Lucerne establishment

[Beretta]

We have traditionally established our Lucerne by ploughing and creating a fine seedbed. Has anyone tried or thoughts on taking 1st cut silage spray off and Direct drill Lucerne into sprayed off sward.

I personally cannot see any problems with this but has it been tried

 

[JD-Kid]

direct drilled quite a bit 2 sprays would be better if yer can do it maybe one pre cut then a follow up to lower weed growth
have also worked ground rolled then sprayed predrill then DD in to rolled ground

 

[Barleycorn]

We always undersow ours with spring barley. Try to take it for wholecrop, a bit earlier for the Lucerne to get away.

 

[JD-Kid]

We always undersow ours with spring barley. Try to take it for wholecrop, a bit earlier for the Lucerne to get away.

have seen it done but lowers chems yer can use for weed control .. know a few sowing with rape etc and graze 8-10 weeks about a 1/4-1/3 rape sowing ie 1 -1.5 kg per Ha with 12 Kg luc

 

[South Downs Farmer]

Ours in after winter barley in an arable rotation, so late July providing we get a rain. Never had trouble getting plants strong enough before winter. Plough, work down fine, shallow drill, roll twice, 75kg/ha of 34.5% on the seedbed.

Never heard of direct-drilled lucerne, only one way to find out!

 

[Beretta]

direct drilled quite a bit 2 sprays would be better if yer can do it maybe one pre cut then a follow up to lower weed growth
have also worked ground rolled then sprayed predrill then DD in to rolled ground

JD if I can that is what aim to do, roundup off silage grass week before cutting then again just before drilling. Any tips with tis idea.

 

[JD-Kid]

what kinda drill yer got ... i used a triple disc with presswheels but realy any drill with some form of depth control and packing soil back down

thing with spraying off watch for lock ups think granstar can have probs with high Ph's in soils or being dry etc etc

make sure Ph etc etc all OK way before drilling up around 6 .5 which will lead to granstar probs

fresh treated seed with the right bugs etc on it wait untill soil temp 10 dC and riseing before drilling if rows 5 inch or less one pass drilling wide rows unless banded i would X drill it some starter fert if it can be drilled or at least pre drill and then some follow up once struck

frist year don't cut it light graze and let it get over 8-10 inchs before frist killing frost so all set to take off the following spring
but there is 2 schools on this one says luc to last years and years another school says make it grow and bomb it up know some guys getting 4 years out of a stand fert truck across it every cut putting on mainly K and N makeing it grow

treated as a crop more than a long term livestock paddock

 

[Beretta]

Jd kid aim to drill with a vaderstad with front discs lifted out. Our present stand has been down for 4 yrs and is getting a bit thin and weedy. Have been applying PK after every other cut.

Why have you been applying N as it is a N fixing crop?

Usually take 3 cuts per year but this year we took 4.

Feeding well at present with 20% protein so not having to buy any of that in at present.

 

[JD-Kid]

it will only fix so much and if given N it will use it just becomes lazy also i think if you see any responce to N below say 120 Kgs per Ha it's not fixing eneff

we used to get about 3-4 cuts a year eazy worked on about 10 round bales of balage per cut

10-15 years no probs maybe a bit thin but still OK at last place higher Ca levels and more summer rains ... here on clays 5-6 pulls them up

a few paddocks once getting a tad thin went in with a hybred ryegrass to bulk them up for a few extra years

 

[Great In Grass]

Lucerne is indeed a legume but it still requires nitrogen as a plant food like all other vegetative material, 35/50kg of N will help establishment.

 

[mushnt grummmble]

Never heard of direct-drilled lucerne, only one way to find out!

i would say its 1 of the worlds most dd crops

 

[will l]

Dont forget the innoculant if the field hasnt had luzerne in the last few years!