• Welcome to The Farming Forum!

    As part of this update, we have made a change to the login and registration process. If you are experiences any problems, please email [email protected] with the details so we can resolve any issues.

Spray and Pray

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Roundup field, go straight on with a seeder/ broadcast seed. One of the kiwi guys in the FW a few weeks ago does it and apparently gets quite good yields

Have you seen the price of swede seed over here?:eek: Perhaps it's a lot cheaper in NZ, but too dear here to take a gamble on IMO. Much better to direct drill straight after the sprayer, and at least guarantee some soil contact.

Cheap stubble turnips or rape would be the only thing I'd consider doing a 'spray & pray' with.
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Swede seed is £35-38/kg for natural seed. You might DD at 1kg/ac, so I would suggest you'd need to go higher to get the same strike rate through broadcasting/harrowing.

An expensive risk?
 
whats yer soil type?

will be a waste of seed

Very wet at the moment! Never done swedes before but hoping to next year. I can't think of anyone off hand that can DD near us, but never looked into it. Just like the idea of establishing into a ley. Saves the cost and time, and hopefully a bit firmer when stock start going over it. I guess it would be a bit weedier than traditional methods
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Very wet at the moment! Never done swedes before but hoping to next year. I can't think of anyone off hand that can DD near us, but never looked into it. Just like the idea of establishing into a ley. Saves the cost and time, and hopefully a bit firmer when stock start going over it. I guess it would be a bit weedier than traditional methods

It needn't be if you cover the expensive seed by using a DD and then spray pre-emergence Butisan.;)
 

romneymarsh

Member
Location
Romney Marsh
Know your soil when considering DD . We have some high clay content that dries like concrete in the summer. An attempt at drilling a winter mix at the end of July this year has been a disaster as the ground was just too hard to create any tilth as the Atchison passed through. We should have waited for the moisture to come rather than prempting its arrival .
 

JD-Kid

Member
Know your soil when considering DD . We have some high clay content that dries like concrete in the summer. An attempt at drilling a winter mix at the end of July this year has been a disaster as the ground was just too hard to create any tilth as the Atchison passed through. We should have waited for the moisture to come rather than prempting its arrival .
and when wet will be like drilling in to semi soft butter which can lead to glazeing also eazer to drill too deep in the wet better drilling in the semi dry and good harrows
 

romneymarsh

Member
Location
Romney Marsh
and when wet will be like drilling in to semi soft butter which can lead to glazeing also eazer to drill too deep in the wet better drilling in the semi dry and good harrows

Yes and in my case this year was down to me as well. I was away and it was drilled by contractor in my absence. With hindsight I would have harrowed it both ways after drilling . You live and learn as ever. The contractor returned to the gate cross the field . This created a better tilth and much better take. If I am ever brave enough to use that machine again in ,drier weather, X ways double drilling at half rate would be the way to go. Gets more expensive but not as expensive as a part failed crop!
 

wr.

Member
Livestock Farmer
Location
Breconshire
We had excellent results this year with kale. We did a bit of an experiment. Sprayed two fields next to each other. Disked one and broadcast. DD the other. The disked one stood a good foot higher with a thicker stalk. Lot more grazing from it too.
You'll need to be on your knees, praying hard with the price of swede seeds.
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
What's the pre em like on docks, field we are planning on doing has more docks than grass?

Sorry, don't know the answer as not tried that one.

I did DD a field after spraying off for Glastir this year, which meant no sprays after. The field had a few nettle patches in (hit withPastor before the glyphosate) but other than that, clean of weeds and just old grasses. I had a lot of docks come up in the swedes over the summer, but they didn't go to seed for some reason (thankfully). All died back with the first bit of cold and the sheep are treading in any residue now.
It will be left to green up after grazing, then sprayed off with glyphosate again, before DD grass in the Spring. Having seen the number of docks from dormant seed, I fully expect to have to use Triad/Spruce on the new ley.:(
 
Spray and pray is a common method used in developing NZ hill country, usually too steep to work a tractor over. Therefore it is an aerial job using either fixed wing aircraft or helicopter. More sensitive to weather/soil moisture status than direct drilling. But a very effective way of breaking in rough scrubby hill sides into clean grazing.

If you can direct drill (easier topography or soil not water logged) you will reduce the risk of crop failure.
 

neilo

Member
Mixed Farmer
Location
Montgomeryshire
Spray and pray is a common method used in developing NZ hill country, usually too steep to work a tractor over. Therefore it is an aerial job using either fixed wing aircraft or helicopter. More sensitive to weather/soil moisture status than direct drilling. But a very effective way of breaking in rough scrubby hill sides into clean grazing.

If you can direct drill (easier topography or soil not water logged) you will reduce the risk of crop failure.

Out of interest, what does swede seed cost in NZ (natural seed, not graded for precision drilling)? Are swedes used for 'spray & pray' over there, or rapes & turnips?
 

How is your SFI 24 application progressing?

  • havn't been invited to apply

    Votes: 28 36.4%
  • have been invited to apply

    Votes: 13 16.9%
  • applied but not yet accepted

    Votes: 28 36.4%
  • agreement up and running

    Votes: 8 10.4%

Webinar: Expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive offer 2024 -26th Sept

  • 2,393
  • 49
On Thursday 26th September, we’re holding a webinar for farmers to go through the guidance, actions and detail for the expanded Sustainable Farming Incentive (SFI) offer. This was planned for end of May, but had to be delayed due to the general election. We apologise about that.

Farming and Countryside Programme Director, Janet Hughes will be joined by policy leads working on SFI, and colleagues from the Rural Payment Agency and Catchment Sensitive Farming.

This webinar will be...
Back
Top