What to spray field with?

[Motronic]

For some reason the baby and the chemicals send a red flag up my pole. I have lots of weeds and young children .It never bothered me. The long range effects of many chemicals is not fully understood and differs from person to person. Why take any risk in my opinion.

This is why you don't walk around in wet herbicides or let your kids do that. Read the label. Don't over apply. Don't allow people in before the restricted entry interval or longer.

More pesticide/herbicide harm has been done by home gamers buying premixed crap from lowesdepot who don't know what they're doing than people who are trained or at least researched and applying responsibly.

 

[DueEast]

For some reason the baby and the chemicals send a red flag up my pole. I have lots of weeds and young children .It never bothered me. The long range effects of many chemicals is not fully understood and differs from person to person. Why take any risk in my opinion.

That’s a great point and been a concern of mine as well. Another concern is chemicals in my drinking water. I’m on a well. The reason I am so gung ho is one of my neighbors reported me to the County Noxious Weed Control board. Ive been cited and have 4 weeks to get it under control or I will be fined. I will keep up on the mowing for now but really don’t have the time or patience to keep dealing with nosey neighbors and bureaucrats.

 

[Outdrz]

The reason I am so gung ho is one of my neighbors reported me to the County Noxious Weed Control board. Ive been cited and have 4 weeks to get it under control or I will be fined. I will keep up on the mowing for now but really don’t have the time or patience to keep dealing with nosey neighbors and bureaucrats.

Woah. You live out in the country and have a neighbor who reported you to the county noxious weed control board? And said board can fine you?!?

In the area around my farm, that neighbor's barn/car etc would likely catch fire unexpectedly. My neighbors are great... but they don't suffer fools lightly.

 

[DueEast]

Woah. You live out in the country and have a neighbor who reported you to the county noxious weed control board? And said board can fine you?!?

In the area around my farm, that neighbor's barn/car etc would likely catch fire unexpectedly. My neighbors are great... but they don't suffer fools lightly.

Yep. I moved out here to get away from that. I haven’t narrowed down exactly who it was yet…

 

[sheepfarmer]

Yep. I moved out here to get away from that. I haven’t narrowed down exactly who it was yet…

What kind of noxious weeds are we discussing here? Annuals? Perennials? Tall? If mowing before they go to seed is effective at limiting spread, that might allow you to hire someone to mow with big equipment cheaper than spray for this year. Or hire someone to spray a couple times, since spray equipment is not cheap either. Then you could take over with mowing. Not a simple problem to have a long range and short range plan to control an infestation and not poison yourself or kids.

 

[D2Cat]

Might determine what the noxious weeds are, and if they are random in the field just spot spray them and mow the rest. Go to your county extension office and get information pertinent to your region. Around here thistle and johnson grass are noxious weeds.

Don't have to blame neighbors for reporting noxious weeds. The county probably has some in the dept. that drive the roads looking for folks who ignore the law, which is to control the noxious weeds!

 

[DueEast]

Might determine what the noxious weeds are, and if they are random in the field just spot spray them and mow the rest. Go to your county extension office and get information pertinent to your region. Around here thistle and johnson grass are noxious weeds.

Don't have to blame neighbors for reporting noxious weeds. The county probably has some in the dept. that drive the roads looking for folks who ignore the law, which is to control the noxious weeds!

I have a full list and documentation on each weed I need to take care of. There are too many to spot spray right now.

I was told by the inspector that I was reported by a neighbor and it resulted in multiple other neighbors getting sited as well. I am not the only one with these weeds on my property. There are also several vacant lots on my road that are not cared fit at all.

I don’t blame the neighbor for wanting something done about the noxious weeds. I blame the neighbor for going to the County without ever approaching me to talk about it first. I’m a very approachable person and go out of my way to be courteous to my neighbors. This is all new to me. Had I known weeds were going to be such an issue I would have taken of them before they grew up.

 

[sheepfarmer]

How about contacting a spraying company and see if they will give reduced rates if they have several properties to spray, and then contact your immediate neighbors to see if they would like to participate? Decrease the chances of the seed blowing back to your place next year.

 

[Elliott in GA]

You said it was too hot to spray or otherwise chemically treat your pasture; it would seem mowing is your only option for now. As others have noted, mowing is an important part (maybe the most important part) of controlling weeds.

When the time/temperature comes for chemicals, you might want to apply a Weed and Feed fertilizer. Granular treatments can be more effective due to their slow release, and they certainly are safer in terms of exposure to the person applying and later visitors. Additionally, Weed and Feeds give an extra boost to the grass while killing the weeds. A decent weed and feed from Home Depot would cost about $550 for four acres. Its application cost is certainly higher than just 2-4D, but it is also fertilizer and liquid sprays often require multiple applications due to their short lifespan (only impact weeds growing at the time of application).

I am reclaiming a 2.5 acre pasture. I applied Vigoro Weed and Feed and Spectracide Insecticide pellets with my Land Pride spreader in April of this year. So far, I have wiped out the fire ants (I sprinkled Amdro bait on a few survivors - not enough ants to make a mound) and greatly improved the grass to weed ratio. I was not expecting to be able to use my finish mower for a while, but I was able to use it for the entire field (minus a few rough areas and the perimeter) starting in May.

 

[bird dogger]

If you're thinking of fertilizing those 5 acres at some point in the future, here's another option to ponder: Our local elevator mixes up a bulk "lawn fertilizer" and sells it by the bucketful or by the pound. They'll load it into my tote bag and resulting price was much less than buying the commercially bagged product at the big box stores. And it was a higher quality fertilizer also. It's granular so needs spreading with a broadcast spreader. But if you're set up to spray herbicide and broadcast your own fertilizer, you can save a considerable amount with each application. This bulk fertilizer was 1/3 the price of Menard's lawn food fertilizer this year.