Grass Renovation thread

[Kevtherev]

Address the drainage issue first then......

 

[hally]

We bought some hill ground along the road about 15 years ago and set about improving it. It started with rushes the height of the tractor wheels so sprayed them out then drained it in 20 acre blocks a year. The following year we rotaspiked the drains level and then went over the block with the rotaspike after roundup as we decided it had too much crap on it for direct drilling and too wet for brassicas in the winter ( 50 inches of rain not uncommon around here). We then rolled it and double passed with our Unidrill. Worked well now carrying 3 texel ewes with twins to the acre on land that cost us about £500/ acre plus the cost of draining which we mostly did ourselves.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Address the drainage issue first then......

You know I don't mince words Kev , they were all the go in the late 70ts around here when a lot of land was reclaimed and drained . On the peaty wet land they was blo ody unless, never see them now

 

[Kevtherev]

Still have their place though.
I don’t think anyone with any sense would go into a peat bog with a rotavator certainly not around here anyway.
I still use one for rotavating drains
(8ft krone)

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Remember back in the eighties draining some land , next door did the same on same type of land ,we ploughed ours with a lay flat forestry plough, so much grass came after we had to cut it with the Class Jag Forager ,thats how dry it was , meanwhile next door rotavated his , lost count how many times he got stuck trying to seed it , he gave up in the end

 

[Kevtherev]

It will indeed make it a rice pudding on wet land.

 

[som farmer]

i once did a 55 acre field, with a 4ft one, never very keen on after that, hot, dry, dusty and no aircon !

 

[Derrick Hughes]

 

[Cab-over Pete]

Situation update.

My seedlings are dying. Boo.

The cuts from the disc drill are drying out and long cracks are forming. They are now open to the strong wind, making it all worse. One corner of the field is in full row, moisture there right down.

I have a cunning plan for irrigation. I was cursing the windy afternoon because I can't go spreading, but it seems I'm going to be busy.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Anybody go straight into a sprayed off ley with a power harrow prior to seeding?

@Derrick Hughes ..... appreciate the efforts to keep us informed of your reseeding, just one tip if you don't mind..... hold the phone horizontally when taking a video, fills the screen much better.

Overseeding .
Better? , sorry about the sound , was blowing me over

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Decided to give it a harrowing and rolling [emoji23]

 

[Grassman]

Situation update.

My seedlings are dying. Boo.

The cuts from the disc drill are drying out and long cracks are forming. They are now open to the strong wind, making it all worse. One corner of the field is in full row, moisture there right down.

I have a cunning plan for irrigation. I was cursing the windy afternoon because I can't go spreading, but it seems I'm going to be busy.

I did some direct drilled grass seeding this spring but the drought really didn't do it any favours. The drill slots really do dry out badly. Its growing now in a fashion.
Reseeding Is a proper gamble

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I did some direct drilled grass seeding this spring but the drought really didn't do it any favours. The drill slots really do dry out badly. Its growing now in a fashion.
Reseeding Is a proper gamble

Which drill
The Simtec loosens the soil to much for liking, yes I know its deeper .

 

[Grassman]

Which drill
The Simtec loosens the soil to much for liking, yes I know its deeper .

Moore unidrill. Oldish machine.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Moore unidrill. Oldish machine.

Seed is more likely to get drowned here .is that weed or clover ?

 

[milkloss]

Overseeding .
Better? , sorry about the sound , was blowing me over

Well done, much better video to watch

 

[Kevtherev]

Seed is more likely to get drowned here .is that weed or clover ?

Are those grey lumps the slag?

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Are those grey lumps the slag?

Yes . Dissolving like sugar lumps ain't they . Was black all over 3 weeks ago

 

[Cab-over Pete]

Had a go at a bit of flood irrigation. Quick fag packet calculations show it’s getting the equivalent of about 3mm of rain. Not really a sustainable enterprise, but if some of it survives and I get a bit of variety I’ll be happy. Plus, I’m buggered if I’m going to just sit back on a windy afternoon and watch it all shrivel up.

this is the good looking corner, pleased with that.

 

[Kevtherev]