I have a 45 degree slope I plan to plant creeping thyme on. Lately,
the weather has not been cooperative for rototilling and planting the
slope. But my main question is, what is the best weather condition for
applying herbicide to kill the lawn grass on my slope so I will have an
easier time rototilling? Also, how long do I wait after applying
herbicide before I rototill?

Dry and hot


From Mel & Donnie in Bluebird Valley





http://community.webtv.net/MelKelly/TheKids

wrote in message
oups.com...
I have a 45 degree slope I plan to plant creeping thyme on. Lately,
the weather has not been cooperative for rototilling and planting the
slope. But my main question is, what is the best weather condition for
applying herbicide to kill the lawn grass on my slope so I will have an
easier time rototilling? Also, how long do I wait after applying
herbicide before I rototill?


Here's a tricky question: Think of a scale of "easy vs difficult", where 1
is easy and 10 is unbelievably difficult. Where would you rank rototilling
without grass, vs rototilling with the tall grass in place?

A decent tiller should not have a problem tilling in
grass..........but just read whats on the herbicide container and go
from there. There is too many brands out there to say, but generally
it has to be applied X amount of time before any rain, and left for X
amount of time before planting etc. Read the instructions and
recompendations on a few herbicides next time your in wally world.Will
seeds that germinate after be aproblem, if so maybe a pre emergence is
going to be needed as well.

"~Roy the good old boy!" wrote in message
...
A decent tiller should not have a problem tilling in
grass..........but just read whats on the herbicide container and go
from there. There is too many brands out there to say, but generally
it has to be applied X amount of time before any rain, and left for X
amount of time before planting etc. Read the instructions and
recompendations on a few herbicides next time your in wally world.Will
seeds that germinate after be aproblem, if so maybe a pre emergence is
going to be needed as well.


I agree about the tilling. The point of my question was that "difficulty" is
sometimes very worthwhile. Tilling all that organic matter into the soil
would be worth the work, unless the OP's talking about unbelievably nasty
weeds. He also may want to think about where that slope is aimed, in terms
of where herbicide runoff will end up. Considering the caliber of people
often seen in newsgroups, there's probably a 50/50 chance that a stream is
below the slope, or his neighbor's well. :-)

I have a 45 degree slope I plan to plant creeping thyme on. Lately,
the weather has not been cooperative for rototilling and planting the
slope. But my main question is, what is the best weather condition for
applying herbicide to kill the lawn grass on my slope so I will have an
easier time rototilling? Also, how long do I wait after applying
herbicide before I rototill?

A rototiller on a 45o slope? You've got your accident and disability
insurance paid up, don't you?

The best weather conditions for using herbicides are a calm day (less drift)
and the temperature conditions specified by the herbicide. All are not equal.
Most of the post emergent herbicides work best when the plants are actively
growing, so a warmish calm day a couple of days after a rain, temps between
50 and 90 is a ballpark recommendation *but you're the guy with the
herbicide* -- it's *your* responsibility to read the label and
use it properly. It's also going to tell you how long before replant.

Now personally, I wouldn't rototill. You're just bringing up more weed seeds
to give them a chance, and loosening the soil for erosion (are you sure
creeping thyme will hold the soil in your worst rains? It won't do it
where I'm from.) Instead I'd either use some glyphosate, wait for stuff
to die, and then trim the vegetation low and plant plugs between the remaining
roots, or I'd solarize and then trim and plant plugs. If I truly felt the
need to loosen the soil, I'd dig by hand. Much safer.

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
I have a 45 degree slope I plan to plant creeping thyme on. Lately,
the weather has not been cooperative for rototilling and planting the
slope. But my main question is, what is the best weather condition for
applying herbicide to kill the lawn grass on my slope so I will have an
easier time rototilling? Also, how long do I wait after applying
herbicide before I rototill?


Here's a tricky question: Think of a scale of "easy vs difficult", where 1
is easy and 10 is unbelievably difficult. Where would you rank rototilling
without grass, vs rototilling with the tall grass in place?

I have learned that rototilling after grass is killed most likely
ensures grass roots are dead and will not return to interfere with what
new is planted. Is this correct?

wrote in message
oups.com...

JoeSpareBedroom wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
I have a 45 degree slope I plan to plant creeping thyme on. Lately,
the weather has not been cooperative for rototilling and planting the
slope. But my main question is, what is the best weather condition for
applying herbicide to kill the lawn grass on my slope so I will have an
easier time rototilling? Also, how long do I wait after applying
herbicide before I rototill?


Here's a tricky question: Think of a scale of "easy vs difficult", where
1
is easy and 10 is unbelievably difficult. Where would you rank
rototilling
without grass, vs rototilling with the tall grass in place?

I have learned that rototilling after grass is killed most likely
ensures grass roots are dead and will not return to interfere with what
new is planted. Is this correct?


No idea. My goal is to gently lead you away from the idea of using
chemicals, none of which have ever been, or ever will be proven safe. If it
were my property, I'd cover the area with plastic and let the sun do the
killing.