- Location
- Foothills of the Quantocks
Yes, it does the job. I usually add millet to my summer covers, works pretty well in a mix with buckwheat, sunflowers etc. Sorghum is less cold tolerant and you get less seeds per kg so I gave up on using that
C4 cover crops
- Thread starter cquick
- Start date
ollie989898
Member
So what is your chosen/preferred mix at present? Lot of mustard about at the moment I guess it is cheap and cheerful and covers the dirt nicely.
- Location
- Foothills of the Quantocks
Not a fan of mustard, we've got too much brassica in the rotation as it is! Might try some radish in the winter covers as that's clubroot resistant. I used to add oats but gave myself massive BYDV last year, to the line of where I planted them, so not again.
This year between OSR and wheat (kg/ha):
Linseed 50
Buckwheat 40
Sunflower 40
Millet 20
Phacelia 5
This grew about waist high after an application of biosolids. Drilled July 28th. Buckwheat and OSR volunteers were dominant this year, but everything was there if you looked for it. Drilled all 200ac of wheat on 15/16th October.
I'm open to suggestions for fast growing species to add to my mix. The wackier the better.
Birdseed poppies look cheap in terms of £/million seeds..
Or... Would I need to buy new seed if I secured a hemp license? Home saved hemp would be ideal for this job
This year between OSR and wheat (kg/ha):
Linseed 50
Buckwheat 40
Sunflower 40
Millet 20
Phacelia 5
This grew about waist high after an application of biosolids. Drilled July 28th. Buckwheat and OSR volunteers were dominant this year, but everything was there if you looked for it. Drilled all 200ac of wheat on 15/16th October.
I'm open to suggestions for fast growing species to add to my mix. The wackier the better.
Birdseed poppies look cheap in terms of £/million seeds..
Or... Would I need to buy new seed if I secured a hemp license? Home saved hemp would be ideal for this job
Very high seed rates for early sowing I was thinking, where sheer volume of biomass material is not an issue...?
Late May drill dates, I could cut rates of most by 50%? Zero NPK applied here. Looking at my Home Brew bumblebird mix, maybe a few kg of Crimson clover for colour and early flowers I thought.
Last edited:
- Location
- NSW, Newstralya
Very high seed rates for early sowing I was thinking, where sheer volume of biomass material is not an issue...?
Late May drill dates, I could cut rates of most by 50%? Looking at my Home Brew bumblebird mix, maybe a few kg of Crimson clover for colour and early flowers I thought.
40 kg / ha sunflower seed
A tad high you feel Roy?40 kg / ha sunflower seed
Sunflower | Species Information
www.cotswoldseeds.com
But Charles is looking for massive amounts of biomass in a short time.
- Location
- Essex
I looked at those rates and thought 10 times more than I would use. Especially after rape where you have a fair number of volunteers.
A really thick ground cover is a big advantage to my scheme, as it means I can get 2 full years from an establishment, maybe even 3 with a bit of tweaking and management, before thistle and grass weeds arrive in force. back into arable then.
- Location
- NSW, Newstralya
A tad high you feel Roy?
Sunflower | Species Information
But Charles is looking for massive amounts of biomass in a short time.
we normally plant commercial sunflower ( for grain / seeds ) at around 40,000 seeds / ha, which is around 2.5 kg / ha
commercial seed is roughly around 16 - 18,000 seeds / kg
so, 40 kg x 16,000 = 640,000 seeds / ha, or 64 per sq metre
And that’s only one species of a mix
Definitely lots of biomass . . .
also, the bulk density of sunnies are about half that of wheat, so the volume of 40 kg sunnies is about equal to 80 kg wheat
- Location
- NSW, Newstralya
Even millet, just on its own, planted for a cover crop, would probably be around 10 kg / ha, 6 if it was with other species
But the sunflower will pile on weight/mass quickly late into the Summer here in the UK, more so than wheat I'd say.we normally plant commercial sunflower ( for grain / seeds ) at around 40,000 seeds / ha, which is around 2.5 kg / ha
commercial seed is roughly around 16 - 18,000 seeds / kg
so, 40 kg x 16,000 = 640,000 seeds / ha, or 64 per sq metre
And that’s only one species of a mix
Definitely lots of biomass . . .
also, the bulk density of sunnies are about half that of wheat, so the volume of 40 kg sunnies is about equal to 80 kg wheat
From playing around with sunflower here numerous times over the years, they are not really a UK Midlands crop, BUT, they look great in the field and make people happy, not least my Stewardship inspector
Mixedupfarmer
Member
- Location
- Norfolk
Do you think this sort of mix would do ALH2 SFI after winter barley, ie set enough seeds for winter?
Can't see much there that will set seed except under very favourable circumstances...
Guess first week in July might allow some seed setting? Or maybe spin/broadcast on pre-harvest if the herbicide was contact only, ie no SU.
- Location
- Foothills of the Quantocks
So I just came back to this thread, realised the mistake I made. I was quoting the full/straight rates column not the constituent rate!Very high seed rates for early sowing I was thinking, where sheer volume of biomass material is not an issue...?
Late May drill dates, I could cut rates of most by 50%? Zero NPK applied here. Looking at my Home Brew bumblebird mix, maybe a few kg of Crimson clover for colour and early flowers I thought.
| full rate/ha | Constituent rate | |
| Buckwheat | 40 | 8.0 |
| Phacelia | 5 | 1.0 |
| sunflower | 40 | 8.0 |
| millet | 20 | 4.0 |
| Linseed | 50 | 10.0 |
More sane. Was a little thin though early on, so perhaps will increase everything by 10% next year.
Quite similiar to my home brew mix.
I use a bit more Millet and Linseed in the "Game" mix.