To Burn or Not To Burn

[gamecock1974]

Got an old pasture i want to get prepped for planting a dove field this spring. Not sure what i will plant yet, but just for getting the ground prepped wanted to see what some of you more experienced guys would do.

The pasture was old fescue matted, pain the ass to disc, shit... i sprayed areas of it with glypho and that did a decent enough job, but it would come right back. took it up a notch back in the fall and hit it hard with imazipyr (sp?) and that killed it deader than all hell. I havent tried to disc it again yet but it seems to have dried up pretty good to where i could likely get to the soil.

The question becomes - should i go to the time and effort to get the area burned? only talking 7-8 acres here, so if i do it through the SC forestry commission they are charging me a flat $500 to burn it.. .not sure i want to get that much money into it. Guess the trade off is time it will take to disc through all the dead grass and weeds.

May not be enough info to go on, but would you go to the expense of burning it? or just take to it with the disk and try to get to dirt by disking it over and over again until it gets turned over pretty good? If i dont burn am i going to be faced with more/less weed problems after i get it turned?

Any advice is appreciated. New at this and small time weekender, so learning as i go.

[mdb2]

Disc around it, call forestry commission for a permit #, wait for the right day, and burn it.

[SCswampCAT]

Disc around it, call forestry commission for a permit #, wait for the right day, and burn it.

this right here. but id call the day you wanted to burn, when you call theyll have a recording telling you what the risk of burning on that day is.. whether it be moderate, high, etc....

[Quackhead22]

this right here. but id call the day you wanted to burn, when you call theyll have a recording telling you what the risk of burning on that day is.. whether it be moderate, high, etc....

Yea you can't just call in get a number and then burn whenever....Also have you location (nearest street address is good), Acreage, and Nearest Smoke Sensitive area written down. SSA can be a major highway, airport, interstate, and things like that....it's really not complicated at all...if you were anywhere near Georgetown I'd come do it for you for a case of beer...

[gamecock1974]

Yea you can't just call in get a number and then burn whenever....Also have you location (nearest street address is good), Acreage, and Nearest Smoke Sensitive area written down. SSA can be a major highway, airport, interstate, and things like that....it's really not complicated at all...if you were anywhere near Georgetown I'd come do it for you for a case of beer...

2 cases of beer?

[Sportin' Woodies]

Where is this property located?

[SCswampCAT]

Yea you can't just call in get a number and then burn whenever....Also have you location (nearest street address is good), Acreage, and Nearest Smoke Sensitive area written down. SSA can be a major highway, airport, interstate, and things like that....it's really not complicated at all...if you were anywhere near Georgetown I'd come do it for you for a case of beer...

Yep, this guy gets it. You work for the SC forestry commission?

[jws]

Burn

[Slaya]

Meh, 7-8 acres. You can run the disk around the edges and create a fire break and burn it yourself or, f you're not comfortable with fire or equipped to do it properly, then bushhog it close, give it some time to rot down, and disk it. You will not spend $500 in diesel getting it cut, even if you have to cut it a few times with the disk.

Do you have a bottom plow? If so, you can always turn it, and then disk it.

Burning will help with the seed on the grass sitting in the field and make it a little more manageable (I know first hand how thick that grass is up there). The seedbank is going to give you weeds aplenty to fight either way.

[gamecock1974]

I would love to burn it on my own, but have no knowledge of doing so, and furthermore the fear/anxiety associated with the potential of burning a couple of hundred acres and nearby homes all for a 8 acre dove is more than i want to deal with.

[Slaya]

I would love to burn it on my own, but have no knowledge of doing so, and furthermore the fear/anxiety associated with the potential of burning a couple of hundred acres and nearby homes all for a 8 acre dove is more than i want to deal with.

Then bushog/disc, if no plow or plow/disc if you can. I wouldn't spend $500 to burn it. Put that money into lime/fertilizer and seed/chemical.

[Quackhead22]

Take a bottom plow or rotovator to it once or twice then disc it...

[mdb2]

A burn under the right conditions is nothing to stress over...

[2thDoc]

no till it and spray

[banded_mallard]

Why not burn it yourself it would cost you a lot less. The forestry commission will put a fire break in for 150 it should not take them more than an hour to do that little bit. They charge 150 the first hour and 100 every hour after that. Then burn it yourself

[Quackhead22]

Why not burn it yourself it would cost you a lot less. The forestry commission will put a fire break in for 150 it should not take them more than an hour to do that little bit. They charge 150 the first hour and 100 every hour after that. Then burn it yourself

Only problem with that is it might be April before they get around to doing it

[gamecock1974]

Why not burn it yourself it would cost you a lot less. The forestry commission will put a fire break in for 150 it should not take them more than an hour to do that little bit. They charge 150 the first hour and 100 every hour after that. Then burn it yourself

they charge what you state, but from what i was told there is a $500 min on putting the fire break in and a $500 min on the actual burn. so if i do the fire break, minimum $500... if they do both, going to cost me $1k.... not so much.

[banded_mallard]

I called them thursday they are doing mine today.

[mdb2]

That's what I meant. You have to have your permit number the day of.

[santee11]

Smokey the bear did a great job scaring people to death about fire.