Direct drilling lucerne?

[sjt01]

Has anyone experience of direct drilling lucerne? We would like to be able to do it, to get away from our normal practice of broadcasting onto a fine tilth, and then rolling it in.

 

[tr250]

I’ve not actually direct drilled the Lucerne itself but direct drilling wheat into Lucerne stubble worked well

 

[sjt01]

I’ve not actually direct drilled the Lucerne itself but direct drilling wheat into Lucerne stubble worked well

We have strip tilled maize into lucerne stubble, very good results. Lucerne roots are the best thing for soil structure!

 

[Bury the Trash]

perhaps ask the Aussie or Kiwi Boys how they get on...
@CornishTone

there was an older thread on it it seems,
https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/lucerne-establishment.35675/

all i know about is natural seed is mighty small.
Not sure how Mr Avery gets his in these days....

 

[BSH]

I DD some lucerne into winter barley stubble a couple of years ago. Bit of a risk planting late but most of it came. I used a JD750 which I find good at helping preserve moisture in the summer.

 

[sjt01]

I DD some lucerne into winter barley stubble a couple of years ago. Bit of a risk planting late but most of it came. I used a JD750 which I find good at helping preserve moisture in the summer.

Thanks, I am thinking of trying about 10% of our next drilling with the Weaving GD, don't want to experiment on the whole lot.

 

[Deerefarmer]

Set your drill to maintain a consistent proper seed depth, important part is good seed to soil contact. I've only done it with 750 deere, so can't comment on other brands, but I preferred to plant into as little as residue as possible to prevent hairpinning residue in the seed furrow if you know what I mean
Best of wishes for success it is a bit tricky but can be done

 

[Bury the Trash]

Set your drill to maintain a consistent proper seed depth, important part is good seed to soil contact. I've only done it with 750 deere, so can't comment on other brands, but I preferred to plant into as little as residue as possible to prevent hairpinning residue in the seed furrow if you know what I mean
Best of wishes for success it is a bit tricky but can be done

Ah yes , yet another jd 750 recommendation, even a 3m one availiabe to use would be

 

[Farmer Roy]

Use a disc planter for minimal disturbance & accurate / consistent depth, fairly shallow, but still try to ensure the seed is covered / slot closed

 

[cousinjack]

Mf 30... few about cheap.. probably do the job.. if you can get it to meter slow enough ...

 

[JD-Kid]

drilled quite a bit when I was a contractor the cleaner the seed bed the better not that great coming out of thick old matted grass
seeding depth the main thing
if coming out of crop make sure no chems still in soil have seen a few write offs with some chems

 

[benferg]

we have DD'd a couple of lucerne paddocks into old grass.

We double sprayed so that gave a fairly clean paddock (6 weeks between sprays).

drilled with an allen drill (5 inch row spacing). Key to it is making sure the soil is ready for the crop ie fertility.

We will do more I expect.

 

[Dead Rabbits]

The most consistent results I’ve seen is after corn silage. The most important thing over here was to have a good cleaning crop in before the alfalfa is planted. Traditionally it would be planted after winter wheat. That was prior to roundup ready. Not so important now. Only ever seen a JD 750 or the air seeder version of it used.

 

[Dian Landman]

We found best results with a tine drill. Either set depth very swallow or what we have done this year is set depth of tines a bit deeper can cable tie the pipe just next to the tine. Give it a good roll afterwards. Works great for us. You need that good soil contact but basically ontop of ground. Lucerne doesnt want to be planted into the ground. Some fields we rip/subsoil to disturb the upper soil a bit so there is a bit more soil available for contact with the lucerne seeds.