Well, the Roto weed wiper and the RTV are hard at work again. I am just along for the ride . Got the headphones tuned to the KLOVE Christian Contemporary (soft rock) station and am just having a thoughtful time ,out there by myself,thinking about all of the things that have been going on the last year and a half.
AnywaY, MS State has a study they conducted with a rotowiper -to control or suppress smutgrass. ( It is a nearly unkillable invasive species introduced to the US) http://forages.pss.msstate.edu/poster07.pdf
The MSU information is very promising and renewed my interest and the b-i-l's pocketbook to try and get a hold on this weed. Velpar is a chemical that has potential but is $275 for a 2 and 1/2 gallon jug. However , it is very ticky about application-- 30 gallons of broadcast mix per acre- keep away from trees, apply just before rain- yea, in the summer in the south...ha.. I used about half a jug of it just spot spraying a mix of it with water as recommended and it did no better that spot spraying with round up.. The only good thing is it won't kill bermuda and some other grasses it gets on but will kill trees dead by translocation through the soil. On the other hand ,Round up (generic) is about $45 for 2 and 1/2 gallon of 41%. And can be wiped on weeds using a 50/50 mix with good results.The wiper is a lot faster than spot spraying and some pastures are so over run with this weed that it would be impossible to spot spray anyway. Here are a few pictures showing a swipe through one pasture a couple of weeks afterwards. That is NOT where a mower has been... just me , the trusty old RTV and the weedwiper with a mix of generic round up. It is very obvious and encouraged me to pursue my efforts.
I also had to replace the rubber strip on the wiper this year so here is a picture of that.Also included a picture of the cylinders I added to the wiper last year, since I could utilize the hydraulics on the RTV. I would never be able to use the wiper other wise... just too many different heights of grass in the pasture-- bordercollie
AnywaY, MS State has a study they conducted with a rotowiper -to control or suppress smutgrass. ( It is a nearly unkillable invasive species introduced to the US) http://forages.pss.msstate.edu/poster07.pdf
The MSU information is very promising and renewed my interest and the b-i-l's pocketbook to try and get a hold on this weed. Velpar is a chemical that has potential but is $275 for a 2 and 1/2 gallon jug. However , it is very ticky about application-- 30 gallons of broadcast mix per acre- keep away from trees, apply just before rain- yea, in the summer in the south...ha.. I used about half a jug of it just spot spraying a mix of it with water as recommended and it did no better that spot spraying with round up.. The only good thing is it won't kill bermuda and some other grasses it gets on but will kill trees dead by translocation through the soil. On the other hand ,Round up (generic) is about $45 for 2 and 1/2 gallon of 41%. And can be wiped on weeds using a 50/50 mix with good results.The wiper is a lot faster than spot spraying and some pastures are so over run with this weed that it would be impossible to spot spray anyway. Here are a few pictures showing a swipe through one pasture a couple of weeks afterwards. That is NOT where a mower has been... just me , the trusty old RTV and the weedwiper with a mix of generic round up. It is very obvious and encouraged me to pursue my efforts.
I also had to replace the rubber strip on the wiper this year so here is a picture of that.Also included a picture of the cylinders I added to the wiper last year, since I could utilize the hydraulics on the RTV. I would never be able to use the wiper other wise... just too many different heights of grass in the pasture-- bordercollie
Attachments
Last edited: