Part two in our pest prevention series.

To control pests through prevention the very best way to start is by clearing your property of the things that encourage pests. Simple, right? Weedy brushy areas are both cover and breeding grounds for pests.

Weeds

Weeds provide food for bugs and rodents. Mice like seed. Weeds have seed. Mice like weeds! Simple as that. The complexities of what each bug and rodent likes to eat, and how the interaction between all of them produces this buggy, weedy community would be out of place here, so let’s just say that weeds attract insects and rodents seeking food. Weeds also attract insects and rodents who seek cover from predators. So, between the food, and the shelter, weeds make a pretty happy hunting ground and breeding ground for small annoying creatures.

Naturally, the question comes up: “If they like weeds so much why don’t they just stay there and out of my kitchen?” The answer is simple: They think you may have a better life for them.

Brush

Brush mixed with weeds is a sign that property is not maintained well. It usually means that it was cleared once, and has not been maintained or used since it was cleared. This makes for a more advanced pest community, and, yes, if you live nearby, they will advance to your doorstep! Clearing your property of such problem areas will advance your pest control program beyond what exterminators can offer.

Brush and weeds are not normal growth

A patch of brush and weeds is not a native habitat, it is the early stage of something that might become a forest in 30 years, but what it grows is rarely natural or native. Such situations are created by humans by accident, and rarely produce native plants in abundance. The only wildlife that is attracted to such an area is the type of wildlife attracted to other forms of human waste and garbage. Saving such areas in the name of saving the environment is not realistic. From my experience, what grows in cleared areas that are not maintained is almost always non native, biodiversity attacking, invasive and a threat to the surrounding natural environment.

Rubble

Rubble and rubbish are a big problem. These stacks and piles offer ideal homes for rodents, and the resulting snakes that feed on them. They also provide food and shelter for insects that would like to spend some time in your kitchen.

Roaches and decaying wood

The natural food of the roach is wet decaying wood. If you have piles or stacks of it around your place, you will eventually have roaches who will attempt to come inside your home for something a little more tasty. When they get inside, the roach population will grow commensurate with the availability of food. It doesn’t require a truly dirty home, a drop of grease will feed thousands of the little disease spreaders. Getting rid of rubble will eliminate most of the threat.

General cleanup

Things like tires, and buckets, disused pet food and watering bowls, and the old moon hubcap that you planned to build a truck around someday provide luxury accommodations for mosquitoes to reproduce. If you remove these things from your property, or store them properly, it will go a long way to solving problems with mosquitoes.

What to do

My advice is to clean it up. If you keep fire wood, stack it on a wood rack, preferably a foot or more off the ground. This will both preserve the wood, and prevent a lot of little things from becoming a big problem. If you have brushy weedy areas on your property, take an ax to the brush, and mow the weeds. Then keep it mowed.

Habitats

If your goal is to have a backyard habitat, work on the brush and weeds selectively. Get rid of the weeds by mowing them, unless there is a patch of truly native plant life that you want to save. Get rid of non native, invasive plants that will eventually take over if left to their own devices. Nurture and encourage the remaining native plant life, and you will be surprised at the results.

See part three in our pest prevention series: How Lawn Care Effects Pest Control

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Land Management Mowing options chemical mowing

Mowing can be a chore, 10 acres of mowing can take a lot of your valuable time, or a lot of money to hire someone to do it for you.

There are alternatives to mowing, even options that might make you a little extra spending cash. This option will cost money, but it will cost a lot less than the mowing option, and leave wildlife in place, while giving your watch and your wallet a little relief. That option is chemical mowing, and before you decide to reject it outright because of environmental concerns, you should read the rest of this page.

What is chemical mowing and trimming?

Chemical mowing and trimming are the terms used to describe the process of treating weeds and weedy grasses with a chemical to inhibit growth. Mowing chemically retards the growth of the plant, while still allowing it to provide erosion protection.

Many fence rows are adjacent to highway right of ways, and killing the grasses present may not be a good option, but suppressing the growth will save hours of backbreaking labor.

A proper treatment, with proper chemicals at the proper time, can virtually eliminate mowing and trimming for an entire growing season with as few as two treatments per year. Comparing this to the cost of mowing and trimming such areas, it is a real bargain.

Chemical mowing and the environment

A very good argument can also be made, that chemical mowing of pasture type areas has environmental advantages over mechanical mowing. There is less debris in the runoff to clog drainage, and less harm to wildlife living in such areas. Chemical mowing does not destroy the cover used by wildlife, it merely slows it down, ground nesting birds, and small mammals and reptiles living in the area can carry on as though nothing had happened, instead of being chopped to bits by a mower.

Chemical mowing products

Preventive growth regulators

The first class of chemicals is “pgr’s” these are preventive growth regulators. Most of these work by miniaturizing the plant, and can produce some amazing results both in growth rate, and lawn quality. What is the downside? These chemicals normally reduce wear tolerance, and are pretty expensive.

Systemic herbicides

The second class is systemic herbicide, used in lighter than normal dosages. salts of glyphosate are a good example. Most 41% glyphosate products are labeled for this use, and instructions on the proper methods and mixtures are included.

Chemical mowing and yellowing

One thing that you should be prepared for if you choose to use chemical mowing, is the fact that there will be some yellowing of the treated grasses. Usually the amount of yellowing that you are prepared to put up with will help you to determine the amount of time that the treatment will be of benefit. The yellowing can be overcome by fertilization.

Chemical mowing: Other uses:

If you are not comfortable with treating an entire lawn, or pasture, you can still use this process to chemically trim around walks, the edges of buildings and around such items as posts, fences, and trees. A light dose of a growth regulator around the base of a tree can help avoid such things as “Mower or trimmer blight” caused by the destructive forces of trimmer string or mower decks contacting the tree and taking off bark.

Chemical vegetation control in highway right of ways, should only be practiced by properly licensed individuals or companies.

See also: Chemical Trimming and Land Management Mowing Alternatives For Large Acreage

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More natural, and native style gardens may offer answers to some of the difficulties facing the homeowner. Traditional lawns require a lot of resources like extra water, fertilizer and pesticides to keep them looking the way we have grown accustomed to seeing them.

Good landscape planning using native trees, shrubs and ground covers may produce more efficient results. Perhaps even backyard wildlife habitats will become the gardens of the future as we head toward predicted times of more water use restrictions for lawns. The cost associated with traditional lawn irrigation can be expensive as well. Having a huge lawn and not having the water available to irrigate it could become a big brown ugly fact of life in many states.

If lawn care costs are getting you down, you might consider this idea from the “green” community: To be more green, have less green! By less green, we mean less turf covered area. Turf grasses are pretty efficient at cycling water and nutrients if they are fed and watered properly, and they do a good job of providing clean oxygen, but most of them are not native to our area, no, not even Bermuda grass, and they require more nutrients, and more water than other types of plants in order to maintain that lush green color we all love! They also require an inordinate amount of pesticides compared to trees, shrubs, and ground covers.

This extra cost and attention results from the need to modify the environment to allow a non native species to thrive in it. Sometimes the modifications can be relatively small, but in many cases they become nearly all consuming.

Planting native trees and shrubs can be a nice alternative, and offer a little relief for your pocketbook in these tough times. There are even some pest control benefits if you plant the right combination. If birds are attracted to your yard, they will handle a lot of your pest control for you!

You don’t even have to suffer the ravages of massive lawn and landscape renovation projects to accomplish this. Renovation can occur over a long period of time, gradually allowing and encouraging a more native habitat to take over the non native habitat. The results can be amazing.

Native habitat advantages

Natural, garden like habitats are:

• Less thirsty for water beyond what the weather in an are naturaly provides.
• Less hungry for extra nutrients.
• Less likely to suffer from weather conditions in your area.
• Less likely to be destroyed by pests.
• Less likely to attract pests.
• Less likely to attract non native predators.
• Less likely to cause biodiversity problems.
• More likely to thrive.
• More likely to attract native species which eat pests.
• They will not escape into the wild and displace other natives.

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Large tracts of land can pose problems that the average homeowner may not have thought about before buying property, and leaving it to itself is probably not going to be an option. There are some ways to make the extra size yard work for you though.

• Bahia Grass Control In Lawns And Turf
  Bahia grass control in lawns and turf Bahia grass is an invader! Bahia grass is an invasive weed in the southern United States.
• Home And Garden Website
  Why another home and garden website? Well, the fact is, that most home and gardening sites focus on one or two issues, and leave out many others.
• Land Management Mowing Alternatives For Large Acreage In the course of my regular work in land management and property maintenance, I am sometimes called on to solve problems with large acreage.
• Mole Control Mole Prevention Mole Control and Mole Prevention Moles create slightly raised areas along the top of the ground as they tunnel in search of food and shelter.
• Mowing Options Chemical Mowing Land Management Mowing options chemical mowing Mowing can be a chore, 10 acres of mowing can take a lot of your valuable time, or a lot of money. management

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Chemical trimming

Spin trimming is a hassle. It is almost never fun, no matter how much or how little there is to be done. Obviously, the less there is to do, the better, but any is enough to leave you feeling irritated. There are some ways to make trimming a less frequent, or even an almost never needed operation.

If you live in suburbia, you can benefit from this method, and if you live in a rural area with lots of fence rows, this type pf trimming can save you a ton of money, time and aggravation.

Chemicals used for chemical trimming

There are two types of chemicals that can be used for chemical trimming: Growth regulators, and herbicides. Some herbicides can be used for regulating growth if used properly as well.

Chemical trimming with growth regulators

With preventive growth regulators, you trim the grass around your home and property by slowing it’s rate of growth. Some growth regulators offer a 50% decrease in growth for a month or more. The advantage to using these is that you will cut your trimming in half, and still leave your grass green and growing, although it will be growing slowly. The downside of this method is the cost of preventive growth regulators. They can be expensive, but compared to the cost in time, labor, and fuel of trimming weekly, you will still come out spending less.

Chemical trimming with herbicides

The use of an herbicide to trim chemically, implies killing the grass. This is usually not desirable in a fine lawn, but if you have a mile of curb line or fence row to trim, a well done 6 inch straight line of dead grass beats an overgrown fence row, or a poorly trimmed fence row any day. The advantage is that there will be no trimming needed if it is done early and kept up with occasional spot treatments. The disadvantage is that it kills the grass. That is not necessarily a bad thing, but it is not as attractive as a carefully trimmed line, and it should be done carefully and thoughtfully where erosion might be a problem.

Chemical trimming using herbicides as growth regulators

It is possible to regulate growth with some standard herbicides. This is usually a very diluted mixture which stunts the grass and slows the growth. The one I prefer is glyphosate. This comes under several brand names most notably “RoundUp Pro” There are directions on the label for this type of application, and it will need to be very carefully measured, calculated, and calibrated to get the best result.

No matter what type of chemical you use, whether for killing the grass, or regulating the growth of the grass, you will need to make some careful calibrations.

First, you should read the label of any chemical you use, and follow the directions as though your life depends on it. There are two very good reasons for this.

1. The directions on the label are there for a reason, and they will not lead you wrong. Using more of the product than called for will not give better results, and in many cases, will produce the opposite result.
2. The label is the law. “It is a violation of federal law to use this product in a manner inconsistent with it’s labeling.” is a phrase that is oft repeated by chemical professionals who have learned the truth by experience.

Calibrating the sprayer for chemical trimming

The best way to properly calibrate a backpack sprayer for someone who is not already familiar with the process is this: You should determine the distance you need to travel, and then time yourself walking a portion of it with the backpack sprayer full of water spraying a mock application. You should use the nozzle that you will be using for the application. This will help you to determine both the time it takes to travel the course, and the amount of water used for the distance.

If the test was 100 feet, and the entire distance 1000 feet, and 1 quart of water was used in 2 minutes of travel time spraying a line 6 inches wide, then you have sprayed 50 square feet in 2 minutes. You can reasonably expect to spray 100 square feet, or 200 feet, that is 100 square feet in 4 minutes, which would give you a total of 500 square feet or 1000 linear feet of 6 inch line in 20 minutes using 10 quarts, or 2.5 gallons of water for the entire distance.

If the label calls for using 4 ounces of product per 1000 square feet, and you are only going to cover 500 square feet, then you would, of course, use 2 ounces in 2.5 gallons of water to spray the entire distance.

Surfactant

If adding surfactant is suggested, be sure to add the recommended amount. If spraying for growth suppression, do not over use the surfactant, because it will increase the herbicides effect.

Disclaimer:

If any suggestion on this site is contrary to the suggestions, or restrictions, or any other part of the product label, the product label should be given precedence. Please check all facts and calculations before making an application.

See also: Mowing Options Chemical Mowing

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Native habitats and evolving lawn and landscape design

Lawn and landscape design is changing to meet the challenges of new water requirements and a revived interest in native habitats that encourage native wildlife.

Traditional lawns

Everyone loves a beautiful, freshly cut green lawn, well, almost everyone. More and more people are moving away from the traditional large grass covered areas, opting instead to use more trees, shrubs, and other plants, and they are “going native” with the varieties used in lawn and landscape design.

Water use and phosphorous

I suspect that this trend will continue, as water use restrictions and environmental laws begin to effect the amount of water available for lawn and landscape use, and the allowable nutrient “run off” produced by traditional lawn care. Certain lawn nutrients may eventually be severely restricted, particularly the amount of phosphorous, due to it’s negative effects on lakes, ponds and waterways. Such restrictions are inevitable unless we learn to self regulate. It is only a matter of time.

Traditional lawn grasses

Most of our traditional lawn grasses are not native, and therefore require extra water and nutrients to thrive. While they do produce oxygen and process water fairly efficiently, the extra nutrients, pesticides, and other excesses may make them a less practical practice than in the past.

Traditional landscapes

Traditional landscapes, with their heavy use of exotic plants, are also losing favor. Most of these non native plants require more water, more fertilizer, and more insecticides than their native counterparts.

Lawn and landscape design and biodiversity

There is also a biodiversity issue involved in lawn and landscape design. Who would have ever suspected that so many of the popular landscape plants from the middle of the last century would have taken on the role of environmental terrorists? The Japanese Silk tree, commonly called Mimosa, the Chinaberry, the Chinese Tallow, and a variety of Asian privets are now more prevalent in our woodlands, than in the home lawns where they were once used as landscape plants. Thought to be safe, and non invasive at the time, they have now become a serious threat to native biodiversity throughout the lower half of the country. Which of the currently popular exotics will become problems? It is hard to know, but just because they do not appear to be invasive now, does not mean that they won’t gain a foothold later.

Why non native plants are a problem

When invasive species gain a foothold in our forests and waters, they tend to eliminate the native competition, much of which is needed to support native wildlife. If a native plant preferred by pollinators disappears, the pollinator may move on. This gives the non native an even stronger foothold. It also means that the insects which pollinate food crops may be gone as well.

Non native plants and wildlife

Studies have shown that the nutrient value of most of the non native species is less than that of the native varieties, particularly for native wildlife. As these exotics take over more and more territory, the native wildlife populations sometimes get hungry, and move on. These are just a couple of the hundreds of reasons why biodiversity should be considered when devising a landscape strategy. It is not just an issue in some remote forest or jungle, biodiversity is a problem on the home front as well.

Backyard habitats for lawn and landscape

The fact is, that our traditional ways of dealing with our outdoor habitats are responsible for a number of environmental problems such as water quality, biodiversity, and over use of pesticides. With growing awareness of these effects, many are choosing to take a different approach to lawn and landscape design.

Backyard habitats, or, native habitats, are viable alternatives to traditional lawns and landscape designs. Rather than imposing our will on the environment, we simply allow the native environment to do what it does best, with our assistance. In the long run, there is less fertilizer, water, and pesticide needed. The native varieties are acclimated to the native environments, and native soils, and are resistant to native pests. After the initial installation or modification, there is much less labor involved. It is a cheaper, easier, more environmentally friendly form of landscaping.

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Building a Home Athletic Field

This may appear to be slightly off topic for the homeowner, but we have bumped into it enough to make it a topic for discussion. Every year thousands of kids across the nation sign up with local soccer clubs, and soccer associations. School soccer programs have flourished, and the reasons are as varied as the families the kids represent. I know of more than one family that used soccer for funding higher education, through scholarships which put their children through college! Soccer is not the only sport either! There is of course, football of the American type, baseball, and a myriad of other sports played on grassy fields throughout the nation. Problem is, that there are not enough athletic fields to accommodate this!

The numbers are almost shocking, and municipal fields are costly and eat up tons of resources. School fields are built to handle limited numbers, and everyone seems to be fighting for a time slot on every field available.

One man I know came to me for some help a few years ago while building his own fields. He now has a couple of great fields, and 2 children in college on soccer scholarships.

Preparation

As in any project, preparation is the key. Do your homework. Determine your fields ultimate size. Determine your soil type, and find out if it will support the type of project you want to build. If it will not, find out what amendments it will need. Learn about field structures. A soccer field is normally flat, and a football field is crowned from the center outward in both directions to facilitate drainage. Plan the layout. Spend some time thinking about irrigation. Determine what type of grass works best in your area, and when it comes to the actual work, spend all the time you need to get a level area with a good seed bed before you even consider planting or sodding the area.

Leveling

If there is a lot of leveling to be done, you might consider hiring someone with the equipment and expertise to do the base work, unless, of course, you have the equipment and expertise yourself.

Irrigation

This is the time to install the underground irrigation if you plan to use an automated underground system. Once again, an expert may be needed, depending on your competence at installing irrigation, and local laws.

Final grade

Bringing the field to final grade can be done by the property owner. Be cautious about this work, and make sure that your grading does not cause low spots, or drainage problems for your field. Check with stakes and strings stretched across the surface from end to end, and side to side in several places, and grade accordingly.

Seeding sodding or sprigging

At this point, you have several options, whether to seed, sod, or “sprig” the field to get the grass turf in place. Sodding gives immediate coverage, but still needs to “grow in” before the field is used. Seeding is simple, straightforward, and easy, and will avoid the problem of layering one type of soil on the top of another, but, can take some time to establish a playable stand. Most grass seeds require 7 to 14 days to germinate, and a much longer time to be fully established. In fact, with any method, it is best to allow a full year before practicing, or playing on the field. Sprigging is another option, which is commonly used to establish pastures and meadows for grass and hay production. It is a very good option if you can find the sprigs, and coordinate the program at the right time of the year.

Overseeding

If you want a field to be playable in all seasons, and you live anywhere except the most temperate areas, you can over seed. Soccer is usually played in the South during the spring and fall, which means that over seeding is a good soccer option. In most cases the grass used for over seeding would be perennial rye grass, or Fescue. If you live in the south, you probably have Bermuda grass, which is an excellent turf for athletic fields. The problem can be, giving the Bermuda grass enough time to grow during the hot months of summer. If rye or Fescue are grown for spring and fall use, they will need to be removed at some point to allow the Bermuda time to grow. If nature doesn’t do this for you, you may need to resort to a chemical treatment to accomplish this. Transitions can be difficult.

If enough people show interest in this subject, we will provide separate pages for the steps involved in building and maintaining an athletic field. Feel free to comment below.

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Drives, walks and fences are the forgotten parts of property maintenance. They tend to be lost in the shuffle to maintain other parts of the property, and by the time they are noticed, extensive repairs, or complete reconstruction is often needed.

The list below should help to create a working checklist for fences, drives and walks that will help you to avoid costly repairs or reconstruction.

Drives

• Check drives for pot holes, erosion, or anything else that might cause the need for resurfacing or regrading.
• Check for the presence of weeds growing through asphalt or concrete expansion joints, or through the edges of asphalt drives.
• Grass and weeds can eat asphalt and concrete over time. Spraying the edges with a non selective systemic weed killer a couple of times a year will prevent further encroachment. also see our section on Chemical Mowing for other options.

Walks

Walks can suffer from some of the same problems as drives.

• Check for chips on concrete walks, any large ones should be repaired.
• Sinking soils can allow the concrete to crack and sink, causing puddling of water in the area.
• Plants growing in expansion joints can gradually lift and crack concrete.
• Stone walks can become uneasy due to soil erosion, compaction, freeze thaw cycles, and gophers activity. Adding soil may be necessary.
• Gravel walks should be kept level by raking periodically, and weed should be eliminated early when they appear.
• Asphalt walks need similar attention to that given to asphalt drives.

Fences

It is said that “good fences make good neighbors”. Whether that is true or not, I am not sure, but one thing is sure, and that is that if you have fences, they need to be inspected and maintained. Some fences are very important for family safety, especially pool fences. See the special note on pool fences below. Making sure that gates are in good order, and that all locks and latches are functioning properly.

Wire fences

• If the fence is wire, check for general tightness, and particularly sagging areas.
• If the posts are wooden, check for rot at the base.
• Make sure that all wire or staple connections to the posts are good.

Chain link fences

Chain link fences fences are often seen as being ugly. They seem to remind people of prisons, or other institutions, but when it comes to sturdy, economical fences, they rank highly.

Chain link fences should be checked for:

• Missing end caps
• Loose top and bottom rails
• Missing ties
• Loose or broken stretch wires
• Dangerous protrusions
• Poorly adjusted gate hinges and latches
• Out of plumb posts

Wooden fences

• If the fences are wooden, check for rot, check connections for proper tightness, whether they are attached with mortise and tenon joints, nails, screws, lag bolts, or other fasteners.
• Wooden fence pickets should be replaced when broken or rotten.
• Wooden uprights or railings should be replaced if broken or rotted.
• Check for finish. If the fence is painted, it will need repainting from time to time. If the wood was sealed with a moisture sealer, sealer will need to be applied at regular intervals.

Stone fences

• Stone fences can become damaged by the eroding effects of the elements. They can be damaged by freezing and thawing cycles, especially when water gets into cracks, freezes and expands.
• The soil can settle and cause the fence to settle as well. Moles and gophers can cause the same the same problem.

Steel fences

• Steel fences may need paint from time to time, and suffer from the same freezing and thawing problems as stone fences when water penetration is involved, although the problem is usually less severe.

Concrete fences

• Concrete fences, whether wall type, or concrete rails suffer from freeze and thaw problems.
• Concrete rails will need to be checked at the connections. Leaning posts can cause separations, so they will need to be straightened.

Vinyl plastic or PVC fences

Plastic type fences like vinyl or PVC do not surfer from the corrosion, and rot exhibited by many other types of fencing, but there are other problems. Their general lack of sturdiness can allow for breakage.

• Check for broken rails or posts.
• Make sure that the uprights are plumb and secure.
• If appearance is important, check often for mold or algae, and clean them accordingly.

To prevent fence damage, save on back breaking labor, save time and money, fence rows can be Chemically mowed in lieu of spin trimming.

Special note:

Pool fences

Pool fences, deserve special attention because of the number of drownings due to poor fencing, non existent, or inoperable gates, improper latches, bad locking mechanism, or just unused locks. This is something that deserves to be put on your checklist for at least a weekly check. If a problem is found with your pool fence gate, or locking system, it should be handled immediately!

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In the course of my regular work in land management and property maintenance, I am sometimes called on to solve problems with large acreage. One of the most common occurs when someone new to land management buys a large parcel of land without the awareness of the maintenance costs.

The cost of mowing

When there are several acres to be mowed, it can tax resources. Doing the job yourself can be a time consuming project. The cost can also be pretty high, requiring a tractor and shredder. The cost of paying someone to do the job for you can prove to be prohibitive. The price in my area runs between $25.00 and $50.00 per acre. For 20 acres of land, the median cost of hiring someone to mow three times a year, would be about $2,400.00!

Alternatives to mowing

There are a few alternatives that are less expensive, and a couple of them might even earn some extra money. Please note that this is for areas that are “pasture like”, that is, that they are reasonably level and free of debris. If your land is covered in trees, that is probably the way it should stay, but I will address this in another article.

Some of these suggestions should be fairly obvious. If you have a lot of acreage, and it costs money to maintain it, it would be wise to put the land to work for you.

Row crops

The land could be used to produce a crop. If you have the time and experience necessary, a row crop might work for you, but they can be pretty labor intensive.

Grain crops

Wheat, oats, and other grain crops could be a less labor intensive method, but it still involves some work.

Timber production

Planting trees for timber production is less labor intensive, since they do not have to be replanted and harvested each year, but the return on this relatively small investment takes several years. Still, it beats having to mow, or pay someone else to do so.

Animal husbandry

Cattle production is another possibility. It requires some expertise, and some work, but it can be done, with varying levels of profitability.

All of the things listed thus far involve a significant investment of time and money, but they can also be accomplished with the aid of others. You could allow someone to rent the property for these purposes, or allow them to produce the crop on your property for a cut of the profit. This system works very well with my next suggestion.

Make hay

This method will allow you to produce a crop on your land, with little to no labor and expense on your part, and leave you with a profit!

Find someone who bails hay for a living, and ask if they would be willing to bail your pasture land “on the halves”. That simply means, that if they bail it, you get half the hay, and they get half. If they want to fertilize the meadow, you can either split the cost with them, or see if they want to just take extra bails above your cut.

This is a really good solution because it allows you to avoid the expense of mowing, produce a crop that will be used for animal feed, and possibly make a few bucks in the process.

What to do with the hay

What do you do with all that hay? Well, you can use it, or you can sell it. There is a pretty good chance that the guy who bails it will either want it for himself, and be willing to pay you, or he probably knows someone who does. Don’t have any way to transport it? That’s ok too. most people who buy hay have the equipment to do the job. Even if you sell your half of the hay at lower than market price, you will still make some money, and you will have saved the cost of having to have your pasture mowed, and together, that equals a pretty good profit!

Hay production example

If your 20 acre pasture made 4 rolls per acre per season, that would be 80 rolls, your part would be 40 rolls multiplied by the price for bail, which we will figure at $30.00, would be $1,200.00. $1,200.00 profit, plus $2,400.00 savings on mowing costs, leaves you $3,600.00 better off each year. And that is nothing to sneeze at!

Chemical mowing

There are chemical treatments that will leave your pasture land with growing grass, without the need to mow more than once a year, and still leave the wildlife living in it, in place. These methods involve very small amounts of herbicide which stunt the growth of the plants for a few months. Oddly, if you are concerned with wildlife, the chemical option is probably the best. Mowing takes out al lot of small animals. The cost of such a program is usually about the same as one mowing.

See also: Mowing Options Chemical Mowing

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Chemical Mowing Chemical Trimming Right of Ways Fence Rows Pastures

Chemical right of way and fence row mowing and trimming is one place where chemical treatments work very well, and in most cases, with less environmental impact than mowing.

What is chemical mowing and trimming?

Chemical mowing and trimming are the terms used to describe the process of treating weeds and weedy grasses with a chemical to inhibit growth. In many places in the Southern U.S. right of ways, a treatment that would kill Bahiagrass would likely cause an erosion problem, since most of our highway right of ways are dominated by this plant. Mowing chemically retards the growth of the plant, while still allowing it to provide erosion protection. It is not just applicable to right of ways. Large acreage areas that need to be kept from reverting to rodent and insect incubators, but can’t be mowed due to time and expense can benefit as well.

Chemical trimming fence rows

The same is true of fence rows. Many fence rows are adjacent to highway right of ways, and killing the grasses present may not be a good option, but suppressing the growth will save hours of backbreaking labor.

Advantages of chemical mowing and trimming

Lowering costs with chemical mowing

A proper treatment, with proper chemicals at the proper time, can virtually eliminate mowing and trimming for an entire growing season with as few as two treatments per year. Comparing this to the cost of mowing and trimming such areas, it is a real bargain.

Environmental advantages to chemical mowing

A very good argument can also be made, that chemical mowing of these areas has environmental advantages over mechanical mowing. There is less debris in the runoff to clog drainage, and less harm to wildlife living in such areas.

Timing for chemical mowing

If you are going to use these types of treatments, or hire someone to do them for you, the time to get them scheduled is now! The best time for treating almost any grass is as soon after green up as possible. This will offer the most advantages, and be the most effective. Treatments can be effective at any point in the growing season, but the sooner after green up, the better. If the area has been mowed, it will need time to produce some new foliage before treatment.

Special note on chemical mowing of right off ways

Please note, that chemical vegetation control in highway right of ways, should only be practiced by properly licensed individuals or companies.

Learn more about chemical mowing and trimming

To learn more about chemical mowing and trimming, and how it can help you, check out these resources:

Chemical Trimming

Spin trimming is a hassle. It is almost never fun, no matter how much or how little there is to be done. Obviously, the less there is to do, the better, but any is enough to leave you feeling irritated. There are some ways to make trimming a less frequent, or even an almost never needed operation.

Mowing Options Chemical Mowing

Mowing can be a chore, 10 acres of mowing can take a lot of your valuable time, or a lot of money to hire someone to do it for you. There are alternatives to mowing, even options that might make you a little extra spending cash. This option will cost money, but it will cost a lot less than the mowing option, and leave wildlife in place, while giving your watch and your wallet a little relief.

Land Management Mowing Alternatives For Large Acreage

When there are several acres to be mowed it can tax resources. Doing the job yourself can be a time consuming project. The cost can also be pretty high, requiring a tractor and shredder. The cost of paying someone to do the job for you can prove to be prohibitive.

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