OSR into a grass ley

[DrWazzock]

First it will be sprayed off.

In the past I have then drilled with the Unidrill which worked well in light land but wasn't so successful on heavy land , imagine seed sitting in grooves in concrete with next to no tilth round them. Some germinated but struggled to establish a decent tap root. Not a write off but not very satisfactory.

The field this year is very heavy indeed and baked pretty hard. I thought of paraplowing it with the seeder on the plough sprinkling the seed behind the legs but consider this a bit hit and miss.

But the seeder is is already fitted to the stubble cultivator for establishing OSR in cereal stubbles.

So I wondered if I would get better results fitting Dutch openers to the stubble cultivator and using it to put the osr in after paraplowing . So it's loosened for good rooting but drilled with a bit more precision into soil.

 

[Gedd]

Why rape and not wheat following grass

 

[Flat 10]

Why not para plough, roll, drill, roll?

 

[DrWazzock]

Why not para plough, roll, drill, roll?

I think you are right. The paraplow will sort the compaction and the drill will then get it in neatly.

I will leave the stubble cultivator for establishing on stubbles with large amounts of chopped straw.

 

[DrWazzock]

Why rape and not wheat following grass

Leather jackets

 

[DrWazzock]

Paraplowed it today. Came up rough as a badgers arse.

Will sprinkle the seed on with the turbo jet then flat roll it in and down again. That way the sprayer might not break an axle getting over it.

It's an "experiment".

 

[Flat 10]

Roll, drill roll.

 

[DrWazzock]

Roll, drill roll.

I might. I'd be more enthusiastic about the drill if the metering was reliable and consistent.

The drill could have problems with the undulations and lumps of turf. Will it be any better than broadcast and flat flat roll. Not sure.

 

[DrWazzock]

Carried on for the record in the OSR drilling thread if anybody is interested.
It's not going that well.

 

[ollie989898]

Seen this done before well. In OSR you have plenty of grass weed control options making more sense than wheat.

 

[DrWazzock]

Living the no till dream ... or nightmare. Time will tell but I'm not confident the OSR will emerge from those slots. Very difficult to get consistent depth. Either ran on top or went through the mat and too deep. Slots setting like concrete now but there is some tilth in the bottom around the seeds and if we get rain then I will live in hope.


Flat rolled the tramlines to smooth the ride for the sprayer man. Almost closed the slots. Did not roll the entire field as was concerned the rape wouldn't emerge where drilled too deep and it was still like marzipan in places.

 

[Bury the Trash]

Seen this done before well. In OSR you have plenty of grass weed control options making more sense than wheat.

Yeah,
the rape will be a break as wheat (strictly speaking ) is a grass

 

[ollie989898]

Yeah,
the rape will be a break as wheat (strictly speaking ) is a grass

That was my thinking also. The weed spectrum would be more reduced as well, yes you might get docks or nettles etc your OSR but that is hardly an issue because the crop will compete with them. Less likely to get charlock or hedge mustard etc and any surviving meadow grass/ryegrass can be zipped out with graminicides and kerb etc so you have a wider arsenal than in cereals.

OSR off early also means several weeks stale for entry to WW and your pest cycle is broken (frit fly and the jackets).

 

[DrWazzock]

That was my thinking also. The weed spectrum would be more reduced as well, yes you might get docks or nettles etc your OSR but that is hardly an issue because the crop will compete with them. Less likely to get charlock or hedge mustard etc and any surviving meadow grass/ryegrass can be zipped out with graminicides and kerb etc so you have a wider arsenal than in cereals.

OSR off early also means several weeks stale for entry to WW and your pest cycle is broken (frit fly and the jackets).

That's what my agronomist used to say. He always recommended OSR after grass, not a cereal, which is essentially a grass.

We really should have ploughed it weeks ago, allowed it to weather and drilled conventionally. Ploughing now would have dried it out and given no time to weather the clay, leading to a dried out cloddy seedbed, so we tried paraplow and direct drill. |Leaves a bit to be desired but a good rain now would help.

 

[Matt77]

Can I ask how this went? I’ve never had the need to do this before, until this year..

 

[DrWazzock]

Can I ask how this went? I’ve never had the need to do this before, until this year..

It goes quite well on lighter land without flea beetle. We had several successful years and good crops.
Two years ago it was a disaster. The crop was wiped out when drilled into heavy land grassland in a hot dry September by a big influx of CSFB. And it was the first year without neonic dressings. The perfect storm.
But now in this brave new gamblers world of arable farming I wouldn’t be frightened of direct drilling OSR into sprayed off grassland provided that:
A decent amount of rain is forecast,
You are preferably using cheap home saved seed.
There isn’t high CSFB pressure.
The surface isn’t like concrete.
The sward is reasonably short and slug free.

It’s more or less standard practice with stubble turnips. OSR is no different.

 

[DrWazzock]

It’s getting plenty late enough and it will need a bit of N.

 

[Matt77]

It won't rain now we've started planting and nearly finished combining!!

 

[DrWazzock]

It won't rain now we've started planting and nearly finished combining!!

Enough drizzle here to keep the combine in the shed.
But not really enough moisture to get the OSR away. It’s up, but it’s not really moving fast enough ahead of a possible beetle invasion. It will be touch and go whether it makes a crop this year.