Is bagged fert a waste of time................... AND MONEY?

[Pasty]

You will see I have adopted the Boss style of question writing. It is very nice.

So. Is it? On PP that has never seen a seed or plough or harrow for 50 years. Somebody tell me why I need to lose a grand before I start to pop white power pellets over my fields?

It's a scam innit?

 

[Henarar]

No its not a scam its plant food

 

[Henarar]

but that don't mean to say that the grass will not grow without it

 

[crazy_bull]

Fertiliser at the correct rate gives the best return of money over any other inputs on growing crops (don't mean just N)

C B

 

[Great In Grass]

It will have very little effect in your case with a long established PP. For instance the meadow grass in the sward cannot respond to 67% of the Nitrogen supplied with creeping bent that figure increases to 83%!

 

[neilo]

It will have very little effect in your case with a long established PP. For instance the meadow grass in the sward cannot respond to 67% of the Nitrogen supplied with creeping bent that figure increases to 83%!

Are you suggesting he should send the grand your way, rather than to the fertiliser salesman?

 

[Great In Grass]

Are you suggesting he should send the grand your way, rather than to the fertiliser salesman?

No keep it in his pocket or buy more chooks.

 

[d williams]

Fertiliser at the correct rate gives the best return of money over any other inputs on growing crops (don't mean just N)

C B

That would depend on what the fert cost £170/ton 34.5n I will agree

 

[Henarar]

You will see I have adopted the Boss style of question writing. It is very nice.

So. Is it? On PP that has never seen a seed or plough or harrow for 50 years. Somebody tell me why I need to lose a grand before I start to pop white power pellets over my fields?

It's a scam innit?

do you need more grass ?

 

[crazy_bull]

That would depend on what the fert cost £170/ton 34.5n I will agree

Even at £250/mt there will be an economic point to add fert, although the optimal point will be lower up the application level.

 

[d williams]

Even at £250/mt there will be an economic point to add fert, although the optimal point will be lower up the application level.

I disagreed on old ducked leys

 

[Pasty]

I just wondered, being new to all this. Last year I rented half my flat field to a guy and he put on what? 100kg? Does that sound anywhere near? Anyway, he did and then he did it again in mid summer. I had intended to fence off my bit which I rear chooks on but never got around to it so half was given 2 doses and half wasn't. The chook manure could have had an effect but after much looking at it with my eyeballs, I could see no difference in growth given that his sheep had run the whole field. In fact, the bit at my end looked better.

I just wonder how many farmers are throwing bags of 20:10:10 onto old pasture and actually getting no benefit at all.

 

[crazy_bull]

I disagreed on old ducked leys

Yeah to be fair I did miss read the OP's question,

C B

 

[Paddington]

Getting your soil pH optimised first might be better use of your cash

 

[Goweresque]

My experiences with old PP, and I mean really old, ridge and furrow stuff thats not seen a plough in 200 years most likely, is that it responds best to sheep. I've been putting a bit of N on fields that get cut for hay every year, and it definitely gives it a little boost, but the biggest rises in yields of small bales/acre have come since I've had tack sheep over the winter - its put anywhere from 20-40 bales/acre on top of the pre sheep average.

 

[le bon paysan]

Lime,

 

[An Gof]

You will see I have adopted the Boss style of question writing. It is very nice.

So. Is it? On PP that has never seen a seed or plough or harrow for 50 years. Somebody tell me why I need to lose a grand before I start to pop white power pellets over my fields?

It's a scam innit?

It's all about how you utilise the grass you grow.
You need to think about that very carefully and then adopt the appropriate fertiliser regime.

 

[Pasty]

It's all about how you utilise the grass you grow.
You need to think about that very carefully and then adopt the appropriate fertiliser regime.

But my point is that in my area, bags of N get spun around every year and I feel I have a like for like comparison which shows it makes little or no difference. Something I had always suspected. Maybe on new plants but on these old pastures, has anyone ever been brave enough to just not bother? Soil + Sun + Rain = Grass.

 

[Kevtherev]

I'd soil test to see what ph is plus p&k before you do anything
Older pastures always respond well to fert and FYM

 

[Henarar]

We have mostly old PP and I will tell anyone for nothing that I can see where the fert goes on and if I miss a bit I can see it, to say that PP doesn't respond to N is rubbish

That said I don't put N on everything