Grass growth or the lack of

[South West Ireland]

Hi all,

I closed 8 acres for silage in mid August. Applied 3 bags per acre of 24-2.5-10. The field was tightly grazed all year and to be honest there wasnt a bite of grass on it when I spread the fertiliser last month. Anyways, after walking the field yesterday evening and seeing how short the grass cover is, unless it shoots up over the next 3 - 4 weeks it will be a very poor return on bales per acre. Given its been a poor year for grass and the lack of rain has impacted my ground conditions, still I would expect to see a stronger sward of grass.

I was thinking of spreading a bag of 10-10-20 per acre just incase it needs a bit more P and K to boost it.

What are your thoughts?

 

[Nenuphar]

A picture of the field would help.

Are neighbors fields growing grass or is the whole area in drought.

Some parts of the country have suffered very low growth rates for the last 6-8 weeks due to drought and low temperatures.

 

[TelesnaAg]

Hi all,

I closed 8 acres for silage in mid August. Applied 3 bags per acre of 24-2.5-10. The field was tightly grazed all year and to be honest there wasnt a bite of grass on it when I spread the fertiliser last month. Anyways, after walking the field yesterday evening and seeing how short the grass cover is, unless it shoots up over the next 3 - 4 weeks it will be a very poor return on bales per acre. Given its been a poor year for grass and the lack of rain has impacted my ground conditions, still I would expect to see a stronger sward of grass.

I was thinking of spreading a bag of 10-10-20 per acre just incase it needs a bit more P and K to boost it.

What are your thoughts?

Put a shovel into it, is it compacted? I wouldn't throw money at it until you see whats causing poor growth.

Ant...

 

[Northeastfarmer]

I closed 8 acres for silage in mid August. Applied 3 bags per acre of 24-2.5-10. The field was tightly grazed all year and to be honest there wasnt a bite of grass on it when I spread the fertiliser last month.

Tbh unless it was a new reseed at this time of the year if you grazed it bare you’re not going to get a massive regrow now