Herbal leys sowing advice

[RichardJackson]

New kid here, we have 20acres total; About acre of ~15yo orchard, 4acres 15yo planted woods for fuel/habitat, 5acres heading towards conservation haymeadow, 3acres permanent pasture, 5acres herbal ley within which an acre veg patch is rotated with strip grazed RedPoll x4. Each year we buy spring calves at weaning, feed em our hay til turn out in April (when its dry enough) and kill end of October. Rinse repeat. 'Regenerative' approach on heavy clay in North Suffolk. We are all part timers.

This is about herbal ley sowing and difficult decisions when the weather isnt great.
We missed the best weather window for sowing this years ley as the spuds were still in.

During the Indian Summer we got it all prepared , harrowed and rolled, but I held out to sow as the top 2" were bone dry. The weather forcast lied as the 3mm rain forcast the day before I was to sow, followed by a weekend of good rain became over 1/8th of the years rain in 2 days, with temperature drop to match.

So in desperation, i got the seed on first chance i could by hand, in the dark and with the rain starting up on Thursday night. Grass cover over winter and reseeded clover etc in may might be my best outcome i thought.

But the torrential rain and gales meant I didnt roll it in.

Should i roll it now, soil pretty sticky now? Or hope the rain settled it in and cross my fingers that out east here we might get enough warmth to get it going?

At what point is rolling counterproductive as chitting seed will be damaged?

Why o why didnt i seed and roll in the baking dry last weekend; the rain would have been very welcome once that was done!!!! Hindsight always 20:20, eh? Actually, I know why, all the other cattle moves that couldnt wait....

Any thoughts re my rolling dilemma much appreciated.

I also look forward to sharing learning/ fine tuning other aspects of our regenerative approach here in future.

Cheers
Richard

 

[Rod Dumbreck]

I would definitely NOT roll unless it was bone dry and the seed looked like blowing away. The subsequent rain will have done more good for soil contact, and if it were to pick up on the roller you would be into a horrible mess

 

[onesiedale]

Leave well alone now for the winter. See what comes up in the spring. Light grazing then and maybe a roll if a nice dry march allows.
Scratch and sow more seed on in spring if needed.
Grazing will be your best management tool next year.

 

[steveR]

Fingers X'd some of the seeds get going and away now. Should have a few days of warmth in the coming weeks.... Can't believe rolling will do much good now.

A few days warmth would be beneficial here on my HL seeds too, the seed mixes are so expensive.

 

[RichardJackson]

Thanks for replies, that was my gut feeling. Nice to have a sounding board - ta!