Baling Hay
Member
Nice, how did it yield and what inputs did it have?
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Permanent clover understory
- Thread starter Banana Bar
- Start date
Nice, how did it yield and what inputs did it have?
7 acres field and 2.5 8t trailer loads
Sprayed off, 200kg of CAN. Some potash plus.
No other chemical
Looks a nice pile but oats aren’t overly bold... but are they ever
Baling Hay
Member
What's the plan now?
Errrr good question
Plan at the moment is to graze and drill wheat into it with my gd. Spray out the clover I think
There’s some nodules on the roots so hopefully will get a good crop of wheat
Baling Hay
Member
Does the clover need spraying out? Surely it will stop growing over winter?
I think it will come back anyway I don’t want this much clover in the wheat next year. The wheat won’t compete like the oats
Ideally it would be good to drill rape into it with a claydon, that worked really well last year . But it’s getting on for rape.
what would you do with it?
Baling Hay
Member
Graze it down hard, spray half the field and drill wheat into it.
That way you will have a comparison of sprayed vs not sprayed.
Baling Hay
Member
Keep us posted!
Fish
Member
- Location
- North yorkshire
Just had a look at the state of play on ours, a bit random.
25 acre field, about 50% has a good amount of plants which have survived the herbicides, of the other 50% about half has no surviving clover at all, the remaining area ranges from a few plants m/2 to full cover.
25 acre field, about 50% has a good amount of plants which have survived the herbicides, of the other 50% about half has no surviving clover at all, the remaining area ranges from a few plants m/2 to full cover.
Hi folks, thought you might like to see this film showing some outcomes and thoughts from the first full year of the living mulch field lab. Any feedback or insights that you have after watching are appreciated!
www.innovativefarmers.org
Film: What farmers have learnt about living mulches
www.innovativefarmers.org
- Location
- Top of the Chilterns
Interesting stuff. If social media photographs are to be believed, the pioneers of this often stress the success of the clover stand rather than the cash crop, with some stubbles looking miserably thin (at least visually).
Is there much work being done on true strip till (I.e. exclusive strips of clover/wheat)? I only ask as this is something I'm attempting.
Is there much work being done on true strip till (I.e. exclusive strips of clover/wheat)? I only ask as this is something I'm attempting.
- Location
- Essex
Drilled into our clover sward last week. I was encouraged by how well it ran considering some other fields with less cover were too wet.
Gave it 2 litres of glyphosate and that's all apart from some magic jungle juice
It's full of slugs though, even after a small dose of pellets which is worrying. Also there's loads of centipedes. Does anyone know what that's a sign of? I'm hoping they like slugs.
Gave it 2 litres of glyphosate and that's all apart from some magic jungle juice
It's full of slugs though, even after a small dose of pellets which is worrying. Also there's loads of centipedes. Does anyone know what that's a sign of? I'm hoping they like slugs.
- Location
- Essex
Its management of the clover that seems to be the key. It can't be too dominant
mikep
Member
- Location
- Arse end of Surrey, UK
Has anyone any idea how much N a living mulch would 'leak' into the soil available for the cash crop. Looking to try this with heritage wheat but worried about too much N especially in the spring.
- Location
- Essex
I don't think the n fixed is particularly available to companion plants. You have to shock the clover into giving some of it up. Most easily with a broad leafed herbicide. If you're organic, I think you might have to resort to interow harrowing or similar.
This is all hearsay though, as I haven't got that far with my own experiment yet.