Sowing peas...!!

[Kiwi Pete]

And apologies to all the direct drillers out there for my blasphemy on your forum

I didn't really say rotospike
but I need to mow it

 

[JD-Kid]

found with roto spike if ripped up too much before hand it will just grab lumps and toss them out the back not rip them up
don't go deep just eneff to smash up the top layer 2-3 inchs just were seeds going if in good order under that

 

[Kiwi Pete]

found with roto spike if ripped up too much before hand it will just grab lumps and toss them out the back not rip them up
don't go deep just eneff to smash up the top layer 2-3 inchs just were seeds going if in good order under that

Amazing bit of kit, my neighbour asked "do I get a power harrow or a rotospike"
So we ripped into his paddocks last year with it.
And yeah, that thatchy old 'survival grass' is nasty!
We put relish red clover, boston plantain and Alto or Bealey into them, they look a bit different now. Really cranking.
So, think I'll give it a try here.
I know what my machine does now, if it wasn't rough to begin with and then humps and hollows from the subsoiled it'd easily regrass a paddock.
Will rotospike and tow my Cambridge roller behind it and then sow and cover it.
Think I will have seed for 386kg/ha be a slow trip sowing it. Drill wheel's on 100% at 4.6kmh.
Luckily I have a big macrocarpa to hang the seed bag from

 

[Kiwi Pete]

How do you get depth control on your one, has it got a packing roller on the back?
My last boss's one had no roller at all, it dug halfway to Madrid. Gave some quite interesting results.

 

[JD-Kid]

How do you get depth control on your one, has it got a packing roller on the back?
My last boss's one had no roller at all, it dug halfway to Madrid. Gave some quite interesting results.

packer roller on back but can sink in a bit on high points
used to have a power harrow and it was ok in worked ground roto spike better in my mind tho hates rocks tho

 

[Kiwi Pete]

packer roller on back but can sink in a bit on high points
used to have a power harrow and it was ok in worked ground roto spike better in my mind tho hates rocks tho

Hmm pretty close to my own thoughts, downside of P/H is that given a small patch of cali thistle they will chop up the root cuttings and drag them all around the place.
Spike just leaves them roughly where they came from.
We have that blue rotten rock locally and the rotospike smashes it up... the locals told me I was being a rough currant as they could hear it across town but it did a good job, left it very loose and the grass exceeded expectations some bits I had to broadcast with my can-am and electric spinner were better than the cultivated area, so I have confidence this soil wants to grow stuff

 

[hendrebc]

Interesting experiment @Kiwi Pete. If you do decide to put a cereal in eith the peas dont use barley it isnt strong enough and the peas will smother it. Triticale is probably better than oats imo but definetly not barley. I planted a pea and barley mix undersown with a grass ley and the peas smothered EVERTTHING. Barlet want strong enough to hold a 4foot crop of peas and they went flat and killed everything umderneath them including my expensive grass seeds

 

[Kiwi Pete]

The last owner of our wee farm tried exactly the same type of thing here - he had put 2 paddocks into beet with the idea of scooping them up with a root bucket and then putting the bulbs into the barn.

He followed the beet with peas/oats in one paddock peas/triticale in the other one.
The only issue was, he didn't bury the peas or use treated seed, so the pigeons took care of them.
Also the trit. was 120 days and the others were more 90 days so the undersown grass had lost most of its quality by the time the trit. was at milky dough stage.
Thus the silage was a bit high in DM and the poo sat on the bark in the barn.
Plus side was the annual clovers in the mix had a chance to seed..
Swings and roundabouts

I do like the way they smothered your everything else, "hippy round-up"
Hence my very high seed rate, will be interested myself to see what happens. Hopefully- just get a blanket of composted re-germinated rubbish at ground level to feed the soil and some rocket fuel for the beasts that pay the bills that would be my ideal outcome.

 

[JD-Kid]

"hippy round-up"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Sandal spray yer mean

 

[hendrebc]

Its a good idea and should work really well. I know what you mean abouy high DM silage because of too much cereal in hte mix i do straight barley now and it gets too dry straight away i have to cut it late at night and bale first thing in the morning or it will dry. Or have 2 tractors one mowing and one bailing but id need to find an extra driver then... dry silage shouldnt be a problem with peas though they were still very green when the were ready to cut. I did look into a mix with lupins as well but that was supposed to he even worse at growing tall and flattening stuff. That was in a mix with triticale was expensive too compared to peas. Im looking forward to seeing how your hippy roundup works i might even consider trying peas again if yours works really well and use the flattening smothering to my advantage on some docks. Or balsana but thats for another thread.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

Great minds eh.
It seems a win win win for the farm if it works the way I hope; soil gets a big dose of N and some serious organic matter go back in, the stock get a bale of high protein low cost tucker each afternoon, and I get a paddock to play with for a year and new herbs at the end.
The local agronomy spraying firm employs one of my old schoolmates as an agronomist and he's really interested in helping design a diverse mix for at the end,
seats of different clovers and herbs and things.
I'd like a "hospital paddock" in the round and then start developing other paddocks by overseeding, more chicory plantain and legumes - less stuff to feel the need to top!
Have mowed enough area in my lifetime to be done with recreational topping....

 

[Kiwi Pete]

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA Sandal spray yer mean

I need some new ones.
How's the heat up your neck of the woods, 23 inside today with all the windows and doors open
Don't tell bossfarmer

 

[hendrebc]

I hope it works well for you. Maybe ill be reading in the farmers weekly about a really innovative farmer in nz using peas as a new wondercrop
My only concern is if the cattle eat the peas. In the mix igrew they werent overly keen on it and would sort the barley first then leave the peas. Probably be better just peas though there is nothing else to ear or maybe if it gets chopped ot wouldbt be easy to sort but i dont have a chopper so i ended up forking a load of uneaten pea stalks under them.
Im going to try and introduce some new clovers into my fields next year. Not with a drill though. Going to try and put some white and red clover seeds im the cattle minerals and see if they can spread it for me. Been reading about it a bit and it should work quite well. Then ifnit works well maybe some plantsin and chicory. My older pastures that would have been reseeded probably 60+ years ago and they have a lot of herbs (weeds?!) in them thst are growing like stink now and lambs are eating them well so i dont think theu are weeds? No idea what they are though buy its persuaded me pasture doesnt have to be all ryegrass and whitr clover Thats not for this thread either its not peas or direct drilling. A thread for the holistics maybe? Ill need sandals now

 

[hendrebc]

I need some new ones.
How's the heat up your neck of the woods, 23 inside today with all the windows and doors open
Don't tell bossfarmer

Dont tell BF made.me laugh so loud i woke the baby

 

[Kiwi Pete]

It's coming up pretty good with the rotospike. Proper dark though and I'm in the neighbour's crappy JD6420 sh!t edition with feeble lights or I'd get a picture.
Still turfy but I want that
Imagine in a month it will be away again but the peas should (hate "should") should be well away.
Definitely worth listening to JD.
I am going to try a kg or 2 of all types of clovers in with the herbs - crimson, alsike and a few annual types as well as red clover - bit too heavy and wet for lucerne persistence where I am.
We can't get sainfoin here or that would be my first choice.
But I'm definitely getting a pea swerved with this pass and much more level - rotospike does leave undulations because of the spring doors, and then the packer makes it a little ripply compared to th power harrow.
Good note on the pea stalks but this will be chopped in the baler and reasonably immature (hopefully) as thinking of baling at about the podding stage, for max quality and protein.

Sorry couldn't resist the wisecrack - I reckon a year in the life would soon sort out those who seem to think every day is good for golf over here.
They might find the wind blows the words back into their mouths, and not many have the luxury of a big expensive barn to put animals in, either. living the dream

 

[hendrebc]

That should work well witht the turf. We gad a field "ploughed" by a contrsctor friend ince and i could have done a better job with a loader bucket and that had lots of turf in it. Made really nice wholecrop! Shame inwanted to combine it
Id likenti see pictures of the field wuth all the clovers in when yoube seeded it if you could. Next door is a big organic estste and they grow dofferent clovers but they arent very good at it and i think they cohld look much better if someone (you) did a better job with it.
My peas were quite mature when i did them about 3 weeks too late tbh but it was a horrible wet year and i couldnt get mear it with a mower so that should help.
I used to assume nz was a good weather paradise becauae everyone said so. I learnt pretty quickly that it isnt after joining fb a few months ago and making friends in nz on it and seeing some of their terrible weather. Been a real eye opener uk weather on steroids ive heard a few times and i think its true too! Your spring growth does seem to come in quicker than ours though. I was suprised how quickly the grass came in for lambing from floods and horrible weather to green in a couple of weeks from what i saw. My worst waether is usualy over by march but grass foesnt get going till the middle or end of april. Last year it was bare till mid may. But im sure there are areas of nz like that too. Just something else to work around im sure it can be done

 

[JD-Kid]

just hoed up some radishs in garden they would be a intresting crop to grown just roto spike a seed beed toss on thick and in 3-4 weeks roto spike then in then sow a crop
clovers tryed alot of the annuals some worked ok others a bit so so they may want to bolt early if a early flowering type
don't add too much pete will just add costs for bugger all gains if the peas and oats do there job may choke most out

 

[Kiwi Pete]

just hoed up some radishs in garden they would be a intresting crop to grown just roto spike a seed beed toss on thick and in 3-4 weeks roto spike then in then sow a crop
clovers tryed alot of the annuals some worked ok others a bit so so they may want to bolt early if a early flowering type
don't add too much pete will just add costs for bugger all gains if the peas and oats do there job may choke most out

Yep the clovers etc will be 12 months away, after whatever we decide on for a winter grazer
Will see how this scheme works and may use Balansa clover to try to achieve the same thing in future regrassing efforts, but peas I had on hand, and no doubt about it's ability to smother.
Next area is not as bad for weedy grasses so a heavy clover crop is possibly the better bet as it's more cost effective for me to plant something with a decent lifespan, and then work from there.

 

[hendrebc]

We have radish here called tillage radish or fodder radish something like that. Not sure what its like at smothering but its very deep rooted and is meant to be a really good winter cover crop for soil structure. Stock dont like it though lambs go backwards on it ive read on a thread here about it.

 

[Kiwi Pete]

That might be daikon radish, it smells like cooked gearbox oil.