Taking 200 + acres out of HLS grass and was planning on dipping the toe into DD, sprayed off today with Glyphosate as the grass ( according to the chap with the drill ...... JD 750a .....) is to long to drill ( its his first year with it ) my main concern is its really hard on top, was a job to push a stake into it today for marking out, and it was steel with a point on it. Will this drill or have I got to find a plough ?
Tops a bit solid
- Thread starter Adeptandy
- Start date
SilliamWhale
Member
I expect it to drill but i dont know if it would be my starting point.
Happy to be educated, was thinking 10 years of no disturbance I didn't really want to risk dragging anything up from depth ?
- Location
- Lincolnshire
If its dry enough to shatter rather than smear, why not try a low disturbance subsoiler before direct drilling? I find a Paraplow works well for me. 1970's technology but it works. If it has discs it won't bring up lumps either.
Grassland can get surprisingly compacted in my experience.
Grassland can get surprisingly compacted in my experience.
SilliamWhale
Member
Grass will be slow to decay this time of year and could tie up nutrients. Wheat will be v slow to emerge and could be more vulnerable to pests etc and be very thin.
It might work ok though. Try home saved seed at a high rate maybe?
Already have KWS Barrel on farm with Austral Plus dressing, as I'm sort of committed, would P & K be worth putting on or even NPK, have some Activa S in the shed and some 0-24-24 ?
Land is warm n dry here and being a party black fen will support late drilling.
SilliamWhale
Member
Go for it then. Make sure drill get seed in the soil
if you can borrow a double disc mower i would cut the grass and get the damn stuff off the field. The soil should be great under there just tight, please dont plough it your microbes will be ideal now. If you can borrow one of those Triton drills it will mid-soil the whole field to loosen it as it drills. Otherwise as someone else said, use a grass land subsoiler and then drill it.
- Location
- Essex/Herts Border
Is there that many Triton drills about to just borrow one of your neighbour? Just out of interest @James W if you don't mind, but do you have a commercial interest in Triton drills or just a happy user of one?
One of the Triton farm managers is a friend of mine so I have seen one working and have ordered a 4m for the early spring.
JD-Kid
Member
- Location
- Akaroa.. New Zealand
have seen it here a few times if a wet late winter early spring the top will cap very hard ok under that tho
even a spiked airater may lift it eneff to get a drill in or wait for a few mm of rain it dose not take alot to get the cap to soften up
this year grounds a bit hard after a wet winter working ground is like ripping up clay pavers no way a DD would work in it till it rains for me this year
even a spiked airater may lift it eneff to get a drill in or wait for a few mm of rain it dose not take alot to get the cap to soften up
this year grounds a bit hard after a wet winter working ground is like ripping up clay pavers no way a DD would work in it till it rains for me this year
Planning for this week, agronomist wanted a week between glyphosate and drilling, so Monday's the first day for the first 50 acre, then a week before the next 50 acre, still a bit hard under the thatch, but softer than it was, travels really well with the SP and 3500 litre of product in, even straight after a rain.
Bit of a pain really, the fields with the shortest grass and would drill easy have a lot of trenches pulled in them to create wet area's for the birds, so will have to do some levelling, so planned spring cropping on those, the longer grass is in the fields with out this interference, so W Wheat on these will be more of a challenge, but didn't want all spring cropping first year, bit of a gamble, but He who dare's Rodney, he who dares
Not sure really, there is quite a layer of thatch and quite a bit of grass, chap drilling it didn't like the length so wanted it sprayed first, but I also suspect it was to take the pressure of doing it when I wanted him to, then told to wait a week by agronomist . It certainly is a challenge to take on, rough calculation of 7km of fences to remove as well, dykes have all collapsed and ridge and furrow created on several fields, feels like quite a gamble, but going for it
Best of luck.Not sure really, there is quite a layer of thatch and quite a bit of grass, chap drilling it didn't like the length so wanted it sprayed first, but I also suspect it was to take the pressure of doing it when I wanted him to, then told to wait a week by agronomist . It certainly is a challenge to take on, rough calculation of 7km of fences to remove as well, dykes have all collapsed and ridge and furrow created on several fields, feels like quite a gamble, but going for it
Surely you should get dilapidations from the outgoing tenant? Same LL as rest of your farm? You might want to keep some fences for your mob grazing when your DD gets going.......
- Location
- Acton Scott, South Shropshire
In my experience it will drill better into growing grass than sprayed off and dying - bloody stuff pulls out and blocks the drill easier after its sprayed
In my experience it will drill better into growing grass than sprayed off and dying - bloody stuff pulls out and blocks the drill easier after its sprayed
Think we'll be ok at the mo, can't see where the Glypho's gone as yet and 5 litres went on