White clover as cover crop

BSH

Member
BASE UK Member
From what I have read about colin Seiss and pasture seeding it seems the system works by using the natural dessication of the permanent cover to grow the cash crop so there isnt the competition. I have thought that the best way to do this in our conditions is to grow a cereal crop that grows in the cold when the legumes are dormant. I pictured that tritcale would work well as it grows in the cold and then gets tall so would grow away from the permanent cover when that cover started to move in the spring again. I cant see it working with spring cereals.
 
From what I have read about colin Seiss and pasture seeding it seems the system works by using the natural dessication of the permanent cover to grow the cash crop so there isnt the competition. I have thought that the best way to do this in our conditions is to grow a cereal crop that grows in the cold when the legumes are dormant. I pictured that tritcale would work well as it grows in the cold and then gets tall so would grow away from the permanent cover when that cover started to move in the spring again. I cant see it working with spring cereals.

For my situation i'm normally not to moisture limited until after harvest...most of clover grows mid winter and spring ...some varieties are more summerish...so in my trial i will have winter and spring active...i personally hope there is some competition at start of growing season so root development in the cereals is better...also it may help hold ground together a bit better for spraying...once my crop is 4 weeks old its wet...once its 8 weeks old ...pretty much cant drive on it...maybe end of my spring it can in some years go a touch dry..however with the cereals being at maximum canopy cover in the spring i cant see the clover robbing to much away from the cereal...i found in my crops that when the wheat starts to turn and the leaves start to drop and let the light into the crop the bloody weeds go mental...so id rather a mat of clover choking those weeds...mighten be perfect but will help...once the harvesters gone its in with the sheep as the pasture paddocks start to become low on feed...this will take a few years to perfect...most guys in the US getting into this have only been doing since 2010 or so...got a long way to go....

Ant...
 

Tim May

Member
Location
Basingstoke
I've been thinking of triticale a bit too maybe I'll try some. Supposed to be great feed for chucks and pigs but tge market doesn't pay well for it so it would have to be for home use I recon.
 

O'Reilly

Member
I saw some work done between Reading uni and North wyke back in the mid nineties, the aspect I saw them looking at was preventing eyespot, the white clover prevented soil splashing the spores up the stem. Pity the work never got out of academia so far as I know, but then, same old story with DD and pasture based livestock farming, no one can sell you anything on the back of it.
 

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