.

[Guilherme]

If you have good grass and heavy weeds then help the grass out by killing the weeds with 2,4,D or some other appropriate herbicide. It’s likely too late for that now (but check with your county agent to be sure). You’d get more “bang for your buck” with an aggressive weed control program next spring with an early and a late spraying, backup up by mowing. Again, your county agent can help you with a workable schedule.

Just overseeding can be done but it’s not going to be the most efficient way to go.

G.

[tucktaway]

Curious why it would be too late to do now. I know it’s best to spray when the weeds are growing – and they are a bit – but why not kill what you can? Wouldn’t it give the grass less competition in the spring?

[keatssu]

I would ask your county extension agent.

I’m not sure what you mean by having “done your research” and concluded it is more cost effective to sow with the drill press. It can only be cost effective if your research supports going that route, right?

What I have learned is that consulting an expert in the area you live can save you a lot of money.

[BuddyRoo]

[QUOTE=tucktaway;8329322]
Curious why it would be too late to do now. I know it’s best to spray when the weeds are growing – and they are a bit – but why not kill what you can? Wouldn’t it give the grass less competition in the spring?[/QUOTE]

The mechanism of most herbicides requires that they’re in active growth to absorb the chemicals sufficiently and cause plant death. The chemicals are absorbed through the leaf but not as well if the plant is not active. (and certainly not if it’s already dead or dormant for the season)

So while you might get some killed off now, they’ve probably already gone to seed and the grass is getting ready to go dormant too. So it would be more effective (and cheaper) to use a pre emergent in the spring and then treat growing plants as they pop up.

OP, fall can be a good time to reseed but in your situation, I think that I’d speak to your local ag extension and see what they recommend. It might be more cost effective for you to something other than just overseeding now.

[Texarkana]

We don’t have a tractor, but my husband realized we can mow our pasture with our riding mower if we do it regularly. It’s a slower process, but we do it in sections so that everything gets mowed every 1-2 weeks when the grass is growing.

It has done wonders for our pasture! I had major weed problems when our neighbor would bush-hog once a month for us, now between overseeding and mowing the weeds have become extremely isolated. I can’t believe the difference!

I grew up in Chester County and I remember the “old men” in the area telling us the key to pasture maintenance was mowing… I just didn’t truly get it until now!

[goldenrow]

If you have not yet had a killing frost, you can still get an effective broadleaf kill. Now is the perfect time to spray lawns and pastures in the upper midwest. The plant will take in the herbicide, send the AI to the growing point with the other sugars it is going to use to overwinter, and you will get a great kill. (Especially dandelions!)

If you just drill in the seed, when the weeds are already established, you will be wasting time and money. There is no way a newly emerging seedling will outcompete a broadleaf come next Spring. You have to eliminate the broadleaf weeds as your primary goal. After that, you can do some inter-seeding to fill in areas that may have choked out the original grass stand.

There are lots of pasture labelled herbicides out there, but at this point in the season, you will get as much bang-for-your-buck with a cheap 2,4-D product as you will anything else. Read the label - identify your weed species - actually measure your weed height - use the charts included in the label to determine your rate. DO NOT SKIMP ON YOUR RATE TO GET OFF CHEAPER. WEEDS ARE EXPENSIVE.

• Agronomist

[vineyridge]

Actually a fall spraying with 2,4, D and other herbicides can keep down FALL and WINTER weeds in warmer climates. Down here I’ve gotten recommendations to use chemicals in September-October (i.e now) and in February-March-April, depending on the winter.

[D_BaldStockings]

If you do decide to overseed, use at least twice or better three times the seeding rate suggested.

Seed is cheap compared to the cost of going over the field time and again.

if you haven’t disced to break up bare spots, you may want to cover crop with something fast-growing and annual for the winter.
Google forage cover crop.

If you have poor pasture after a summer off and repeated mowings, you need nitrogen fixers and manure application if you can. Clean out the neighbor’s barn and manure pile. Run chickens on the pasture.

And if you don’t know plants, you may be killing useful forage with herbicide: dandelion, plantain, prickly lettuce, queen anne’s lace, chicory, crabgrass, etc. are all good forage. -Almost impossible to hay, but desirable in a pasture.

It pays to know the poisonous plants, too, of course.

[D_BaldStockings]

If you do decide to overseed, use at least twice or better three times the seeding rate suggested.

Seed is cheap compared to the cost of going over the field time and again.

if you haven’t disced to break up bare spots, you may want to cover crop with something fast-growing and annual for the winter.
Google forage cover crop.

If you have poor pasture after a summer off and repeated mowings, you need nitrogen fixers and manure application if you can. Clean out the neighbor’s barn and manure pile. Run chickens on the pasture.

And if you don’t know plants, you may be killing useful forage with herbicide: dandelion, plantain, prickly lettuce, queen anne’s lace, chicory, crabgrass, etc. are all good forage. -Almost impossible to hay, but desirable in a pasture.

It pays to know the poisonous plants, too, of course.

[equislover]

I just had the ag office out Monday. She told me in order to kill the fall/winter weeds you need to wait as late in the year as possible, but temps must be above 50 degrees during the day, 60 degrees preferably. So depending on your temps it may be best to spray now. We spray ourselves (rent a 500 gallon sprayer from co-op that pulls behind the truck and buy the concentrate so the entire process only costs about $200 for spraying 8 acres and takes about an hour since the sprayer covers 25’ width. It’s a life saver compared to using our pull behind that covers 5’ width. A very economical solution. She told me there are three spraying seasons depending on what you are spraying for (at least here in TN). Spring, Summer, and Fall. Each aims at different weeds. So based on what we have, we will have to do both fall and spring. Glad it’s easy!

[BeeHoney]

I think you are going to need to spray, also. Seeding with a drill seeder isn’t going to be enough. You will never get rid of weeds just by liming, seeding and mowing. If you don’t care about weeds, well, then just use lime and seed. But the weeds won’t be going anywhere without spray. The good news is, that if you seed and lime along with spraying, you probably will get a lot of mileage out of one spraying. I doubt you will have to do it every year. Consult someone who really knows their stuff for your particular area in regards to pasture maintenance. It can be really worth your while, reduced hay bills, etc. to have a good forage growing in your pastures.

[airineek]

Thank you for the responses. I just read the whole thread. It sounds like it is not too late to spray in my area if I get on it soon. It would be cheapest to spray myself (even cheaper than overseeding) and I will begin spraying t some point. Spraying is only expensive if I have someone else come and do it ($600) and he recommends spraying twice a year.

If I don’t get to spraying this fall, I will do it in the spring and repeat as necessary. We also mow frequently enough that the weeds we do have are kept short, but many have gone to seed at this point anyway.

I am having trouble sourcing a boom sprayer. Does anyone know a place that will rent one around Unionville/West Grove, PA? I have a full-size tractor and a truck to pull with.

I think I need to overseed this pasture in addition to spraying. It has probably never been seeded in its 120 year history of being a farm property. I think that in order to make the best quality pasture, I need to get the grass species I want in there in addition to knocking down the weeds…the question for me is the timing of it. I wonder if I should spray this fall (if I can source a sprayer) and then drill seed in the spring. I may need to call my ag extension again.

Sigh. This is a learning curve. I just want some nice pastures!