snod85 said:

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It is going to be tough to sprig the areas you have had mulched as the roots/stumps interfere with a sprigging machine plus most sprigging guys have a ten acre minimum.

Id probably disk and seed in spring, live with weeds for a year, mow weeds to control and spot treat sprouts from mulched stuff the first summer. Next year go hard with pre-emergent in spring and normal weed control/fertilizer after that.

Kill weeds with glysophate mid April, disk and plant a pasture bermuda two weeks later.

The guys (scottryan) at Rozells on 64 West in Tyler are great on Chemicals. The guys (Marshall) at East Texas seed are great on seed. We actually got a good result from their seed (forget the branded name) where we worked over old terraces a few years back.

If you have an ATV with a bed or a truck for that matter you can borrow my Herd seeder and 25 gallon sprayer.

pm me if interested and I'll be happy to let you use them. I'm in Noonday so not a huge haul. You will probably want your own eventually but this can let you put off buying for a while.

If you are going to plant you might as well do it right and grab a soil sample or two now to see if you need lime. Bet you do based on location and your photos. If so it should be out at least 60 days prior to planting. You probably will be alright on fertilizer. We send our soil samples to SFA, they are cheaper and faster than A&M. I think its around $12/sample and takes a week or two. For four acres , three samples total would be more than enough and one composite might be fine if the soil is uniform. I never remember the site so google SFA soil lab and go from there. The report will tell you how much lime and fertilizer(by component) you need per acre.

If you need pelletized lime or fertilizer I can loan you my Cosmo seeder, but you will need a tractor(PTO) to use it. Lanes fertilizer (Charles) on 69n in Lindale has pull wagons (free use with purchase) and bulk lime and fertilizer if you are without a tractor but need a decent amount.

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The mulch is still doing a pretty good job of keeping many weeds from taking hold. I guess as it starts to decompose I'll have to spend more time on it. But the greenbriar is probably the biggest issue in those areas now. Hate that stuff.

I'm planning to pick up a couple soil sample kits from the Ag Extension office tomorrow. The soil in the middle portion has a lot more clay than the top, which is pretty much just sand. I'll take a look at SFA when I'm ready to send them off.

Thanks for the advice and I may give you a shout next spring when its time to seed. I actually know Charles' son Todd at Lane's in Lindale.

Hoss said:

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That last pic looks like the perfect spot for your house. Great view!

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That's the plan. We had a tornado drop a bunch of trees last spring to open the view up. Still working on cleaning all that wood up.

I would probably go with a disk if possible instead of a rototiller. If you are planning on tilling where you mulched, there are going to be stumps and roots that will break shear pins or smoke a slip clutch on a tiller. If it's the grass portions, a tiller would probably work fine if you're confident you don't have stumps or big rocks under there. The thing I don't like about either of those items, is the hard pan that each create. The disk isn't so bad, but a roto-tiller will create a hard pan about 3 to 5 inches deep that makes water penetration a real problem. Until you get grass established, if you get a big rain, you are going to get big washouts on any slopes. Once you get the grass established, you are going to have a barrier about 3 to 5 inches deep that is going to inhibit water from going down when it rains and from seeping up from subsoil moisture when it gets dry. The only way to get rid of it is to run some kind of ripper shank through it somewhere down the line to break it up and allow water to flow through the profile again.

I rototilled about 1 acre on my yard here in Bryan about 5 years ago and I'm still fighting that dang hard pan. If I go a month in the summer without rain, you can tell pretty substantially where I tilled and where I didn't. The grass in the tilled area starts turning brown much sooner because of the lack of moisture.

Ag97 said:

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I would probably go with a disk if possible instead of a rototiller. If you are planning on tilling where you mulched, there are going to be stumps and roots that will break shear pins or smoke a slip clutch on a tiller. If it's the grass portions, a tiller would probably work fine if you're confident you don't have stumps or big rocks under there. The thing I don't like about either of those items, is the hard pan that each create. The disk isn't so bad, but a roto-tiller will create a hard pan about 3 to 5 inches deep that makes water penetration a real problem. Until you get grass established, if you get a big rain, you are going to get big washouts on any slopes. Once you get the grass established, you are going to have a barrier about 3 to 5 inches deep that is going to inhibit water from going down when it rains and from seeping up from subsoil moisture when it gets dry. The only way to get rid of it is to run some kind of ripper shank through it somewhere down the line to break it up and allow water to flow through the profile again.

I rototilled about 1 acre on my yard here in Bryan about 5 years ago and I'm still fighting that dang hard pan. If I go a month in the summer without rain, you can tell pretty substantially where I tilled and where I didn't. The grass in the tilled area starts turning brown much sooner because of the lack of moisture.

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I'm not touching the mulched part with either. Plenty of stumps but also a good number of large rocks. And a pretty good slope. The pasture area is pretty much free of rocks or stumps.

What kind of soil did you have the hardpan problem with? I'm curious if it would still be an issue in sand.

Disk the ground.

Throw out your sprigs from a local source.

Lightly disk and pack.

Save money from not hiring a sprigging machine.

We do it all the time.