Grass Renovation thread

[Derrick Hughes]

i have feild here thats been left for good few decades, i drained it a couple of years ago yn been spraying the rushes for the last 2 years and got rid of 95% of them. my question is would ploughing the feild bring back the rushes? or should i just direct drill it?

I've had a long battle with rushes . You have two problems, those growing and the seed bank . Best way to get rid of them is with Roundup , either weed wipe or spray . If you want to reseed as long as the ground is dry and level enough then burn it off and direct drill , ploughing will just bring up more seeds , if you want to go one better then put a short term ley leave it two years then burn and drill again , make sure the PH is well up , rushy land tends to be acidic

 

[Kevtherev]

Ye of little Knowledge [emoji23]
Who was that NFU big wig who had a clear out sale in the Borders many years ago , had white hair . Name escapes me for a mo
I bought his Moore 4 m drill , before you were knee high ti a grasshopper I bet [emoji23]

Why did you sell it?
Or do you still have it?

 

[neilo]

In the past, where it's had 3 doses of 5kg/ha and the damage is on-going and I'd be using draza in all honesty. I had a colleague that believed the old black ridged slugs were resistant to metaldehyde, I never heard anything about that in the press. The problem with ferric is that you don't see dead slugs, they apparently consume the stuff and then go underground and stop eating so you it's not as spectacular as the older AI. Draza of course, you knew worked because every invertebrate in the field was dead.

A job to get anything but Ferric these days, and if you do, then leaving a 10m margin round a lot of my fields would mean half the field wouldn’t get done, the half with most slug pressure.

A bag of metaldehyde did turn up yesterday, to change things around a bit for their next feed. That 10ac field will soon have cost more in slug pellets than seed! I’ve never seen anything like it, even back in 2012.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Why did you sell it?
Or do you still have it?

Traded it in for summat , straight bat ,I did not have a clue how to use it, there was no farming forum then , I did not even have a computer
Dont think people realise how lucky they are to have you guys to feed information off

 

[som farmer]

Traded it in for summat , straight bat ,I did not have a clue how to use it, there was no farming forum then , I did not even have a computer
Dont think people realise how lucky they are to have you guys to feed information off

I agree, tff is a real source of practical knowledge, some iffy, a few down right silly, but there is very little, you can't get advice on, the secret, is in learning the advice. For any young farmer, where only experience can give a sensible answer, its seriously cheap advice, free!

 

[neilo]

I agree, tff is a real source of practical knowledge, some iffy, a few down right silly, but there is very little, you can't get advice on, the secret, is in learning the advice. For any young farmer, where only experience can give a sensible answer, its seriously cheap advice, free!

As long as everyone remembers that some of it is worth precisely that.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

As long as everyone remembers that some of it is worth precisely that.

When Kev asked about that drill I suddenly thought. I had the 4 m Moore drill and not a clue how to use it, no one i knew had had any experience of drilling, so I ended up selling it
It cost me £400 , I was going to drill Oats on plouged land with it,but it was so wet that year I ended up broadcasting it

 

[Kevtherev]

Shame you sold it as they are a good drill.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Shame you sold it as they are a good drill.

I did not know what I had . gassed the front hitch off to get it home on the wagon

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Spraying
If had given this a pre harvest spray I could have drilled it 10 days ago , 10 days on its no where near ready to spray . Month lost I reckon

 

[neilo]

Spraying
If had given this a pre harvest spray I could have drilled it 10 days ago , 10 days on its no where near ready to spray . Month lost I reckon View attachment 898410

If you mention using glyphosate pre-mowing on here you’ll have the Eastern Counties arable boys queueing up to stone you.

That’s about as bad as daring to mention you might use it pre-harvest in cereals.

 

[Grassman]

Personally I’d leave it then, although it will look untidy for a bit and get the neighbours talking.

Don’t forget the slug pellets, the buggers are about in huge numbers. I’ve put 2kg/ac on one of my DD fields 3 times, and there are still some there, along with babies too now. Just waiting on some more pellets to arrive, or enough rain so the crop might outgrow them.

So what harm do slug pellets do to other species?
I'm thinking hedgehogs, voles, birds, etc.
I have always been reluctant to use them.

 

[neilo]

So what harm do slug pellets do to other species?
I'm thinking hedgehogs, voles, birds, etc.
I have always been reluctant to use them.

That depends on the active ingredient. Draza (methiocarb?) were pretty lethal if ingested by hedgehogs I think, but they’ve been gone for several years.
Metaldehyde are safer, but it’s difficult to remove from water. Stewardship guidelines say you can’t spread them within 10m of a hedgeline and they’re pretty hard to get hold of now anyway.
Ferric pellets are pretty benign to most species I think, and no problem in water either. They seem to work just as well normally, and thankfully the price has come down to the same as metaldehyde now.

I’m pretty sure you can still by Draza in garden centres and pour them out in huge quantities on your flower beds, but those nasty farmers are killing all the hedgehogs!

 

[Grassman]

That depends on the active ingredient. Draza (methiocarb?) were pretty lethal if ingested by hedgehogs I think, but they’ve been gone for several years.
Metaldehyde are safer, but it’s difficult to remove from water. Stewardship guidelines say you can’t spread them within 10m of a hedgeline and they’re pretty hard to get hold of now anyway.
Ferric pellets are pretty benign to most species I think, and no problem in water either. They seem to work just as well normally, and thankfully the price has come down to the same as metaldehyde now.

I’m pretty sure you can still by Draza in garden centres and pour them out in huge quantities on your flower beds, but those nasty farmers are killing all the hedgehogs!

Must admit I have never seen a hedgehog in the middle of a field. I would hate to think I was responsible for killing them. Be better used with the seed for direct drilling but I guess the drill wouldn't be happy.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Must admit I have never seen a hedgehog in the middle of a field. I would hate to think I was responsible for killing them. Be better used with the seed for direct drilling but I guess the drill wouldn't be happy.

I can mix them with grass seed no problem. Not recommended with turnip seed

 

[aledjones3130]

I can mix them with grass seed no problem. Not recommended with turnip seed

Is the seed you drilled with the new drill up yet?

 

[neilo]

I can mix them with grass seed no problem. Not recommended with turnip seed

Why not? I drilled turnips mixed with slug pellets a week or so back. All up nice & even now.

 

[Kevtherev]

No problem mixing slug pellets in with the turnip or rape seed just have to watch they don’t separate whilst drilling I always stop occasionally and stir them up in the hopper.

 

[sherg]

Yes I think there is @sherg may know
One near Builth wells too I think.

Rob adams by ford did have one, I'm not sure if he's still got it

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Is the seed you drilled with the new drill up yet?

Day 7