So I put in my first food plot this year which is a 1/4 acre mixture of chicory, clover, rape and rye grass. Everything is sprouting up fairly well but there are constantly weeds coming up. I know that mowing is an effective way to keep them down but I was wondering if there was a herbicide that would keep these weeds under control so I dont have to worry about mowing it.
A lot of different herbicides you can use - since non of those are glyphosate resistant you are limited on what you can use - if you have grasses growing in your food plots then Sethoxydim aka Poast or Poast Plus would do the trick and shouldn't kill any of those except for the rye grass but always check the lable. With clover you best stay away from Clethodim as it will kill off clover. I suggest spray first then mow about 3 weeks later. Here is the issue your going to run into - grass herbicides will not kill off broadleaf plants however it is going to kill off your rye grass not sure why you included that in your mix anyway, rye as a grain is good as a grass not so much! Next year consider plot location and preperation when trying to control weeds - controling weeds starts with your first spray of Glyposate and your first tilling of the soil - if you get a head start on the weeds then you shouldn't have a whole lot of trouble with them! Here is a picture of one of my food plots pre bushhog/tilling/planting after the weeds have been sprayed with Round-Up. Good luck.
IMO. I would spray gly on the entire plot for a couple reasons and reseed it this fall..1 rye grass will eventually take over.2 planting brassicas in a clover plot is not a good idea as they also tend to smother out clover growth depending on what your ratio is.The clover may survive some after spraying with gly. I spray gly after a year of growth and have no problems with clover surviving. I would plant rye grain,clover blends this fall and then next may-june cut the rye to release the clover. Good luck
