Lee, you general negativity and constant tirade against input suppliers gets very boring. Cheer up for Gods sake.I wouldn't dream of planting osr before the end of August early September anyway as you are just lining the pockets of the input suppliers. Farm save the seed and go old school at 12-15kg/ha either direct drilled or broadcast, roll it then walk away till February.
Lee, you general negativity and constant tirade against input suppliers gets very boring. Cheer up for Gods sake.
12mHow far can you spin OSR?
12 m is wide enough for anyone, why bother with a tray test?That depends on the spinner but even the longest vanes & highest disc speed will only make it fly so far. OSR simply isn't dense enough to overcome the air resistance which eventually slows it's travelling distance. A tray test is best.
At 12m you wont stripe it with a centrelinerStripes and all
If its wet, plough it. By working a deeper layer of soil the rain has more chance to get away rather than ponding and drowning your crop. It's not pretty but it works.
Not enough time, equipment or manpower to do that. Drilling with the Claydon in a nicer field atm and going well. Finally a nice drying day too.
Exactly the cost is negligible at around £20/acre all in for seed, no tilling it and rolling it which is 'cover crop' territory. We won't be applying any chemical or fertiliser or slug pellets before February. If there's a crop then Kerb and Nitrogen. If there's no crop then either S Barley or S linseed both farm saved undressed and uncleaned seed.
It won't be that bad we've just had a wet spell that's all. You are right about a ploughing tho, if heavy land is "too wet" at this time of year ploughing is very effective. Speeds the drying a treat.If the land in question is so bad that you are contemplating chucking farm saved OSR seed on it with a fertiliser spreader and waiting to see if it has survived in spring, should you really be trying to grow an arable crop on it at all?
much chaff?Started planting ours today.
Is it not preferable to make sure you do get a crop from it as if you rip it up you'll have just scuppered your rotation and won't be able to put OSR in that field for another 4 years?