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feather, I retract my former statement. Smartweed is the devil. Soak the entire field in roundup mixed with holy water, then perform an exorcism on it. Once finished, take a fine-toothed comb through the soil to make sure you have gotten every last seed out of there-- don't want any new plants popping up next year and laying seige to your duck hole again.

everybody's an expert...

You either grossly mis-took my post or are responding to someone else. I never one time said I was anywhere near an expert (I even asked what smartweed is). What I was trying to say is listen to the guys who do it for a living to go along with what you learn in class. I can assure you the folks on this site could be very helpful if you were to need help in school, networking, business contacts etc, all it would take is a pm and most of them would be happy to help you. Grow that skin a little thicker around here too!

MSUMDuck wrote:feather, I retract my former statement. Smartweed is the devil. Soak the entire field in roundup mixed with holy water, then perform an exorcism on it. Once finished, take a fine-toothed comb through the soil to make sure you have gotten every last seed out of there-- don't want any new plants popping up next year and laying seige to your duck hole again.

everybody's an expert...

[quote="DanP"]And in the same respect, I don't believe Jamak or myself are "downing" smartweed we both promote moist soil mgmt, but we also see a lot of problems caused by dominating vegetation, including smartweed.
[quote]

Feather, the point I was trying to make was that if you're able to regulate the water and do some disturbance in this area you have a great opportunity to develop a more diverse system. Late spring and early summer draw downs and fall tillage will help you establish some annual grass communities along with the smartweed. While smartweed is a good source of protein for the ducks, barnyard grasses (millets), and sprangle top are more desirable than smartweed. Just imagine that you're creating a buffet for the ducks. What type of buffet would you rather go to? The buffet that served just chicken or the one that served chicken and all the fixin's?


Note: Never did I mention that ducks would not eat smartweed. I simply stated that there are certain plants that are more desirable.


Also feather, the reason I asked if they were pink or white blooms is because the perennial variety (white blooms) is considered an undesirable. They are considered a problem if they cover greater than 30% and a severe problem if the cover is greater than 30% in a block or greater than 60% as scattered clumps. Short-term control strategies involve deep soil disturbance such as deep disking, plowing. Long-term control strategies should involve keeping the impoundment in a drier condition for at least 2 years.

Incase your wondering MSUMDuck this is verbatim from the NRCS Wetland Management for Waterfowl Handbook.

Look guys, in case y'all couldn't tell from the "exorcism" comment, the post was just a joke. I think we're all misunderstanding one another so rather than go back and forth about who knows more, I'm just going to end this now...it's getting a little ridiculous. Feather, you've got plenty of options to look at here, so hopefully our discussions were able to give you some insight. Maybe at the very least, they provided you with some humor. I hope your duck hole works out for ya...happy hunting!

DanP- Was that annual smartweed in that picture? I dont guess I have ever seen annual smartweed that thick.

Not to mention that smartweed's hard outer coat makes it much more difficult for the ducks to digest. Thats why the gizzard is often FULL of smartweed whereas other seeds have been broken down shortly after or before reaching the gizzard. That being said-ducks do eat smartweed. The perennial smartweed (white seeds) are marginal at best.

Yep that was an annual smartweed. Thats the second brake we have sprayed this year where an annual was that thick. The kicker is the smartweed is growing from a floating mat of mud/silt/dead vegetation. There is 18" of water beneath the smartweed roots!

don't none of you no nothing bought anything

I have got a similar problem on the edge of a Tupelo gum / cypress brake up here. Did get some of the edges disked, but the July rains messed me up from going farther out into the mat. The picture could have easily been taken at my place. Going to have to spray, just not sure how I am going to get it out there. What is your "normal" rate DanP?

SWAG wrote:I have got a similar problem on the edge of a Tupelo gum / cypress brake up here. Did get some of the edges disked, but the July rains messed me up from going farther out into the mat. The picture could have easily been taken at my place. Going to have to spray, just not sure how I am going to get it out there. What is your "normal" rate DanP?

We had some 2,4-D flown in with a cropduster. The rate was about $6.25/ac to have it flown in..you supply the chemical.

DUCK-HUNT wrote:don't none of you no nothing bought anything

I know that you misspelled no in that sentence

It's not as simple as pink flower = good and white flower = bad, although it is used as a general statement. There are some annual smartweeds with white flowers.

Can not fly it in, no way to keep it off of the cypress and gum, lots of points and cutsthat make it undoable. I have a highboy, but the ground does not firm up enough to get out in it. When it does dry, I disk. Need that gun that is spraying in the above picture for about two hours

OK, thanks for the answers...I think . This smartweed has the pink flowers and stands about 18" to 24" high. It's thick and covers about 60% of the total area that can be flooded..with depths from 6 inches out to about 2.5ft deep. Right now it's dry. I can control the level w/ a riser and boards. I think what I'll do is slowly raise the water level as the season progresses and then draw it down slowly in late spring and disk after it dries. Any better suggestions? I'd love to get some barnyard mixed in w/ the smartweed and foxtail and would prolly plant some millet too for next year. Got it too late this year for that. Here's the big question for now......How do I hunt it THIS year? Ride it down w/ a four wheeler and make a big hole in it? Will I have ducks landing out in it outside of the open area I create? What would you do?

Sounds pretty dense for landing ducks. You could mow some holes in it before you flood up, if it's not too wet already.