2017 Planted Brome Field is Empty?

mercredi 25 avril 2018

Hello everyone,

it's near the end of April here in Michigan, and my Orchard Grass field planted last spring seems to be growing ok, but my brome grass field is nearly empty. Granted, our pasture grass isn't really very green yet and grass everywhere is just starting to pop up . . .

Now, the brome field is in a lower area and tends to stay wetter longer. There's no standing water but the ground is pretty squishy. We seeded both field twice thanks to a druought after the first seeding in the spring, but the brome field never really seemed to grow even last year.

Now it's growing weeds everywhere, and just little tiny bits of grass sporatically. I don't remember the lbs/acre but we bought 2 50lb bags and used a drop style seeder. So about 50lbs each seeding on about 1 acre.

Did a soil analysis before planting and ground was ok. We've had good luck here with teff in the summer and since brome grows wild EVERYWHERE we figured it was a no brainer to try to grow.

It's a pure stand of Big Ton XL bromegrass. The bag does say hard to establish, but that's pretty vague. My husband is mad as a hornet and wants to rip out the field and plant something else/. The brome grass was $260 per bag. I had asked the feed mill guy if a nurse crop of oats might do it well over winter but he said no need. Now I'm wishing I had gone with my gut

Will this field bounce back once it dries a bit more? The weeds are really sprouting and I'm not happy. Or could I add a nurse crop right now to help push the weeds out or will this push out the brome too?

I'd like any thoughts or advice on this one. The Big Ton variety is best suited as a monoculture planting according to the info on it.