Kev's Grass renovation thread

[Kiwi Pete]

Sorry Kev / mods I will derail this thread no more thanks for the information on those tyne harrows though. Don't see many around here (none)

 

[JD-Kid]

It's biomass but that seems to be about the extent of its benefits.
Would love to be able to beat it with spraying or the likes but not an option here, I may give it a bit of a scratch with heavy chain harrows and a good aeration and see if that has much effect. Have heard plenty of N will just make everything else smother it too, I'm just looking for the organic solution.. can get a fair bit of a premium for stock through the local butchers already, and much more so once biogro certified. Extra $2/kg is what they're saying they will pay, even if it's only 80 lambs a year, few cattle and 5 pigs- it's still a fair bit of extra $ and helps keep costs in check too!
Aiming to blot it out with a pea/oats crop and undersow with usual salad bowl mix.

yea it's a tough one hoof and tooth can sort out a few probs better grasses etc help alot
if i went down the organic way i would be looking at cover crops to choke out weeds bio tillage with plants crop's killed by grazeing or like radishs harrows snapping off tops etc
under sowing ummmm not a fan ok in good years but can back fire

 

[Kevtherev]

This looks some interesting stuff
POLYCAUL kale might DD some into a grass ley

 

[hillman]

What are the grass sprays your using on chicory plantain and clover that won't kill them? @JD-Kid
Don't think we have anything like that over here may be wrong ?

 

[Kevtherev]

 

[reverand]

I've been watching with Intrest. When are you starting?

 

[Kevtherev]

April when it's nice and warm hopefully

 

[reverand]

There has been plenty of ideas, have you got a final mix together yet?

 

[Kevtherev]

Yes I have I'll put the mix on here tomorrow [emoji106]

 

[JD-Kid]

What are the grass sprays your using on chicory plantain and clover that won't kill them? @JD-Kid
Don't think we have anything like that over here may be wrong ?

https://www.nzpps.org/journal/65/nzpp_650590.pdf
there is a bit of stuff in there some sprays will efect one worst than the ofther in some cases

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Planning on DDing some old leys to improve pastures and hay silage leys.
The mix I'm going to use
Lofa festolium
Comer Timothy
Herbal tetraploid ryegrass
Eurostar ryegrass
Alice large leaf clover.

Thoughts please @neilo

I bet it's this mix[emoji23]@Kevtherev

 

[reverand]

Picked this up from Carrs yesterday. Does well in low fertility conditions, apparently

 

[neilo]

I bet it's this mix[emoji23]@Kevtherev

Are you suggesting @Kevtherev wouldn't have taken any notice of what the rest of us reckon?

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Are you suggesting @Kevtherev wouldn't have taken any notice of what the rest of us reckon?

Haha I reckon he just wanted to feel the lurve...

 

[Kevtherev]

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Looking forward to seeing it sprout when's your soil ready temp/ moisture wise in your part of the world?

Don't rush in too soon with a Duncan DD. Easy to plug up a boot with turf and get the dreaded line-worm lol.
We modded ours a tiny bit, built them up with hard facing rod like a little > in front of the hole.. and swapped the fert box/ seed box hoses back to front. Hardly ever drilled fert anyway. Made a big difference to the end results, esp at warp factor "contractor" speeds. I ended up with a little dymo label telling me to keep under 18kmh,

 

[neilo]

Looking forward to seeing it sprout when's your soil ready temp/ moisture wise in your part of the world?

Don't rush in too soon with a Duncan DD. Easy to plug up a boot with turf and get the dreaded line-worm lol.
We modded ours a tiny bit, built them up with hard facing rod like a little > in front of the hole.. and swapped the fert box/ seed box hoses back to front. Hardly ever drilled fert anyway. Made a big difference to the end results, esp at warp factor "contractor" speeds. I ended up with a little dymo label telling me to keep under 18kmh,

Line-worm can be a bugger (I'll have to remember that one)

There was a thread on here a while back, where @ploughman1963 had made some wedges to angle the feet on his Duncan drill more steeply, mostly to aid penetration IIRC, but would presumably have the same effect regarding line-worm control.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Line-worm can be a bugger (I'll have to remember that one)

There was a thread on here a while back, where @ploughman1963 had made some wedges to angle the feet on his Duncan drill more steeply, mostly to aid penetration IIRC, but would presumably have the same effect regarding line-worm control.

It's definitely not a criticism of the Duncan drill. But the Aitchison boots are quite a lot steeper like you said. I never plugged them come to that, but you know what contracting is like.. if you aren't sowing by 7.30am then the phone is going!!
I just built them up from the little hard facing tooth straight back and out so the turf pieces didn't roll in there as much. Quite mossy a lot of our old paddocks on backlying slopes. Esp when about 80 years in pasture!!
Think smacking lime and sulphur on a month ahead or more made a difference too.

 

[ploughman1963]

Line-worm can be a bugger (I'll have to remember that one)

There was a thread on here a while back, where @ploughman1963 had made some wedges to angle the feet on his Duncan drill more steeply, mostly to aid penetration IIRC, but would presumably have the same effect regarding line-worm control.

quite the opposite @neilo - wedges reduced the tine angle

 

[Kevtherev]

Two apprentices helping me patch gateways