Cheap cover on very light land

[Will 1594]

, will be taking bulbs up in next couple weeks .
to put something in to get some greenery , organic matter into it , does not need deep rooting , as light sand and shakerator legs , deep if needed will take out any compacted areas
It will blow , you could have 30 mill and be on it it in two days , when it’s dry it resembles building ballast
. It’s going winter barley ,
Cropping usually barley as a break for roots ,

 

[Chae1]

Mustard.

 

[Breckland Boy]

, will be taking bulbs up in next couple weeks .
to put something in to get some greenery , organic matter into it , does not need deep rooting , as light sand and shakerator legs , deep if needed will take out any compacted areas
It will blow , you could have 30 mill and be on it it in two days , when it’s dry it resembles building ballast
. It’s going winter barley ,
Cropping usually barley as a break for roots ,

If it takes two days to dry out after 30mm it can't be that light!
Here, I need a few hours after 30mm.
Either way mustard is a good cheap option.

 

[Great In Grass]

Mustard is cheap but it is sensitive to lack of N & water very high temps too also it can run to seed quickly. Due to its fibrous nature, it's slow to break down and N losses are high.

Fodder Radish? Drought resistant, slugs don't seem to like it either fairly cheap. It will suit your soil type producing big biomass and leaving a good soil structure.

 

[AF Salers]

You could put oats in, will establish quickly & will produce good below & above ground biomass and help stop wind blow.

 

[robbie]

I'd say oil radish plus some oats or rye I'd you've got some laying about.

 

[Will 1594]

You could put oats in, will establish quickly & will produce good below & above ground biomass and help stop wind blow.

Got some oats , and a bit of mustard , and have 1/2 ton beans from clean up from back of shed ,

 

[robbie]

Sounds spot on, the beans will fix a bit of N between now and sowing barley Just watch the mustard doesnt run to seed to quickly.

If you give your mix a fancy name you'll be able to flog it for a huge markup!!!!?

 

[Will 1594]

Sounds spot on, the beans will fix a bit of N between now and sowing barley Just watch the mustard doesnt run to seed to quickly.

If you give your mix a fancy name you'll be able to flog it for a huge markup!!!!?

Do you think they do much good , all these fancy expensive bought mixes , main benefit is seed mans wallet

 

[AF Salers]

Sounds like a decent mix to do the job ?

 

[robbie]

Do you think they do much good , all these fancy expensive bought mixes , main benefit is seed mans wallet

Not really, the individual crop types in the mix do have definite uses for individual jobs and cover crops in general are a good thing but as you say the pre mixes seem to have a good margin just for the aggravation of mixing them for you which can be done on farm from straights much cheaper.

 

[Brisel]

What do you grow in your cash crop rotation? What is the soil pH? Just thinking of clubroot risk.

As above, oats and mustard sound good. If there are no legumes in the rotation then adding some beans is good but bear in mind that they will be fibrous when you come to put steel through it later on even if sprayed off a long time before.

 

[Brisel]

Beware of the seed police royalty implications of sowing 2 home saved seeds. If you think paying for a merchant mix is expensive, wait until you've paid an area based royalty for both home ingredients! Might be worth a call to BSPB to see how they would treat this before you sow anything.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Cover is cover, for what you want.
Whatever is cheap and doesn't alert The Seed Police to the fact that plants are growing without their tax cut, weeds are especially good in this respect

 

[Will 1594]

Beware of the seed police royalty implications of sowing 2 home saved seeds. If you think paying for a merchant mix is expensive, wait until you've paid an area based royalty for both home ingredients! Might be worth a call to BSPB to see how they would treat this before you sow anything.

Oats are seed not sown . As are beans , so not home saved seed
Rotation beet barley potatoes barley carrots barley bulbs barley back to beet

 

[robbie]

Is FLN not a problem with that sort of rotation or do you use nematicides on all roots.

 

[Will 1594]

Is FLN not a problem with that sort of rotation or do you use nematicides on all roots.

Might get spring barley if late lifted carrots or beet . Patch or two fln half of Norfolk will be hammered like this . Too light for wheat or beans as just run out of water in a dry spell like just had , end of a heavier field that has wheat in it been irrigated twice to keep it alive which has a light patch . What else do you do with structureless dust with flint in it
Field behind house resembles the beach , and over road it’s like concrete ballast just add water and cement , would soon be solid , pure gravel 18 inch down ,
All cost effective ideas / ways to improve it welcomed

 

[Brisel]

I’d say you were making the best of it already. A rain gun for the dry. Lots of organic matter for everything and crops you can make a few quid on with said rain gun. See what NELMS comes up with in future for the really poor bits as no doubt you’ll have the opportunity to farm other land in future with your kind of management skills.

 

[Will 1594]

I’d say you were making the best of it already. A rain gun for the dry. Lots of organic matter for everything and crops you can make a few quid on with said rain gun. See what NELMS comes up with in future for the really poor bits as no doubt you’ll have the opportunity to farm other land in future with your kind of management skills.

We are looking at rotating 50 acre of steward ship mix , ab15 ?
poor bits. ? be a third of farm , I would class as poor horrible sand , it’s the rain gun what makes it , quite a bit is at river level so cannot get fall for drains , so when wet it’s a bog , and last 2 months has just fried every thing ,
Last count was just under 20 million gallon pumped so 1/4 of it gone , been worth it on corn though ,
Just need to find some one from the west side of country who wants a feed lot to fatten their suckers calves , to make a muck factory