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Post by heritagehills on Apr 13, 2008 20:41:01 GMT -5
We're having a discussion on this now. The new place needs a lot of work, and the pastures are just in miserable shape. We've got perhaps four useable acres out of 35. The rest are all in buffalo grass which is nearly choked out by yucca, thistles and three varieties of creeping cactus. I can't walk the property without getting a spine through my boots, there's no turning cattle out onto this stuff. It must DIE.
Methods? I'm favoring plowing it all up and selectively burning, then doing a late spring seeding. The spousal unit wants to get a fire permit, plow some firebreaks and burn every inch of it - with kerosene. (He didn't wear boots. I think he's holding a personal grudge against those cacti.)
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Post by legendrockranch on Apr 13, 2008 21:01:46 GMT -5
I'm not sure what creeping cactus is, we have a few prickly pear and they can be real hard to get rid of unless you get an applicators license for using certain chemicals.
We do not mow or plow over any cactus, that just makes a lot of smaller pieces that root.
Burning I'm not sure would help with cactus either, you need to get the root out.
Tordon is a chemical some use here to get rid of cactus.
You might want to contact your local extension agency, they are the ones that have classes if you want to get a license. It is really informative.
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Post by heritagehills on Apr 13, 2008 21:23:39 GMT -5
We do not mow or plow over any cactus, that just makes a lot of smaller pieces that root. Ack. Thanks for that tip, I'm from WA and am not familiar with how cactus grow. I have no idea what kind they are, only that there's three distinct types and they're all growing low to the ground ("creeping", as it were). Was going to call the extension tomorrow anyhow, so will put the question of killing cactus on the list. Thanks kindly. |
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Post by windmill on Apr 13, 2008 22:33:33 GMT -5
Because of the thistles I would burn it on a calm day. The cactus if it came back I would deal with later. I had the same trouble you had with cactus and yucca's plus stickers. I let it get 4-6 inches and then burned it off. Killed the yuccas and only 15% of the cactus came back. A sharp shovel during the summer took care of the rest. As for the stickers the cattle ate what came up before it headed out. Bermuda got started and with time it took over.
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