Bulking up small seed quantities

Boomerang

Member
Need to sow a mix of different sized seed in a small grass seeder .
But need to bulk up volume so seeder will cope .basically havnt got enough seed to fill hopper . It's WAY to expensive .
Any ideas ?
Not sure sand is an option.
 

Tim G

Member
Livestock Farmer
6634d1272228241-old-seed-fiddle-aeroseedsower-forum.jpg
 

Great In Grass

Member
Location
Cornwall.
Another option is to mix in a small amount of amenity grass seeds. This will act as a nurse crop for the wildflowers, sheltering them whilst they establish as well as preventing soil erosion by stabilising the soil.
 

Boomerang

Member
Aiming for 1.5 kg over 400m2.

When I bulk it up add sand or whatever add say 6kg sand plus 1.5kg seed . And calibrate seeder to put it all on given area. So although I'm aiming for 4gn2 with sand plus seed I'll apply 18gm2.
 
@farmideas had an article years ago with someone who was doing the same, possibly with clover though. Filled a milk bottle with the seeds, drilled a hole in the lid, and made a frame to hold it inverted in the hopper of a vicon wagtail. The seeds trickled into the hopper out of the milk bottle, and spread through the wagtail as normal, saved bulking up the seeds.
 

deere 6600

Member
Mixed Farmer
@farmideas had an article years ago with someone who was doing the same, possibly with clover though. Filled a milk bottle with the seeds, drilled a hole in the lid, and made a frame to hold it inverted in the hopper of a vicon wagtail. The seeds trickled into the hopper out of the milk bottle, and spread through the wagtail as normal, saved bulking up the seeds.
I used to mix oat husks with rape seed etc to bulk out a bit sorry don't know where you would get them now or just some old grass seed
 

farmerm

Member
Location
Shropshire
@farmideas had an article years ago with someone who was doing the same, possibly with clover though. Filled a milk bottle with the seeds, drilled a hole in the lid, and made a frame to hold it inverted in the hopper of a vicon wagtail. The seeds trickled into the hopper out of the milk bottle, and spread through the wagtail as normal, saved bulking up the seeds.
I remember someone doing something similar to that on a farm I worked on over 20 years ago!
 

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
@farmideas had an article years ago with someone who was doing the same, possibly with clover though. Filled a milk bottle with the seeds, drilled a hole in the lid, and made a frame to hold it inverted in the hopper of a vicon wagtail. The seeds trickled into the hopper out of the milk bottle, and spread through the wagtail as normal, saved bulking up the seeds.
386448-587c38c4df02313da4778286a13e938f.jpg
 

Bury the Trash

Member
Mixed Farmer
How do you calibrate the bottle?
the drill hole in the carton { that is to let the seed drop out) with a small bit to start with then progressively bigger if needed, to suit .
put the timer what drops out then work out speed/area covered etc...same as usual

the baler cord pulls the bottle upright to stop seed running out on headland

ive never used the idea mind, keep meaning too .
Original Idea Curtesy of Mike Lemmy i believe who sowed clover with it.
 
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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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