what is sprayed that kills the cover crop when planting corn

tbaleno · Sat Jul 18, 2009 10:13 pm

I see the local farms grow some sort of cover crop a before they plant corn. Then they spray it and the cover crop dies and the corn grows up around the dead grass or whatever it is. What is it that they are spraying?

gixxerific · Sat Jul 18, 2009 10:16 pm

more than likely Roundup I would think. They even have roundup resistant strains now.

freedhardwoods · Sun Jul 19, 2009 8:25 am

gixxerific wrote:More than likely Roundup I would think.

Or a generic brand of Roundup. The generic is 1/2 the price and does the same thing.

tbaleno · Sun Jul 19, 2009 10:24 am

My garden is pretty overgrown with grass and stuff as seen in the picture. Would it be a bad idea to get some round up and clear out all those weeds and grass even though I have plants that are currently fruiting in the area?

gixxerific · Sun Jul 19, 2009 10:27 am

Yes, but it is possible. Though again I wouldn't suggest. Roundup is nasty stuff. I will use it sparingly but most on here are strictly against it's use in any manner.

Wait a minute what picture?

Dono

freedhardwoods · Sun Jul 19, 2009 11:05 am

DO NOT try to "spray" Roundup around your plants. The spray drift will damage them even if it doesn't kill them. If you want to use it, use a rope wick applicator and be sure you don't touch your plants with it. A rope wick applies the chemical only to what it touches. Here are a couple sites that show large and hand held applicators.

https://www.rodgersinc.com/Hand_Wick_Apllicator.htm
https://www.tifton.uga.edu/eng/Publications/Rope/Aavim%20how%20to%20make%20a%20rope%20wick.pdf

tbaleno · Sun Jul 19, 2009 11:37 am

sorry. I posted he image in another thread. Here it is. As you can see, the left side is pretty overgrown.

[url=https://www.mysimplehomegarden.com/garden/wp-content/gallery/outdoor-plants/outdoorgarden-2009-07-18.jpg][img]https://www.mysimplehomegarden.com/garden/wp-content/gallery/outdoor-plants/thumbs/thumbs_outdoorgarden-2009-07-18.jpg[/img][/url]

gixxerific · Sun Jul 19, 2009 11:47 am

tbaleno wrote:sorry. I posted he image in another thread. Here it is. As you can see, the left side is pretty overgrown.

[url=https://www.mysimplehomegarden.com/garden/wp-content/gallery/outdoor-plants/outdoorgarden-2009-07-18.jpg][img]https://www.mysimplehomegarden.com/garden/wp-content/gallery/outdoor-plants/thumbs/thumbs_outdoorgarden-2009-07-18.jpg[/img][/url]

I love your back yard I must say. Just love the stone wall, being a mason I really get in to brick and stone projects.

But If it were me I would NOT use any kind of death spray in that area. Mow that stuff, weed eat it, brushhog whatever but your corn is so close and in the worst stage for spraying roundup around. If you can't mow it put tarps or something over it till it dies down. Till it up and plant grass seed. Or you could leave the cover on for solarization which kills the seed.

Cool yard I'm jealous. I look out onto another row of stupid houses.!

tbaleno · Sun Jul 19, 2009 11:57 am

Thanks for the nice comments on my yard. My wife likes the stone wall as well. I guess I'm just used to it as they are a dime a dozen in New England. Heck, you even see them when you hike through the forests sometimes.

I'll take your advice and not spray anything. I have some cardbord boxes left over from moving. Should I just lay them on top of the overgrowth? Or would something else be better?

freedhardwoods · Sun Jul 19, 2009 12:35 pm

tbaleno wrote:I'll take your advice and not spray anything. I have some cardbord boxes left over from moving. Should I just lay them on top of the overgrowth? Or would something else be better?

I have a lot of large (20'x30') black tarps that I used to use in my business. I opened one up in my yard to dry out on a sunny summer day once. The tarp was dry in about 20 minutes. When I folded it up, it was so hot I had to use gloves. The next day I had a big rectangle of brown grass in my yard. Black plastic would probably work also. I would mow it first as gixxerific suggested, or at least mash it down, so the tarp or plastic will hold in the heat better. Remember whatever you might lay down could be blown off in even a light breeze.

rainbowgardener · Sun Jul 19, 2009 2:53 pm

Covering the area with black plastic or tarp (or clear plastic) to heat the soil under it is called solarizing. Type that into the search box in upper left of most pages and you will find a lot that's been written here about it. Does seem like it would be a good way to deal with your overgrown field. Doing it now, while it is (hopefully) hot and sunny would be good.