Will we be ploughing for re seeding in the future?

[Derrick Hughes]

Clover ley drilled into burnt off grass
Very dry field needs rain , may have to stitch in more seed later

Herbal ley , field ploughed , could be in trouble if it don't rain
My thoughts are that direct drilled land retains moisture better

 

[Henarar]

Had to stop as pigs were getting hot

they look happy enough

 

[Kevtherev]

Can someone get Derek some new boots please.
That will come fine after rain so don’t look at it too much grass&clover is more resilient than you think.

 

[Kevtherev]

Always put a cereal or westerwold as a nurse crop on a dry time.
(If possible)

 

[Steel]

I had been trying to get my father to direct drill for years until 30 years ago. He had always said our soil was hard setting and needed cultivating.
Then 30 years ago he agreed, buys a disk planter and decided to direct drill it all. I was a bit worried doing everything the first year as it was my idea and would have liked to do half to start with.

Luckily it worked and we have been direct drilling ever since and still increasing our yields.
Financially it has made us more money and given us more time. We used to spend a lot of hours and fuel cultivating before sowing. Stopping pre sowing cultivation was the best thing we ever did.

We still cultivate to incorporate lime and grade or laser paddocks for irrigation, but that is not very often.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Can someone get Derek some new boots please.
That will come fine after rain so don’t look at it too much grass&clover is more resilient than you think.

I've already got some

 

[Jimdog1]

Grass field burnt of and drilled same day as about , clay soil desperate for rain , clover must like the dry conditions , some of the drill slitts are opening to 2 inches is so dry

Looks like you missed the slot on that bottom pic.

 

[Limcrazy]

I've some of these colourful bug ers on my direct drilled kale today. Will they cause much harm? And is there anything I can do about them?

 

[Great In Grass]

I've some of these colourful bug ers on my direct drilled kale today. Will they cause much harm? And is there anything I can do about them?

Looks like a young Ladybird, one of the good guys.

 

[Limcrazy]

Looks like a young Ladybird, one of the good guys.

Thanks had a wee Google of ladybird larvae and looks like a match. Haven't grown kale for yrs and watching out for flea beetles and other nasties

 

[Kevtherev]

Yup flea beetle certainly are nasties bloody nightmare once they start.

 

[Bury the Trash]

I Forgot to say that, that 5 or 6 inches of soil is tipped 20 inches uphill something no direct drill will ever do.
Ploughing in dung saves nutrients from being lost into the atmosphere and puts it immediately where the roots need it leaving the leaves to fully free and airy to capture sunlight like they're supposed to.

 

[Kevtherev]

 

[Derrick Hughes]

I Forgot to say that, that 5 or 6 inches of soil is tipped 20 inches uphill something no direct drill will ever do.
Ploughing in dung saves nutrients from being lost into the atmosphere and puts it immediately where the roots need it leaving the leaves to fully free and airy to capture sunlight like they're supposed to.

Don't get the uphill bit

 

[Kevtherev]

Don't get the uphill bit

What he means is turning a furrow uphill to counteract soil moving downhill.

 

[Derrick Hughes]

What he means is turning a furrow uphill to counteract soil moving downhill.

Isn't that risky on a slope , I would think it's safer ploughing up and down
If they had direct drilled this the soil would never move though

 

[Derrick Hughes]

That's shows the madnes of it all, ok im not sure what they are planting but must be grass on that slope surly , one pass with a harrow if you don't approve of roundup , or small dose of roundup and the perfect seedbed there , farmers surly need to mix and match and do what best suits the situation

 

[Jimdog1]

That's shows the madnes of it all, ok im not sure what they are planting but must be grass on that slope surly , one pass with a harrow if you don't approve of roundup , or small dose of roundup and the perfect seedbed there , farmers surly need to mix and match and do what best suits the situation

Not sure about that Derrick, looks like a stubble of some kind. Not UK either so somewhere more progressive perhaps .

 

[Derrick Hughes]

Not sure about that Derrick, looks like a stubble of some kind. Not UK either so somewhere more progressive perhaps [emoji846].

They making heaving work if it , I've ploghed acres of hill worse than that with a Dexta with lugs on [emoji1787]

 

[neilo]

Isn't that risky on a slope , I would think it's safer ploughing up and down
If they had direct drilled this the soil would never move though

Looks like a field that shouldn't be cultivated anyway. Neighbour had beet on a similarly steep field 2 years ago, then @Kevtherev came and removed most of his topsoil from my ditches...

DD certainly doesn't work everywhere, whatever some of the more evangelical might preach. No point slotting a bit of seed into soil with a compaction problem, without doing something about that compaction. I subsoiled a long term pp field last weekend, before slotting in a short term grazing crop. I was lifting 10" deep lumps of concrete, it was that compacted from shoot 4x4's driving over it in wet winters for decades. There is a network of drains under it, but water would sit on it all winter.
I'll cultivate again next Spring, in order to level it after settling.