- Location
- Ceredigion
The Erth don't create enough tilth imo , that's why preparation is so critical
Grass reseed
- Thread starter biggles
- Start date
- Location
- somerset
the change from ploughfanatic, to min-til, and dd, is both a massive change, and steep learning curve. But we are slowly learning. That veredstaat, has been a revelation, even direct drilled some barley, this spring, not over pretty to look at, but nowhere near a failure, and we will do better, next time.
- Location
- Ceredigion
Same here , seen some dreadful mistakes locally mind , with the Erth it's all about preparation, no cutting corners
- Location
- Welshpool Powys
Takes a while to switch off the draft control us ploughmen are so used to with DD 
- Location
- Welshpool Powys
Will say one thing with DD if you do have a poor result which can happen at least it’s not as bad as a conventional reseed disaster on a dry year in terms of cost to put right and initial costs of cultivations.
More relevant now with the huge fuel costs involved
- Location
- somerset
many years ago, ploughed, worked, and drilled a 12 acre field, grass, and nothing but weeds and weed grass came up, to this day, l have no idea what went wrong, seed company didn't want to know, l blame the seed, they blame me, but must have drilled 100's of acres, with no problem.
Drilled some IRG, and found a seed certification tag, showing the seed was 7 yrs old, that was quickly sorted.
And had trouble seeding over a einbok, contractor couldn't work out why he couldn't get the seed rate right, that turned out to be a desiccated remains of a mouse, he had to do 3 passes, instead of 2, got 2 bags of free grass seed there.
so its not always our fault, when things go wrong, even though we are told it is. There again those 3 cockups were over 35 yrs or so.
- Location
- Ceredigion
Biggest issue i see with grass seed Is being drilled or broadcast to deep ,
Biggest issue here by far is lack of rain.
When sandy ground gets that dry, you can't use a flat roll as soil goes on front of it like a bow wave, burying the seed.
Hence I wait till autumn, and Cambridge roll.
- Location
- Ceredigion
Our land in Cheshire was like that, red sand , was like a Desert most Summers ,In comparison the farm here in West Wales stayed green in 1976
What do you mean by preparation, local contractor has bought an Erth and I was thinking of using it but I’m a bit put off now.
Erth is fine but like all direct drills some basic rules need to be adhered to, most of them common sense. Never had anything but good results on the whole but an odd failure due to pests or dry weather has occurred. With the withdrawal of Dursban for example a few precautions to reduce pest competition is advisable
- Location
- Ceredigion
Getting rid of the old grass , but old meadows can still be a problem , grass won't grow in a carpet of old roots and grass ,nothing will , take a crop of silage ,spray before you cut ,if I can't clear by mowing then I get on it with a tine Harrow, if that don't work then one shallow pass with a rotorspike will , give it a good heavy role after drilling and some lime helps , I have seen Rape fails so its not just grass seed
Having said that I have had no fails here , but I've seen a fair few fails
I'm no expert by a long way but was advised that old leys could be a problem , I know a lot say put a break crop in , but I've seen fails with break crops and I have no use for them , I need to get fields producing grass without a break
The above system works for me
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Saw that advertised, thought it would be just the tool for you
- Location
- Welshpool Powys
Don’t be put of they are absolutely fine and one of the better disc drills imo.
- Location
- Ceredigion
Not seen one working but the back roller seems a good idea
Yeah I fancied a guttler on the back of my Erth instead of a flat roller but they weren’t interested. However on a training trip to Ireland pre covid a couple of contractor lads over there said in wet condition they turn into an enormous ball of shite. So the juries out, but the build quality is miles better on the Moore than the Erth but the Moore has no ground following ability like the Erth which is very important imo.
I’m taking on 30 acres adjacent to our grazing block, not been grazed in years, tussocks and redshank. How do I start?
Flail off and let regrow for glyphosate, there’s a hell of a mat and reeds too. It used to be grazed tidily years ago, I’ll try to get some pictures.
Flail off and let regrow for glyphosate, there’s a hell of a mat and reeds too. It used to be grazed tidily years ago, I’ll try to get some pictures.
- Location
- Welshpool Powys
What do you want to do with it regarding cropping?
Soil test first job
- Location
- Ceredigion
We use a mulcher which is simular to a flail , get it as low as you can , no point wasting roundup if its not fit to spray
Or If its fit to do with a disc mower then use that and bale it to clean it up
If its really bad just bite the bullet and plough it
You could then do what Kev suggested I have done recently ,that is chuck some Italian Ryegrass seed on it , that's relatively cheap ,give it a year and see what comes back, spray off any weeds that show before overseeding with a long term ley when your happy its clean
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Going into grazing block, soil testing next week.
I could mow some of it, probably the majority, my milker took 2nd or probably 3rd quality hay off the furthest fields last year, but immediately adjacent fields are a real mess. We’d probably sow a 1 year Italian, perhaps some rape too , then drill long term ryegrass mix after this. Contractor has a forestry flail.
Pity we couldn’t just drop a match!