Chewing The Cud:

  The Cahaba Tractor Corner   

   

     Preparing Your Green Fields for Fall    

Experienced hunters know a successful season begins with the green fields. So, it's important to take the time, now, to insure that you properly prepare your fields.

Step 1  The first step should always include a soil test on each field. The Alabama Cooperative Extension Service at Auburn University offers soil testing. The results of the test will help in determining the amount of lime and fertilizer needed to balance the soil. Ideally, the soil should have a pH between 6.5 and 7 before you begin planting.

Step 2  Kill off any weeds with a mixture of weed killer that contains 1% glyphosate. Let the herbicide remain for 10 days after application. Follow with a ground burning or mowing prior to plowing the field. This insures less regeneration of weeds and better survival and growth conditions for new plantings.  

Step 3  Turn and till the soil. This will bury any existing plant residue and help prepare the soil to better absorb the nutrients from the fertilizer.

Step 4  Lime the soil. After tilling, adding lime will lower the soil acidic levels making it more stable to support a good crop. Regular lime granules are used six months to one year before the season begins. If you are adding lime later in the season, such as August, use quick-release lime pellets. These pellets work more quickly and effectively to prepare the soil for fall planting.

Step 5  Follow up with a good fertilizer. A good fertilizer will promote strong plant root systems and yield a healthier and more abundant crop.

Step 6  By September, the fields will be ready for planting. In areas like Alabama, planting should begin after Labor Day when temperatures begin to cool and continue to about mid month. Plantings should contain about 70% perennials and 30% annuals. Broadcast seed by hand or with a good spreader. Cahaba Tractor sells excellent quality spreaders and a cultipacker that rows up and firms the soil after planting.

Following these steps will get the most out of your green fields and net a productive hunting season. Call or stop by Cahaba Tractor to see the many implements we carry to help in your green fields preparation.

Technical expertise provided by Charles C. Mitchell, Ph.D., Auburn University Extension Agronomist-Soils & Professor.