Grass reseed

[JPB]

Why don't you go straight away n with grass , I know they are concerned about pests , maybe irisponsable of me to advise otherwise but been reseeding for 50 years and never had a problem, I do put a lot of seed on , not unusual to put 20 kg acre on

It would suit me better actually if I did go straight in with grass. Just worried about diseases, i bet it's been grass for best part of 40 years. Alot of old meadow grass , few buttercups and dandelions. Ph is spot on, p and K desperately low. Can muck be applied on top or before direct drilling or would you all suggest mucking and ploughing for a reseed?

 

[Derrick Hughes]

It would suit me better actually if I did go straight in with grass. Just worried about diseases, i bet it's been grass for best part of 40 years. Alot of old meadow grass , few buttercups and dandelions. Ph is spot on, p and K desperately low. Can muck be applied on top or before direct drilling or would you all suggest mucking and ploughing for a reseed?

I would not put muck on if you direct drilling , seed will have enough contend with in that rotting turf , slurry be ok , may be best ploughing then , I've got a rough field I'm working now , going to put Italian Ryegass and Vetch on it , cut it for a year or two then reseed it proper , or overseed it next spring , it's grass I need so don't want rape on it

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Customer of my seeding today

 

[Derrick Hughes]

And me with my expressive leveling bar lol

 

[ollie989898]

It would suit me better actually if I did go straight in with grass. Just worried about diseases, i bet it's been grass for best part of 40 years. Alot of old meadow grass , few buttercups and dandelions. Ph is spot on, p and K desperately low. Can muck be applied on top or before direct drilling or would you all suggest mucking and ploughing for a reseed?

I'd avoid grass to grass reseeding if at all possible, especially with the old pasture you are describing. Go with a brassica crop in the autumn, it will break the pest cycle and more importantly you have a couple of chances to control weeds. This will give a better start for a new ley, especially if you aren't intending to plough it at all.

The main reason to plough is to bury weed grasses and their seed. Where ploughing is not done they tend to turn up in a new ley a lot faster.

 

[Kevtherev]

I'd avoid grass to grass reseeding if at all possible, especially with the old pasture you are describing. Go with a brassica crop in the autumn, it will break the pest cycle and more importantly you have a couple of chances to control weeds. This will give a better start for a new ley, especially if you aren't intending to plough it at all.

The main reason to plough is to bury weed grasses and their seed. Where ploughing is not done they tend to turn up in a new ley a lot faster.

This ^
Gives you two swipes at BLW control

 

[ollie989898]

This ^
Gives you two swipes at BLW control

Give you 3 if you use something on the brassica, too...

 

[Derrick Hughes]

This is a block of cutting land 50 acres I seeded last autumn , the plan was to drill late August after the last cut , but I was on holiday and forgot to ask him to spray before he cut , had to wait 3 weeks for as some bare patches to green over by then the bulk of it had got a fair hight , sprayed and turned cattle on nearly a week later , they struggled to clear it so mowed it again , went over it twice with a tine Harrow then drilled with a disc drill , it struggled over the winter as by then it was getting late , but its looking good now and almost ready to cut

 

[crashbox]

Customer of my seeding today
View attachment 1034684

Fair play, what drill is that?

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Fair play, what drill is that?

 

[Kevtherev]

@neilo it’s the pig drill !!!

 

[neilo]

@neilo it’s the pig drill !!!

I’m surprised Derrick allows his seed to be drilled with such a contraption.

Do you reckon he told his customer his drill was cr*p too?

 

[Zebbedee]

How have people got on with just going straight in with a powerharrow running shallow?

Never done grass but no doubt it would work well enough but my experience straight in to stubbles is that it does a good job but eats tines on power Harrow

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Never done grass but no doubt it would work well enough but my experience straight in to stubbles is that it does a good job but eats tines on power Harrow

You have to broadcast the seed or keep rake tines off the ground or the ruck up and drag the seed due to loose turf , just role the seed in

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I’m surprised Derrick allows his seed to be drilled with such a contraption.

Do you reckon he told his customer his drill was cr*p too?

Not to start another rumkus about this but my comments were on the lines that I looked at one working on stoney land and it resembled a pig rooting , I believe they are one of the best for drilling in difficult conditions such as an old Matty turf , but not ideal on our stony farm

 

[Zebbedee]

You have to broadcast the seed or keep rake tines off the ground or the ruck up and drag the seed due to loose turf , just role the seed in

Yea my post was answering to @Sheep who I had assumed was asking about a power Harrow straight into established grass to create seed bed? Not raking etc

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Yea my post was answering to @Sheep who I had assumed was asking about a power Harrow straight into established grass to create seed bed? Not raking etc

Yes but my point is if you shallow power Harrow you can't use a tine harrow to apply the seed you will have to broadcast it on top , or the tine harrow will drag the loose turf and it the seed with it , in my experience that is

 

[Sheep]

Yea my post was answering to @Sheep who I had assumed was asking about a power Harrow straight into established grass to create seed bed? Not raking etc

Yes sorry that's what I was asking, into established grass.

Trying to work out the best min till method of grass establishment.

At the moment we're going Grass - cereal - grass, so it's nice and easy to get the second grass into the cereal stubble, I think I'll buy a powerharrow for that (discing at the moment).

Steep fields are a problem though and may suit establishing a brassica between grass crops better. As long as a powerharrow/accord can cope with putting brassicas into established grass.

 

[choochter]

depending on ground conditions at the time, I will be discing, spring tine harrow 3/4 times, broadcast, cambridge roll, flat roll, fingers crossed
clover later

 

[ollie989898]

Yes sorry that's what I was asking, into established grass.

Trying to work out the best min till method of grass establishment.

At the moment we're going Grass - cereal - grass, so it's nice and easy to get the second grass into the cereal stubble, I think I'll buy a powerharrow for that (discing at the moment).

Steep fields are a problem though and may suit establishing a brassica between grass crops better. As long as a powerharrow/accord can cope with putting brassicas into established grass.

Behind cereals works really nicely provided your stubble is clean. Get a min-till cultivator and set it deep enough to remove wheelings/tramlines. Rip up all the tramlines as necessary first. Then bring the cultivator up to a modest working depth and work the entire field at a slight angle to the previous drillings- you only need 2 inches of tilth for a grass ley, doing more is not necessary.

Powerharrow or similar to get the tilth fine enough as needed. Put grass on with harrow/box machine. Cambridge roll until bored. Look for weeds in the emerging grass. Pasture master/Polo +/- hurler/hudson can be used from the 2-3 true leave stage, but you can delay until tillering. Spray on in the autumn before the grass covers over or the weeds become too large. The spray will sting back most things and let the grass dominate. You're done- enjoy your new ley.