The Whitetail Institute’s
seedbed preparation instructions will help you plant a seedbed that’s “clean,”
meaning as free of competing grass and other weeds as you can get it. As the instructions
recommend, this can usually be done during seedbed preparation by repeated
disking or tilling, the use of Roundup-type glyphosate herbicides, or both.
Despite your best efforts, though, weeds can still reappear in even the
best-prepared food plots. If you planted in a clean seedbed, it might seem a
logical assumption that the weed seed must have come with the seed you planted.
If you have already read the article, “Seed Production — A Complex Journey to
the Perfect Product” on Page 8, you know that’s not the case. You know that
many steps are taken by the Whitetail Institute in the production and cleaning
of your seed to prevent the possibility of contamination before it is packaged
by the Whitetail Institute.
So, if the weed seed did not come
in the bag, and you started with a clean seedbed, where did those weeds come
from? Weed seed can be introduced into a plot in various ways, such as by being
carried into the plot on tillage equipment or by birds and other animals. By far,
though, the most common reason is the soil seed bank, which is comprised of
viable weed seeds and other vegetative plant parts, such as rhizomes, bulbs or
tubers of weedy plants that lie underground and can grow into new weeds. Many
references confirm that a square foot of soil can contain thousands of viable
weed seeds waiting to germinate. The soil seed bank develops through time, as each
year, new seeds are added from weeds that grow and are allowed to go to seed. Rhizomes
are underground stems that are usually associated with weedy grass species such
as quack grass. Most of us have pulled up grass and seen these thick, white,
root-like stems, which lead to another plant we also pulled.
Sometimes, it seems to go on and
on without end. When we cultivate or disk fields during seedbed preparation, we
cut up those rhizomes in the soil, and new weeds develop from them. Bulbs and
tubers that occur naturally in the soil are most commonly seen when nut sedge
or wild onion pop up in food plots. Believe it or not, the soil seed bank is
Mother Nature’s way to ensure a healthy soil. For our purposes, the term weed
describes any plant growing where we do not want it to grow. Corn growing in a soybean
field, for example, is considered a weed. In nature, there are no weeds. There
are only plants that grow to protect the soil, improve the soil, nurture the
soil microorganisms and provide food for animals. What we typically call weeds
are actually soil-colonizing plants that produce lots of seed, grow quickly in
a wide range of environmental conditions and produce seeds that can survive in
the soil for years without germinating, waiting for the right
conditions to germinate and grow.
The right conditions for those colonizing
plants usually follow some event that disrupts the soil. Those include natural
disasters such as a tornado, fire, flood or earthquake that destroy plant life
or disrupt the soil. A tree being uprooted during a windstorm also creates
exposed soil that will quickly have plants that begin developing from seed in the
soil seed bank. Unfortunately, disking or tilling the soil, which is necessary
to prepare a good seedbed for most food plot plantings, also disturbs the soil and
can create ideal growing conditions for weeds. From Mother Nature’s viewpoint,
creating a food plot, or any kind of agriculture activity, is basically a
natural disaster because it disturbs and exposes the soil. Immediately, the
soil seed bank is put to use, and weeds begin to grow from dormant seeds and
other components.
Weeds, of course, compete with food plot
plants for nutrients, moisture and light, so we need to do our best to control
actively growing weeds and to try to reduce our soil seed bank through time.
There are several ways to do so. If you’ll be planting in fallow ground or
another area with abundant grass or weeds, plan out your seedbed preparation so
you can till the soil several times at two-week intervals during seedbed
preparation. When you disk or till, you’ll bring some of the dormant weed seed
in the soil seed bank to the surface, where it can sprout and grow. Then, by
tilling or disking again two weeks later, you’ll kill those new weeds before
they have time to develop viable seeds of their own. Incorporating a glyphosate
herbicide into your seedbed preparation before you plant can also help reduce
competition from grass and weeds. If you have a fairly heavy soil seed bank,
you might consider trying to finish your tillage a few weeks early, allowing
grass or weeds that sprout from seeds you’ve brought to the surface to
germinate and start to grow (generally a week or two) and then spraying
glyphosate. The key is to not disk, till or otherwise turn the soil again after
you spray. That way, you won’t bring more weed seed from the soil seed bank to
the surface. Third, if you’ll be planting a Whitetail Institute perennial seed
product, remember that you’ll need to keep weeds under control during the life
of the plot. Two tools can help you do so: periodic mowing and, in some cases,
herbicides. (Be sure to always follow label directions for any herbicide.)
The Whitetail Institute recommends periodic mowing
for all its perennials. Specifically, mow your perennial plot any time you see
any grass or other weeds starting to flower or put on seed heads. Your goal is
not to reduce height as much as it is to remove the seed heads before the seed
in them becomes viable. The Whitetail Institute also offers Arrest Max and Slay
herbicides to help with grass and weed control in most Whitetail Institute
perennial forage stands. Finally, remember that weeds usually appear in areas
of a forage stand that are thin or not as thick and healthy as they should be.
Accordingly, making sure you address soil pH and fertility as specified in
Whitetail Institute’s seedbed preparation and planting instructions helps with
weed control and helps ensure that your forage will have an optimum growing
environment. In-house consultants are available to assist you with these
matters from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CST, Monday thru Friday.
