Reseed, what to do ?

hilux

Member
Location
south Wales
Last year, we reseeded a field of permanent pasture with a clover and Italian mix. This year it was full of thistle and sprayed it off 2 weeks ago with glyphosate. Should I sow a clover mix long term or 4 year ley without clover just in case more thistles reappear ?
 
Last year, we reseeded a field of permanent pasture with a clover and Italian mix. This year it was full of thistle and sprayed it off 2 weeks ago with glyphosate. Should I sow a clover mix long term or 4 year ley without clover just in case more thistles reappear ?

What sort of thistles? Can you take a picture of them before they are too far gone??

You can control weeds in clover leys, but it is a bit more expensive (not mentally so) and a little more hit and miss.

White clover is it? Spruce (2,4DB) and triad. The spruce will screw up thistles long enough for the grass and clover to get away.
 

Anymulewilldo

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Cheshire
Might not fit with your plans but I've started putting a green crop in between grasses. It gives me 2 chances to burn them little bloody thistles off before putting a clover rich ley in.
As @ollie989898 says though, 2-4D makes a passable job without killing all the clover off. ?
 

milkloss

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
East Sussex
Why not spray of the current weeds and leave the irg... should get another year out of it no?

Its easy to sow grass but it's a pain (And expensive with good seed) when it goes wrong.... pests, weather etc.
 

milkloss

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
East Sussex
What sort of thistles? Can you take a picture of them before they are too far gone??

You can control weeds in clover leys, but it is a bit more expensive (not mentally so) and a little more hit and miss.

White clover is it? Spruce (2,4DB) and triad. The spruce will screw up thistles long enough for the grass and clover to get away.

why add the triad?
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Last year, we reseeded a field of permanent pasture with a clover and Italian mix. This year it was full of thistle and sprayed it off 2 weeks ago with glyphosate. Should I sow a clover mix long term or 4 year ley without clover just in case more thistles reappear ?

If you direct drill it, most of the existing clover will grow back from the glyphosate. Cultivation will kill it of course.

If you can use it, a brassica crop would allow you to take any thistle seedlings out relatively cheaply with generic clorpyralid, then reseed later/next Spring.
Failing that, Spruce/Clovermaster will take seedling thistles out of a clover ley reliably.
 

Werzle

Member
Location
Midlands
Last year, we reseeded a field of permanent pasture with a clover and Italian mix. This year it was full of thistle and sprayed it off 2 weeks ago with glyphosate. Should I sow a clover mix long term or 4 year ley without clover just in case more thistles reappear ?
Why didnt you just spray the thistles out with thistlex? Some clover would have survived and you would of killed the thistles at the roots
 

hilux

Member
Location
south Wales
Why didnt you just spray the thistles out with thistlex? Some clover would have survived and you would of killed the thistles at the roots
Because it was overgrazed and hadn't survived the winter very well. We always struggle to get more than 18 months out of Italian ryegrass at the best of times. The clover included in the ley was not designed to last more than that year.
 

hilux

Member
Location
south Wales
@ollie989898
20200621_180541.jpg
 

hilux

Member
Location
south Wales
But to be honest the horse as well and truly bolted .if only you would have put Thistle X on the babies Thistles it would be a nice green field now [emoji25]
Of weed grasses! As I have already said there was no IRG or hardly any left in the sward. The thistles in the picture are dead , can't plough only rotavate. Would the seed in those pods germinate?
 

Derrick Hughes

Member
Location
Ceredigion
Yes . But we can all be wise after I suppose the ideal would have burnt it in May when everything was young and fresh. Yiu could have drilled grass then . Turnips is your best option now .
 

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Red Tractor drops launch of green farming scheme amid anger from farmers

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As reported in Independent


quote: “Red Tractor has confirmed it is dropping plans to launch its green farming assurance standard in April“

read the TFF thread here: https://thefarmingforum.co.uk/index.php?threads/gfc-was-to-go-ahead-now-not-going-ahead.405234/
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