Decided to spray 2,4-D

[Laura G in Idaho]

My lawn and pasture are overrun with morning glory, Canadian thistle, dandelions and numerous other species of weeds of which I don't know the names. So, I sprayed my lawn with 2,4-D. I'll talk about the pasture in a minute. How long does it take to kill the weeds? I've been picking the dandelion blossoms, even after spraying, in hopes of slowing them down. Some areas of the lawn are mostly weeds, with no grass whatsoever. How soon can I spread grass seed, now that I've sprayed the weeds?

The pasture is small for the number of animals we have on it (about .3 acres). We have two cows and a horse (I'd rather not have the horse, but that's a different story). One cow is going to calve in May and I don't know if the other is pregnant, but in any case, there will be more animals on the ground soon, and we plan to keep the calves for beef. So, we divided the pasture into 6 small paddocks with electric fence. Except we did it super-redneck-style and used fiberglass posts as corners (yes, I know that was stupid), so one day when the horse got spooked, she ripped the whole fence out. It remained that way long enough that the animals have pretty much reduced it to desert, or near desert. We just got it divided again (with real posts for the corners this time). I have a huge bag of pasture grass seed. How should I proceed in improving my pasture, and is there a method to rotating that I need to know?

Irrigation season begins on the 15th of April. I will be flood irrigating. So, should I keep the animals off the entire pasture and throw some seed out, trying to thicken my stand of grass? How about spraying for weeds? How many days should I allow them to graze before moving them to the next paddock?

[Liz]

The weeds you mention are all spring weeds, usually taken care of by mowing. I'd wait 5-7 days before putting anything (seed) on it, unless the product you used is extended release, then you would need to see how long it is active.
Check your ph (county extension agent), those weeds also like a different pH range than grasses. You may need to apply lime before you seed it for seeds to get past germination.
Is the pasture hard packed? Aeration would help (before lime or seeding) if it is.
Mow at 3" on your mower deck to get the most root growth, fertilize with a balanced fertilizer (not just nitrogen), mulch mow if you can so it composts in place.
I really think if the soil were amended you may not need to do much else.
As for rotation, keep them in the same spot until it is clearly shorter than the rest (but not decimated) then move (estimating 3-5 days), while they are on one area take care of the others with soil building, aerating, etc.
Applying lime, compost, cottonseed, manure, etc and of course water will help immensely. If you can get the horse off the pasture will recover faster, simply because of the way they eat pasture (to the crown at ground level, where cows have to tear it off with their tongue which leaves some leaf area for photosynthesis).
HTH!

[Laura G in Idaho]

Liz, maybe in Texas you don't have morning glory (bindweed) but mowing would probably be the worst thing to do to it. It spreads when clippings get scattered. Aeration should help, because it is a bit hard packed. What kind of tool do I use to aerate it? I got the neighbors to let our horse onto their weed-patch pasture tonight. At least she isn't on MY pasture anymore, ha ha! It's really cool to have such great neighbors. They want something to eat all the weeds, and I want to keep the horse from destroying my pasture. I'll see what I can do about the mulching. What would be a good mulching material? Next fall, I'll have lots of leaves (will I need to crunch them up some... how do I do that?), but what can I use until then? All of this will need to be done with hand tools. They are leaving their manure around, and I don't have any rotted manure to use here (it's all at the old place... we moved here in November), so I guess I'll just have to wait until their droppings rot in place. Should I go around and try to break up their cow patties? What would be a good hand tool to use for that? Thanks for giving me an idea of how often to rotate them. Previous to the whole fence being ripped apart, I was leaving them on way too long, until it was nearly decimated, about a week. I've been a family cow owner for several years now, but now that I have a place that has irrigation, I'm trying to learn the art of grass farming.

[Laura G in Idaho]

Another idea for mulching material: I have newspapers. Would it work to shred them and sprinkle them over the pasture? How thick do you spread mulch so that you are helping the soil retain moisture, without smothering the grass? Does mulching help with weed control if the mulch layer is thin enough for the grass to get through?

[Dianne Ader]

I know you can mulch with a lawn mower with a mulching blade on the lawnmower...that is either for a push mower or riding lawn mower. You can even use that for the leaves to bust them up.

The news paper would be a good idea. I don't know how thick....but I am wondering if you could put a bunch of crumpled up newspapers in a 5 gallon bucket of water & let it soak up the water & let it fall all apart...then you could find some kids to have a water fight & throw it around....it would be fun...

Chickens would be the best thing to turn out with the animals....they like to scratch though the poop & spread it around.

Good news about your horse & I am glad for you that you have good neighbors.

[Laura G in Idaho]

Our lawnmower doesn't have a mulching blade my husband says. How else can I bust up the leaves?

I like your idea of soaking the newspaper first. I would let my chickens out to turn over the dirt, but it's not safe for them. I don't have dog-proof fence or chicken-proof fence, so my chickens would be killed by the marauding dogs in the neighborhood. I want to build a "chicken tractor" but haven't decided how I want to do it, or what my budget would be. You're right though, that would be the best way to break up the pies.

I'm glad for good neighbors, too. Our neighbors at our old place weren't very friendly. They are glad we're here, too, since the last people living in this house weren't friendly.

[Dianne Ader]

The mulching blade for a lawnmower is not that expensive...you could check into it.

too bad about the dogs around the neighborhood!

I love your note about neighbors! that is the best for you both!

[Laura G in Idaho]

^"like"^ (wait, this isn't facebook, lol)

I'll ask him to look into buying a mulching blade to fit our mower. I know ours isn't a common brand, so I don't know how easy it is to get parts. Anyway, we'll look into it. Thanks.

[Laura G in Idaho]

It will be two weeks on Monday since I sprayed 2,4-D. The dandelions look very sick, but have been putting out flowers and developing seed heads FAST! So, I've been picking the blossoms and throwing them into the trash can. I mowed today. Amazing how those dandelion blossoms are just under the height of my mower blade. I have some areas that are so thick with dandelions that I have practically no grass at all. The morning glory (bindweed) is waking up from winter, and is about 2" high now, and there's LOTS of it. I mowed with a bag on the machine and threw out all the clippings because 1. they have been sprayed and 2. they might contain bits of morning glory in them and they can spread by clippings. The Canadian thistle is looking sick, but I don't think it's ready to give up. The other, less invasive weeds are getting sick and dying.

So, I am thinking about two things: reseeding the patchy or mostly dandelion/thistle/bindweed spots with grass seed, and spraying 2,4-D again to knock down these persistent dandelions, thistles, and bindweed. It also needs watering. Obviously, I should water first, but after I water, what should my next action be? Should I sprinkle grass seeds and be vigilant about my watering, hoping it will sprout? How soon will grass seed sprout after having sprayed 2.4-D? How often can I spray 2,4-D? The 2,4-D I used had 20-0-0 fertilizer in it. Is it best to use a chem fertilizer mixed with the 2,4-D again, or just the weed killer? I was thinking about using raw milk as a fertilizer once my cow freshens next month. I'm not a huge fan of chemicals, but when I have two noxious weeds and a lot of other weeds, I don't know how else to control than with the aid of chemicals.

[Laura G in Idaho]

Okay, just did some more reading and found the answers to most of my questions. From my reading, I think the best course of action is to wait to apply anymore weed killer until fall. In the meantime, I should sow grass seed, water it like crazy, and top-dress with natural soil amendments, like raw milk and manure tea. I think I may still apply 2,4-D to the bindweed areas, just because I know that weed is the weed from @#$%.

[thunderhoof]

If you have a way to contain them goats will generally eat weeds and brush before grass. I know they made a huge difference in my over grazed pasture.