The best drill or seeder for sowing grass seed

[Scholsey]

That is what the bulk of folk around here do after cereals. Sumo type machine with legs set deeper to pull up tramlines if needed, then shallow on the rest to give a tilth. Powerharrow if needed, seeder box/harrow thing to put the seed in, then roll flat.

got a weaving subdisc here and I have it in 10” all the time, spring barley/winter wheat was ploughed in unsprayed off grass so couldn’t subsoil then otherwise would pull grass back up. Have to go on a angle to the stubble otherwise discs don’t do half the job.

 

[Andrew]

All our leys for mowing are drilled with a Dale Ecodrill straight into stubble.
Straw is bales and chased, then sprayed off before drilling.
By the time 1st cut comes round you can’t feel the tramlines.
Cut someone else’s who’d ploughed, power harrowed and rolled. It was rough, a lot of time and diesel wasted in my opinion.

 

[Sid]

got a weaving subdisc here and I have it in 10” all the time, spring barley/winter wheat was ploughed in unsprayed off grass so couldn’t subsoil then otherwise would pull grass back up. Have to go on a angle to the stubble otherwise discs don’t do half the job.

Do you plough grassland or just disc it?

 

[ollie989898]

All our leys for mowing are drilled with a Dale Ecodrill straight into stubble.
Straw is bales and chased, then sprayed off before drilling.
By the time 1st cut comes round you can’t feel the tramlines.
Cut someone else’s who’d ploughed, power harrowed and rolled. It was rough, a lot of time and diesel wasted in my opinion.

Ploughing after stubble would normally be a waste of time I agree, lift up all that dirt only to have to put it back down.

 

[Scholsey]

Do you plough grassland or just disc it?

plough, haven’t found a way to suppress clover rich leys enough to give anything else a chance, giving fodder beet a try this year, will plant winter wheat or spring barley after then back into grass.

 

[Sid]

plough, haven’t found a way to suppress clover rich leys enough to give anything else a chance, giving fodder beet a try this year, will plant winter wheat or spring barley after then back into grass.

I was going to try 4 acres of disc and 8 of ploughing going into forage crop for summer grazing.
Spoken to someone who uses discs for everything now just like Gary Zimmer. Feed the soil not the crop!

 

[Scholsey]

I was going to try 4 acres of disc and 8 of ploughing going into forage crop for summer grazing.
Spoken to someone who uses discs for everything now just like Gary Zimmer. Feed the soil not the crop!

Ever seen a KV ecomat plough working in this country? They look like they’d do a tidy job of getting rid of grass without turning everything upsidedown.

 

[KB6930]

Best leys we have put away in recent years is after harvest pull the sumo through the stubble then either power harrow then sow with the browns harrow or combi drill but I do struggle to get a 100% full spread with the disc drill

 

[Sid]

Ever seen a KV ecomat plough working in this country? They look like they’d do a tidy job of getting rid of grass without turning everything upsidedown.

You ever tried to find one?

I have ...like hens teeth. I was told by a dealer there has been less than a half dozen sold in the UK

 

[Scholsey]

Best leys we have put away in recent years is after harvest pull the sumo through the stubble then either power harrow then sow with the browns harrow or combi drill but I do struggle to get a 100% full spread with the disc drill

Use this old girl for my combi drilling, cereals and grass, tried grass box harrows last summer and worked well but patchy where it dragged trash and dumped it in piles, going to go back to combidrilling and going to chock the coulters up in the air a few cm’s with bolts through little holes that are possibly there for that reason so the seed hopefully scatters ontop of ground a bit before being covered by the following harrows.

Bought another old drill for parts to keep mine going so fingers crossed will do a few more hundred acres yet.

 

[Ormond]

I like to broadcast for an even spread....wind is the only down side to this setup. ..4m bout width...15kph...

 

[Deutzdx3]

bought this for next to nothing. Looking to make it into one of these.

nice simple machine for over seeding.

 

[KB6930]

View attachment 875290
Use this old girl for my combi drilling, cereals and grass, tried grass box harrows last summer and worked well but patchy where it dragged trash and dumped it in piles, going to go back to combidrilling and going to chock the coulters up in the air a few cm’s with bolts through little holes that are possibly there for that reason so the seed hopefully scatters ontop of ground a bit before being covered by the following harrows.

Bought another old drill for parts to keep mine going so fingers crossed will do a few more hundred acres yet.

We get bother with the harrow dragging all stubble to the end of the field the grass comes fine but need to tidy up piles before we can sow the endrigs. Or just use it to blow it onto the top and the roller covers it enough .
The combi is quicker as it's just one pass and the grass is fine but I do just struggle to get the front coulters far enough out .

 

[mixed breed]

It's almost like they designed those anti blockers on the Coulters with spreading grass seed in mind..
In the past I've used a vicon and a slug Pelleter on our brown's Harrow, but nothing seems as easy, accurate or satisfying as this.

 

[Treemover]

Ever seen a KV ecomat plough working in this country? They look like they’d do a tidy job of getting rid of grass without turning everything upsidedown.

We had one. Would get another

 

[james ds]

I bought an accord as it was the cheapest most accurate way of sowing seed.
Sold it and now back to the drawing board.

The biggest advantage of the accord was that it would sow until empty, those grass harrows need a bag or two to sow with.as they have a larger and flat bottomed hopper.

Often thought of getting another accord, cutting the hopper down, fitting a hydraulic fan; and putting on our Cambridge roller. But I have other projects sadly in preference.

Would be interested in hearing about the Fiona box, as they ain't cheap.

I have the Fiona box , great machine but they are not made any more so parts might get scarce . I’ve just bought a new Erth seeder with the air option , great machine in all conditions .

 

[Hedge back]

In the past have used the fertiliser spreader for sowing grass seeds and clover but it is a bit dependent on the wind not being too strong and it can be a bit of a job to calibrate it. Years ago we had a seed barrow which we thought was good but that's an old machine now.

So what do people rate as the best drill or seeder for doing grass seeds and clover?
Einbock Opico type machine OR fertiliser spreader OR anything better?

Wanting to do about 100 acres a year new leys

Anyone got a Fiona grassbag sower?

Open to ideas, want to get the best I can as seed is so expensive now days.

Opico 6 m air Harrow drill here, on our third one now, doing 1500 acres a season with it , very versatile drill, sowing grass, clover, turnips, mustard etc , good results.

 

[Courier]

does anyone sow it straight after a crop of spring barley into the stubble?

Probably better to broadcast it six (?) weeks before harvest..