Well I was bad. I went away for the summer and no one groomed my fiber arena.
It almost looks like a meadow. Give it a few more months and it will….
Suggestions? Spray and mow? Then what? The Dragonfly groomer won’t do much (my experience with the front “teeth” is that they do nothing but drag up a clump of footing and dig a hole).
I do have a chain drag. Use it upside down?
Hand raking? Ugh.
At least be sympathetic please.
Lol.
I guess I’d start by spraying it ASAP. The sooner you kill the vegetation the better.
After it dies back, I think I’d hand pull a few pieces to see how rooty the vegetation was and make a plan from there?
Good luck!
Mow short, taking the clippings off if at all possible. Those organics won’t benefit your footing. A couple few days later, spray to kill what’s left. Once it’s all dead, your groomer should make a reasonably good effort at it.
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Mine looks like that too. If I just try to pull up the weeds, the roots go down pretty deep in the sand and fiber plus the roots are expansive. So pulling them up pulls up a lot of footing attached to the roots. It seems like when I kill the weeds before I pull them up it makes them easier to get up with less fiber attached to them.
I am trying to limit my sun exposure and it has been beastly hot but I need to get off my a$$ and at least spray all the weeds. I also need to rearrange the manure spreader and arena drag so I can get to the drag which currently is blocked in. I have dealt with this before so it can be fixed.
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I’ve always heard and read that it’s best to spray before mowing, so that there is enough leaf to absorb the herbicide? My personal experience on my farm does support that theory. FWIW.
I’d spray everything right now with something strong, then see if there is someone locally with a more robust groomer you can pay to come drag it. Longwood Arenas will come drag rings in Florida, I believe.
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The spray needs the leaf in order to kill, unless you’re talking a sterilizer. You can’t mow short first, or it won’t kill it.
I’d do this.
Spray. Wait for total dieback, spray again if needed, then wait for dry weather.
Mow low, bag the clippings.
Chain drag to try and rip what’s left of the vegetation root/crown out. Either rake that or hand pick it up.
Regular grooming.
If the plant has gone to seed and entered a dormant state, which a whole lot of things have done by this time of year, spraying isn’t going to be effective.
So, mow to stimulate fresh growth, then spray.
No, don’t scalp it and spray the same day. Mow short, give it a few days, then spray.
Spraying a bunch of tall shit that’s all gone to seed is just a waste of herbicide, even if it’s all still green.
Or, scalp it, remove the clippings, and plan on spraying early next spring when stuff starts coming up.
I’m not sure where OP is located, but I’ve always heard that fall is a great time to apply herbicide as plants are generally focusing on root growth instead of foliage growth and thus readily suck herbicide into the roots. In OP’s case, killing the root systems seems ideal as that would lessen the damage to her footing if the plants have dead roots when they are removed so they aren’t hanging onto the ground quite as hard.
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Yep. If anything, fertilize, wait a few days, then spray.
Thanks all.
I’m in Ocala.
I plan to mow high, wait for some new growth, spray, then use chain drag to try and get it out. Maybe Dragonfly after that.
Wish me luck.
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