Spring drilling advice

[Warnesworth]

Just thinking ahead to our spring drilling into one of our cover crops. We are weighing up whether we would need to top or we could DD straight into then spray off (We have no access to crimp roller). The mix is a 6 way from Kevin @ Countryside Seeds in Cornwall, seems to respond very well to our land. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. View attachment 844430

Any blackgrass, brome or rye in the bottom of that? Looks very impressive by the way.

 

[Mr chips]

Any blackgrass, brome or rye in the bottom of that? Looks very impressive by the way.

Thank you. We are very lucky and don’t really have any grass weeds as such. We do walk all our cereal crops three times to keep on top of it. Our land does get regular applications of pig and cattle manure.

 

[BSH]

In my experience it is worth either grazing off or topping. When I have drilled through the standing green cover in the spring i have found that the cover can hod too much moisture and it can be difficult to close the slots. In my region if it gets to the point that the cover starts to take moisture out of the ground it is probably too late to be drilling the barley. When I have topped the cover I got good crops. When I grazed them with sheep i got good results. When I had a fied half grazed, half sanding cover crop, you could see to the line the differnce in establishment success. If you do drill through it, I have found it best to spray after drilling.

 

[kiwi]

We would be very interested to hear your results when you get them if you’d be good enough to keep us informed. Thanks

My glyphosate residue tests that were taken 6 weeks after the crop of barley was drilled have me still scratching my head. The soil residue for glyphosate was 0.21mg/kg and AMPA 0.55mg/kg. The plants themselves had no glyphosate residue which is good. The two Simons theory seems like the only plausible explanation at this time.

 

[AF Salers]

My preferred option for that cover would be to graze it off with sheep, provided that they didn't cause too much surface compaction. Assuming you don't graze it i would spray off a month before your planned drilling date. If it didn't have the oats in the mix i would drill on the green and spray off prior to emergence.

Whereabouts in North Yorkshire are you @Mr chips ? You could always advertise the crop for sheep grazing on here.

 

[Mr chips]

My preferred option for that cover would be to graze it off with sheep, provided that they didn't cause too much surface compaction. Assuming you don't graze it i would spray off a month before your planned drilling date. If it didn't have the oats in the mix i would drill on the green and spray off prior to emergence.

Whereabouts in North Yorkshire are you @Mr chips ? You could always advertise the crop for sheep grazing on here.

We are at Hunmanby near Filey. Our thought about having people from afar is that we would end up having to sort them when they inevitably get out.

 

[AF Salers]

@Mr chips Have you tried Jon Storey, just outside Hunmanby, apparently he is the man in your area, though may want it for nowt!

 

[Mr chips]

We really don’t like chasing sheep and we would be with Jon.
Thanks anyway.

 

[PuG]

We are very happy with it.
The mix is:
10% Tabor Egyptian Clover
15% Lunetta Fodder Radish
15% Iris Fodder Radish
5% Camelina
35% Black Oats
20% Spring Vetch.

It will be drilled with a 750A.

A nice mix. What depth did you plant at? I thought Clover needed to stay on the surface and only very lightly buried?

 

[Mr chips]

A nice mix. What depth did you plant at? I thought Clover needed to stay on the surface and only very lightly buried?

I aren’t drill man so not sure precisely, it was nice and shallow though, approx 10mm. We have found clover is a weaker aspect of this mix but also in our other mixes. We think it is due to our location and colder temps.

 

[PuG]

Thanks, we've always only vari spread on just before rolling for clover. Always worth asking! and I was wondering if you might have been using a small seed box on the 750.

 

[Mr chips]

Thanks, we've always only vari spread on just before rolling for clover. Always worth asking! and I was wondering if you might have been using a small seed box on the 750.

We didn’t drill this using a 750A it was done by a Sulky combi following one pass with a trio. This autumn was going to be our first experiment with zero till however the weather has postponed us until spring.

 

[PuG]

Looks good - we intend to to experiment this coming year ourselves with no-till. Sorghum, Millet and then cover crop autumn if all goes well. If you don't mind me asking what weight per ha/acre of mix did you put on in total?

Cheers

 

[Great In Grass]

Just thinking ahead to our spring drilling into one of our cover crops. We are weighing up whether we would need to top or we could DD straight into then spray off (We have no access to crimp roller). The mix is a 6 way from Kevin @ Countryside Seeds in Cornwall, seems to respond very well to our land. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. View attachment 844430

I missed this thread, I'm glad it was linked in another as that looks like a great cover crop. I am going to pinch the photo now!

 

[steveR]

@Mr chips Dont forget to ask for your discount with the next order.....

 

[Great In Grass]

@Mr chips Dont forget to ask for your discount with the next order.....

Trouble maker, I've got my eye on you.

 

[steveR]

We really don’t like chasing sheep and we would be with Jon.
Thanks anyway.

Win Win then, plenty of "free" exercise.....

 

[Banana Bar]

We've got on very well with leaving the cover until the last possible minute, ideally spraying post-drilling. This ensures the plants are extracting water for as long as possible (it's normally the ground being too wet that stops us getting going in the spring) and the biomass supports the tractor and drill nicely, the living roots are firing energy into the soil until the last...

If you spray off a few days before seeding, you risk a period of miserable mizzly spring weather that stops you drilling and the cover turns into a slimy mulch which traps the water in the surface of the soil and you might as well go away until May.

When I say that we've got on well doing this, I mean we've got drilled up ok and the seed's come through all lovely. After that it's been downhill rather, we've had the droughts of March, that Chaucer went on about, going on into May...that's our excuse. I merely say our spring crops haven't been that sensational (but I was pleased to hear our local Monitor Farmers saying theirs were pants as well).

I don't think it's the dastardly Two Simons at work, because the seeds come through so well. Whether the glyphosate that the covers take down into their roots has some stifling effect underground, I don't know...

I firmly believe that you have to kill those crops in December or January to avoid the moisture being sucked away ( which you’ll eventually need ), allow the surface to dry and avoid the wet mush of dying cover.

 

[martian]

I firmly believe that you have to kill those crops in December or January to avoid the moisture being sucked away ( which you’ll eventually need ), allow the surface to dry and avoid the wet mush of dying cover.

I'll have to agree with you there now...the last three years have been rubbish for our technique, long cold dry springs after drilling isn't ideal for getting spring crops up and away when the ground has been sucked dry by covers. How are your spring crops looking this year @Banana Bar ?

 

[steveR]

I'll have to agree with you there now...the last three years have been rubbish for our technique, long cold dry springs after drilling isn't ideal for getting spring crops up and away when the ground has been sucked dry by covers. How are your spring crops looking this year @Banana Bar ?

Found this with the big areas of bumblebird mix I am DD in the Spring*. I have only just been able to get them in after 8mm of rain last weekend and it has dried in a knick knack. Where I burned off too early, it went like concrete, so it is a fine line... as are most things in agriculture.

*More will be planted in Sept this time... Overwintered seems to work quite well.