Bi-color Lespedeza

[perrymax]

Has anybody ever planted any bicolor lespedeza?I've read that it's great cover and food for quail.You can plant seed in the spring or seedlings in late winter.

[Marcus]

Hey Perrymax,
There is plenty of lespedeza on the stripmine behind my home. I don't know if it is bicolor or not but it sure is a hardy plant. I see deer eat it and bed in it. I've read that lespedeza was planted to aerate the soil for the other plants on reclaim lands. I don't know for sure if quail eat it, but I have flushed some out of the stuff. The only thing I dislike about the stuff is that years after it is planted, it continues to leave tall, dead limbs. These are dang near impossible to get through.

[PLB]

Marcus, I believe you are describing sericea lespedeza, which is a herbaceous lespedeza, it has little to no food benefit to quail and is a BIG pain to walk through!. Bicolor lespedeza is actually a perennial shrub that does provide excellent cover for numerous wildlife species, as well as a source of food for quail and others. Direct seeding bicolor at 3lbs/acre is one of the easiest ways to establish good shrubby cover on your property. I would suggest planting it in rows (mimicking fence rows), because it is a shrub and is not something you can walk through easily when it is thick. Also, bicolor is known to invade other areas, so some management around the plantings may be needed in the future. For good herbaceous lespedezas look at Kobe or Korean.

[GSP]

We have two fields about an acre each of it and we have some lining some fencerows. It makes good cover and grows quick. Rabbit and quail do good in it, also deer will also use it as a travel route. We screwed up by not seperating the rows far enough and keeping it trimmed on top. It grew like a tree instead of bushing closer to the ground.
As PBL said, it will turn out more like a bush (or tree) than a grass. It kinda looks like a small willow growing.
PBL, ours has grown to about ten foot tall and there is little cover on the bottom 1/3 to 1/2 of the plants. Would it kill it if we cut it back say to 18" with a sickle mower?

[perrymax]

Spandle Nurseries sends me some catalogs every once and a while and they really push it for quail.They say,every 3 years, you should bushhog it.Then you should lime and fertilize.

Has anybody ever put out seedlings?

[PLB]

gsp,
It's generally best to cut it back in late winter of the second growing season. This will encourage more stump sprouting. You should bush hog it back every 3 to 4 years (in late winter--Feb.) and then fertilize it. Since it readily sprouts after cutting, I wouldn't think it would bother it to cut it back, just do it in Feb., but to tell you the truth, I've never cut any back that was higher than 5-6 feet tall.



Edited by - PLB on 06/20/2002 5:27:55 PM

[GSP]

Thanks PLB,
I may cut a round or two this late winter and see what happens. That stuff will get BIG! I looked at it tonight and there is some 12 footers in there.

P;B, you mind me asking which part of the state you work?

Edited by - gsp on 06/20/2002 10:36:17 PM

[PLB]

I don't mind you asking at all, but I should probably keep a low profile for now. I just like the site and thought I'd answer a few of the questions that I could help out on.

[taggedout]

OOOOOO-SPOOOKY!!!!!!<img src=icon_smile_shock.gif border=0 align=middle>

grummybear

[BULL MOOSE]

Good info. :D

[GSP]

Thanks for hanging out with us PBL. I understand your stance. I do appreciate the answers and the work you fellows do. I've worked with 3 differant PBL's and all have been very helpful, CSS was one of them.

I know some of us get a little grumpy here (mostly me), but the grumbles are not directed towards you guys.

Thanks again and keep posting, that's what we need the most of. INFO, INFO, INFO!

[CSS archer]

I prefer wild plum to bicolor for food and loafing areas for quail. Deer tend to browse bicolor heavily and it tends to not offer the dense escape and loafing cover that plum will.

Elk love bicolor. OOPS!, I said that 3 letter word again. <img src=icon_smile.gif border=0 align=middle>

PLB is smart to keep his identity quiet, I catch some criticism for participating, but it's really funny that dept. people know what I write so quickly, yet refrain from contributing.

Perrymax, I need to check out your grasses sometime, I haven't seen them since the first year. The new farm bill has some great opportunities for cost-share on fescue conversions, should you want to do more.

[GSP]

What is in the farm bill that will help? I am really not up on the subject. I'm very interested in getting rid of some fescue.

[Strutter]

Hey CSS, I've got a bunch of weeds and a small amount of fescue coming up in my clover plots. I read somewhere about making a PVC pipe drilled with tiny holes and wrapped in cloth and then filled with roundup. You then lower the pipe to a distance above the clover and drive around. The pipe is capped off on the ends to avoid spillage of roundup. Is this a good way to get rid of the unwanted without doing an all out spray? Also, will roundup kill thistles?

As always, thanks for the info.

Strutter

[perrymax]

Strutter,just mow the clover.Clover responds well to mowing and you'll keep the weeds knocked down.The fescue is a tuffer problem.I wouldn't worry about it unless it's taking over.I cut my clover plots for hay twice a year.