Waste seed

[Banana Bar]

I’ve got a few tonnes of home saved treated barley seed that has dreadful germination. I checked all varieties for germ and disease before cleaning apart from this batch!
I remember years ago there was a company that would take spoilt seed or grain for burning. Does anyone remember this and if so who was it? Alternatively any ideas what I can do with it?

BB

 

[Farmer Roy]

Ahh, that is why we never treat home saved seed until we are going to use it - if it is shît then you can always still use it as feed etc

we would probably just bury it, but I doubt you’re allowed ?

if it’s treated, would that present a problem with burning ? Some of those seed treatments can be pretty nasty chemicals . . .

 

[Lexion1000]

I’ve got a few tonnes of home saved treated barley seed that has dreadful germination. I checked all varieties for germ and disease before cleaning apart from this batch!
I remember years ago there was a company that would take spoilt seed or grain for burning. Does anyone remember this and if so who was it? Alternatively any ideas what I can do with it?

BB

You could just drill it out on a field destined for a spring crop and call it a cover crop.

 

[Devil's advocate]

You could just drill it out on a field destined for a spring crop and call it a cover crop.

Or cover/nurse crop for carrots

 

[Farmer Roy]

How dreadful is the germ % ?
Are the above cover crop suggestions / sowing at a higher rate worthwhile ?

 

[Gedd]

You could just drill it out on a field destined for a spring crop and call it a cover crop.

Was going to say the same spin it onto

You could just drill it out on a field destined for a spring crop and call it a cover crop.

Was going to say spin it onto a stubble and cultivate it in see what happens

 

[redsloe]

I bet you still had volunteers from the field you saved the seed from though!
I expect if you sow it somewhere just to get rid of, it will perform spectacularly.

You must try it!

 

[Chris123]

Would the seed treatment be a problem going through a digester if not that’s probably best way of getting rid

 

[Brisel]

Tricky if it has been treated. Drill as a cover crop is the obvious one, or at least that's what the records will say. 1m seeds/m2 in one corner but averaged out over a whole field?

 

[SilliamWhale]

Burying it is probably no real harm

 

[Nearly]

Burying it is probably no real harm

about an inch deep at 200kg/ha?

 

[rusty]

I had a farmer who rented some spare cattle sheds of me one winter who fed them on old seed corn. He did blend it in with standard barley but bought in a wagon load of unwanted, treated seed corn.
The year after I went to his 50th Birthday party where he had a big BBQ with the beef from his own cattle. To the best of my knowledge nobody suffered from eating it.

 

[Bogweevil]

Strictly speaking treated seed should be drilled as per the label. As the dressing is designed to break down in the field environment this is also the best and safest remedy.

I doubt spinning is approved for dressed seed.

Of course it is pity to waste expensive seed dressing so mixing it into next spring's untreated seed would confer some protection to the new seed (assuming it can be done without generating potentially harmful dust and the dressing is approved for the spring crop).

 

[teslacoils]

Cover crop.

 

[Hesstondriver]

Or cover/nurse crop for carrots

@slim shiny would you have a use for it ?

 

[quattro]

Find someone with a biomass boiler,maybe not totally legal!,

 

[7610 super q]

Everyone seems to be getting mysterious seed packets in the post these days............

Pick 10,000 addresses at random ( preferably Chinese ), and post them a small quantity of seed each.
Job done.

 

[Bramble]

Neil Warden at Warden Agri should be able to get rid of it somewhere, just don’t expect much for it. Sold some fire damaged wheat to him for £70/t last year, insurance covered the rest. Ended up in some incinerator somewhere.

 

[Brisel]

Neil Warden at Warden Agri should be able to get rid of it somewhere, just don’t expect much for it. Sold some fire damaged wheat to him for £70/t last year, insurance covered the rest. Ended up in some incinerator somewhere.

That’s the chap @Banana Bar was referring to I think. Does he still advertise in the classifieds in Farmers Weekly?

 

[Brisel]

I’ll answer my own question