Clover seed in Digestate?

[fred.950]

We are having 35 cube / hectare of Digestate applied next week after second cut on some fairly open leys, I didn’t know if it would be worth chucking some seed in with it? It will be applied with a dribble bar and the driver is more than happy to do it in exchange for a McDonald’s. Or do I need to get it drilled properly??
@Great In Grass
@deleted user 837354

 

[deleted user 837354]

I've known people put clover seed in feed troughs and slurry tankers with varying degrees of success. Never seemed 100% reliable to me but maybe a dribble bar would result in it being more even.

 

[Great In Grass]

Shallow drill the seed before mid-August roll for good seed to soil contact.

 

[davidroberts30]

We are having 35 cube / hectare of Digestate applied next week after second cut on some fairly open leys, I didn’t know if it would be worth chucking some seed in with it? It will be applied with a dribble bar and the driver is more than happy to do it in exchange for a McDonald’s. Or do I need to get it drilled properly??
@Great In Grass
@deleted user 837354

i tried some through the umbilical last year and about none of it took

 

[fred.950]

i tried some through the umbilical last year and about none of it took

Thanks, that pretty much answers that

 

[davidroberts30]

Thanks, that pretty much answers that

i have heard locally of good results but that might have been with a tanker and putting a cup full of seed in the pipe each time it was filled

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Thanks, that pretty much answers that

One thing you learn in farming is two years never the same . Because it did not work for him means very little or no one would ever direct drill again or turn a furrow , and very few can give a reliable comment without seeing the field . Lot depends on how open the sward is and if you sow after cutting

 

[som farmer]

mike lemmy's idea of putting in the feed trough sounded good, just about to try it, after years of saying, I must try that ! That will be on hfr calves, on p/p. Not our field, but has taken us 10 years to get it clean, its now useful, clover would be the cream,

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Clover grows like weed here if I give the fields what it wants . Lime and Slag, plenty of potash

 

[deleted user 837354]

Clover grows like weed here if I give the fields what it wants . Lime and Slag, plenty of potash

Once it gets established, the stuff can nearly be a bloody nuisance.

 

[fred.950]

One thing you learn in farming is two years never the same . Because it did not work for him means very little or no one would ever direct drill again or turn a furrow , and very few can give a reliable comment without seeing the field . Lot depends on how open the sward is and if you sow after cutting

The sward is quite open because it had clover but I sacrificed it to get rid of a lot of young docks but the grass that’s there is good. Maybe I should try one field through the dribble bar and one field with a drill.
can you even buy clover separately?

 

[deleted user 837354]

The sward is quite open because it had clover but I sacrificed it to get rid of a lot of young docks but the grass that’s there is good. Maybe I should try one field through the dribble bar and one field with a drill.
can you even buy clover separately?

Yes loads of places will sell clover separately or even a mixture of clovers.

 

[Hesstondriver]

It would be worth trying it on a couple of loads or so and mark where they go and just see if does work. And if it’s only a couple of loads you could probably just get away with a happy meal or chicken nuggets too!

 

[deleted user 837354]

If there is bare dirt evident already because the sward has thinned etc then do as great in grass suggested and get someone to slot it in somehow. Then roll it and pray for rain.

 

[davidroberts30]

mike lemmy's idea of putting in the feed trough sounded good, just about to try it, after years of saying, I must try that ! That will be on hfr calves, on p/p. Not our field, but has taken us 10 years to get it clean, its now useful, clover would be the cream,

Tried that too?‍was too dry when i fed it to the cattle I recon
I do have good 2ft circles of clover growing where I tipped the grub on the grass tho

 

[Derrick Hughes]

The sward is quite open because it had clover but I sacrificed it to get rid of a lot of young docks but the grass that’s there is good. Maybe I should try one field through the dribble bar and one field with a drill.
can you even buy clover separately?

Yes we sell it for Hurrells Seeds had a blend made up last week . If you dont have a rep in your area then Message me I will sort a price , , drill would be the safest way as long as he dont go in to deep. Just scratch the surface . Hold the grass back . The problem is your trying to hold back the tide as you and Feeding the sward with your digestate but wanting to hold it back at the same time
If I was wanting to drill clover it would be with lime Phosphate and Potash . No N . Keep stock on it grazing hard until it chits .

 

[michael N123]

If there is bare dirt evident already because the sward has thinned etc then do as great in grass suggested and get someone to slot it in somehow. Then roll it and pray for rain.

I just gently poured the seed into the fert spinner one bucket to one bag of fert and it’s grew like feck can see exactly where I ran out of clover seed

 

[fred.950]

Yes we sell it for Hurrells Seeds had a blend made up last week . If you dont have a rep in your area then Message me I will sort a price , , drill would be the safest way as long as he dont go in to deep. Just scratch the surface . Hold the grass back . The problem is your trying to hold back the tide as you and Feeding the sward with your digestate but wanting to hold it back at the same time
If I was wanting to drill clover it would be with lime Phosphate and Potash . No N . Keep stock on it grazing hard until it chits .

Ph is good and the Digestate is relatively low on N compared to P & K so it’s probably worth a go.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Declaring an interest in Slag so take it as you like but phoning around farms today for advice and they all said it's like a drug to clover

 

[neilo]

Ph is good and the Digestate is relatively low on N compared to P & K so it’s probably worth a go.

Make sure you do it before a decent wet spell and if doesn’t matter how you distribute the seed. I’ve had good results with a slug pelleter and from chucking it with fertiliser, but the important bit is the following rain. Without that it will just germinate from the moisture in the digestate, then die off.

I have my own Simtech but I have never felt the urge to scratch up any weed seeds by spending time and money DD’ing clover in.