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
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.
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. :-)
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.
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.
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