Is Linseed actually appealing to insects?? From my distant recollection, it was not.
I think you are on your own with the whole " 6 doesn't need to be sown together" thing.
To be fair I think your plan is a pretty good one and with no penalties the worst that can happen is someone comes ands tells you next year you gotta plant 6 seeds in the Autumn mix. In my situation I think the cost and stress of having to do 2 drilling would outweigh the higher payment vs an Autumn AHL1.
I am new to this SFI party. Sounds like my day job and the farm job are merging into one in a bad way
The meeting of objectives requirement is not new. Same in my profession. It settles down with experience and we all find out the hard way what works and what does not work! It’s not really better or worse just different to having a big rule book.
I have a question which I hope is still slightly on topic:
I understand that I could drill the seed for the winter bird seed and keep it going on the same piece of land for a few years, or rotate it every year.
When it’s time is up how is it disposed of?
Will it just plough in? Must it be sprayed off with Roundup? Does it need to be flailed to get rid of stalky material? Will we be plagued with volunteer weeds in the next crops which might torture us for years?
In the hand book encouraging summer flowering plants is a purpose of AHL2... but you tell me, is purpose an integral and contractually binding part of the aim or is purpose just purpose.
Aren’t you worried about grass weeds if you sow AHL1 in the autumn seeing as you presumably can’t destroy it until the end of the following summer? Or am I missing something?
Ok, so I am lost on your start date.
Why not plant 6 species in July, and then plant a Spring sown flowering cash crop ahead of wheat, surely that would be more profitable than a cover crop?
Yes I’ve just about got my head around your plan with AHL2 but farmerm mentioned planting AHL1 pollen and nectar mix option in autumn which has the aim to produce ‘areas of flowering plants from late spring and during the summer months’. Seems to me you could both save a lot of bother by leaving stubble over winter (maybe spin on some stubble turnips) and then planting AHL1 with cheap seed like phacelia and radish etc in April/May. Round Up in September, no seed return from overwintered bird food or grass weeds and only have to drill once.
Because if we slot it in between winter barley and a spring flowering cash crop they may think they are paying too much, and it is not value for tax payers money? They may however see that the aims are met, benefits too pollinators and winter birds are worth the money, and be happy.
