Sowing grass seed with "spinner" type fert spreader

sheafield

HI all,
Have about 4 acres to reseed this weekend. Have spent the past week running a grass harrow over it and looking well now! Only problem is gettting my hands on a grass seed barrow is proving impossible. All either broken or missing from every agri shop near me. I have a small spinner type fetilzer spreader and just wondering has anyone used this type for spreading seed and what setting, speed etc will be required etc. Never reseeded before and after all the time and cost involved don't want to mess up the most important part!
Thanks in advance

JOAT

We reseed with our fertilizer spreader all the time. we do about 20 acres a year. What type of spreader will you be using? As well, put out about a bag and a quarter to an acre. Therefore for 4 acres, 5 bags should do it but have a 6th at hand just in case. you could try and have an educated guess at the setting, put in enough seed for half the field. keep an eye on seed level and by the time you have half the field done, you will have a good idea of how to change the setting - a bit too much put out will do no harm, if theres too little, it's easy to go back over it again with a reduced setting. Bit of trial and error is your best bet i would say due to different speeds, settings etc

Tora Bora

sheafield wrote: »

HI all,
Have about 4 acres to reseed this weekend. Have spent the past week running a grass harrow over it and looking well now! Only problem is gettting my hands on a grass seed barrow is proving impossible. All either broken or missing from every agri shop near me. I have a small spinner type fetilzer spreader and just wondering has anyone used this type for spreading seed and what setting, speed etc will be required etc. Never reseeded before and after all the time and cost involved don't want to mess up the most important part!
Thanks in advance

I have done it several times with spinner. I take enough seed for the area in question, add 25%, mix the lot with enough 10:10:20 and spread. Keep the shutter only slightly open. Try to aim for two passes each both length ways and cross ways on the field. Roll, roll and roll again!
No harm to have lime already mixed in when you were chain harrowing.

keep going

one tip if you are using a single spinner start around the headland and work in going in the same direction all the time some spinners dont spread both ways rhe same

reilig

Its simple. I have used it in the past and it works perfect. My advice is to try to mix the seed with the fertilizer - if you can. Set the spreader at a very small opening. Go over the 4 acres and aim to spread about half of your seed with the first pass. Then go over it a second time in the opposite direction. ie Go perpindicular to the first spreading lines - that way, you will get a more even spread and you will not have any noticable lines and you will cover anything that you miss. Go over it a third time if you still have seed left over. You won't have those little lines of grass that the seed box makes but you will have good grass and even if you have to go over it 5 times with the spreader, it will still be faster than the seed box.

Make sure to give the ground a run of the grass harrow after you spread the seed in order to give it a slight covering which will prevent the birds having a feed on half your seed. Give it a light roll too.

I have since bought a wagtail spreader. You can set it more accurately. But the spinner will work well enough for you.

I reseeded 5 or 6 acres last September - the same way as you - grass harrow and fertilizer spreader. I have lovely grass on it now and it will be ready to cut for silage at the end of may.

sheafield wrote: »

HI all,
Have about 4 acres to reseed this weekend. Have spent the past week running a grass harrow over it and looking well now! Only problem is gettting my hands on a grass seed barrow is proving impossible. All either broken or missing from every agri shop near me. I have a small spinner type fetilzer spreader and just wondering has anyone used this type for spreading seed and what setting, speed etc will be required etc. Never reseeded before and after all the time and cost involved don't want to mess up the most important part!
Thanks in advance

sheafield

Gosh, thanks guys. fantastic response's as always.
Feeling a bit happier now about the work ahead! Will get an extra bag of seed alright. I have 10 10 20 to spread too but thought that it would spread much futher than the seed and leave patches?
Got the gran lime spread during the week and harrowed a few times since.thik i'll try 2 1/2 bags of seed and 3 1/2 bags of 10 10 20 first and see how i go. Will lightly harrow and then roll.
Just wondering reilig did you have any issue with dead grass left behing on field. Grazed it tight but heavy harrowing has left lumps of grass in places. Gathered as much as possible, thinking the harrowing after might help this?

blue5000

Another thing I do is after putting a bag of grasseed in the spreader, level it off and draw a line at that level with a permanent marker. Do it again after the second bag, it will give you a fair idea how much seed is left and you can adjust the rate if you are running short. I don't mix the seed and fert though.

MfMan

reilig wrote: »

I reseeded 5 or 6 acres last September - the same way as you - grass harrow and fertilizer spreader. I have lovely grass on it now and it will be ready to cut for silage at the end of may.

Is cutting it the first year after reseeding not too severe on the pasture reilig?

reilig

MfMan wrote: »

Is cutting it the first year after reseeding not too severe on the pasture reilig?

Its a meadow that I reseeded rather than pasture and I used a seed specifically for meadow so I don't see why it shouldn't be cut. I would normally eat it with sheep over the winter, but we had such a cold winter that the grass didn't grow as well as it should have - it did all grow but remained short and didn't really start to take off until february. After the grass is cut and picked up, it will thicken up further and should have a great regrowth.

reilig

sheafield wrote: »

Just wondering reilig did you have any issue with dead grass left behing on field. Grazed it tight but heavy harrowing has left lumps of grass in places. Gathered as much as possible, thinking the harrowing after might help this?

There was no issue with dead grass. Any of it that clumped because of the grass harrow died down and rotted away very fast!!

Muckit

blue5000 wrote: »

Another thing I do is after putting a bag of grasseed in the spreader, level it off and draw a line at that level with a permanent marker. Do it again after the second bag, it will give you a fair idea how much seed is left and you can adjust the rate if you are running short. I don't mix the seed and fert though.

Snap Great minds think alike..... did the same thing myself with marker.

Also agree that seed should be spread separate to fertiliser. Drive around in rings (I drive around anitclockwise), keep revs down and drive RIGHT BESIDE the last tracks. Seed will only throw the width of the tractor.

Spreads very evenly if you've a single spinner and do this.

dar31

with a twin disc spreader keep a tractor width from last track.
when you are rolling the reseed, leave the spinner on the tractor and put the roller on a long draw bar under neath (might have to shorten the top link to kick up the back of spinner) turn down the settings to near closed and spread a nice light coating while rolling, help fill in any misses or uneven bits.

jeff greene

dar31 wrote: »

with a twin disc spreader keep a tractor width from last track.
when you are rolling the reseed, leave the spinner on the tractor and put the roller on a long draw bar under neath (might have to shorten the top link to kick up the back of spinner) turn down the settings to near closed and spread a nice light coating while rolling, help fill in any misses or uneven bits.

I use similar tactic but on the main seeding pass. I use a wagtail so only goes about 10', it eliminates misses as its easy see where you've been

Johannson14

Hi all, a slighly different scenario..

We are in Reps 4 and have to sow clover onto the ground without having to reseed. What is the best way to do this? We're probably talking about 18 acres. It will just fly out of the sower on its own. We could mix with 0- 7-13 fetilizer but any other suggestions??

Thanks.

Tipp Man

blue5000 wrote: »

Another thing I do is after putting a bag of grasseed in the spreader, level it off and draw a line at that level with a permanent marker. Do it again after the second bag, it will give you a fair idea how much seed is left and you can adjust the rate if you are running short. I don't mix the seed and fert though.

Yep good advice

Also as already stated drive nice and close to the previous track. It certainly won't throw the seed like it does the manure

reilig

Johannson14 wrote: »

Hi all, a slighly different scenario..

We are in Reps 4 and have to sow clover onto the ground without having to reseed. What is the best way to do this? We're probably talking about 18 acres. It will just fly out of the sower on its own. We could mix with 0- 7-13 fetilizer but any other suggestions??

Thanks.

Eat bare
Top bare
Chain Harrow
Apply slurry
Mix seed with fertilizer and spread with fertilizer spreader.
Chain harrow again
Roll
Graze lightly no more than 4 weeks after sowing
Continue to graze on a regular basis - don't allow the grass to get too long or it will smother the clover.

Works a treat!!!!

Johannson14

reilig wrote: »

Eat bare
Top bare
Chain Harrow
Apply slurry
Mix seed with fertilizer and spread with fertilizer spreader.
Chain harrow again
Roll
Graze lightly no more than 4 weeks after sowing
Continue to graze on a regular basis - don't allow the grass to get too long or it will smother the clover.

Works a treat!!!!

Exactly just the kind of advice I needed!!
Many thanks!!

snowman707

use pelleted clover & for best results needs to be got as soon as possible, Mid May is the recommended time

JOAT

reilig wrote: »

Eat bare
Top bare
Chain Harrow
Apply slurry
Mix seed with fertilizer and spread with fertilizer spreader.
Chain harrow again
Roll
Graze lightly no more than 4 weeks after sowing
Continue to graze on a regular basis - don't allow the grass to get too long or it will smother the clover.

Works a treat!!!!

I would say it would be better to apply the seed before the slurry. The slurry tends to lightly cover the clover seed and helps germination. Make sure ground is as bare as possible as well. We spread the seed, mixed with the fertiliser just after cutting the 1st cut silage a few years back. Spread slurry on top and it worked a treat. Wouldn't say there is a need for the chain harrow or the rolling as clover grows on top of the ground.

GERMAN ROCKS

what price is clover per bag and what size bag is it and how much does that bag do?

49801

snowman707 wrote: »

use pelleted clover & for best results needs to be got as soon as possible, Mid May is the recommended time

GERMAN ROCKS wrote: »

what price is clover per bag and what size bag is it and how much does that bag do?

think its a 100euro for a 10kg bag of unpelleted clover.
pelleted clover is also 100euro for a 10kg bag but there is only half the 'clover' in it compared to unpelleted.

GERMAN ROCKS

49801 wrote: »

think its a 100euro for a 10kg bag of unpelleted clover.
pelleted clover is also 100euro for a 10kg bag but there is only half the 'clover' in it compared to unpelleted.

what would that do then an acre or two? how effective would it be on old pasture or is it really only for newish pasture

49801

GERMAN ROCKS wrote: »

what would that do then an acre or two? how effective would it be on old pasture or is it really only for newish pasture

I did some reseeding recently and i just added 2kg of clover to a bag of grass seed that already had a little clover but not enough to meet reps requirements.

Have not sown it alone yet but will have to later in the year in ground that was reseeded last year. clover didn't take and still have an issue with weeds to sort out.
think best job would be those einblock type seeders with the tines and the air seeder. otherwise mix with 0-7-30 in the spinner.

reilig

JOAT wrote: »

I would say it would be better to apply the seed before the slurry. The slurry tends to lightly cover the clover seed and helps germination. Make sure ground is as bare as possible as well. We spread the seed, mixed with the fertiliser just after cutting the 1st cut silage a few years back. Spread slurry on top and it worked a treat. Wouldn't say there is a need for the chain harrow or the rolling as clover grows on top of the ground.

Don't apply the seed before the slurry. The slurry will cover it too much and smother it. I learned the hard way a few years ago. Harrowing beforehand takes out any dead grass and provides a better environment for the clover to germinate. Harrowing after spreading the clover seed gives you a tiny bit of cover required for germination. Rolling afterwards ensures that the seed is protected from rain and leeching, it firms the seed bed to give a better growth and it stops the birds from having a feast with your seed.

pakalasa

You can also mix in the clover seed with some dry sand and spread then with the wagtail type spreader (vicon).

I also saw in the journal a while back where a guy had put a small plastic bottle hanging from a bit of round steel bar across the top of the hopper. He drilled a small hole then in the cap of the bottle to let the clover seed out. He had a bit of string then attached to the bottle so he could pull it upright, from the tractor seat, to stop the seed coming out at headlands etc. Simple but clever idea.

mf690

Reseeded 9 acre feld last year cut hay ledge in september . Fertilised this year hopeing cut hay in june/ July .got good growth but have more clover than grass! Should I chain Harrow and spin out more grass seed to try and over come the clover?

49801

pakalasa wrote: »

You can also mix in the clover seed with some dry sand and spread then with the wagtail type spreader (vicon).

I also saw in the journal a while back where a guy had put a small plastic bottle hanging from a bit of round steel bar across the top of the hopper. He drilled a small hole then in the cap of the bottle to let the clover seed out. He had a bit of string then attached to the bottle so he could pull it upright, from the tractor seat, to stop the seed coming out at headlands etc. Simple but clever idea.

i like that idea.
would expand on it a little and have a bit of garden hose right to the shutter door so it gets delivered straight to the disc and there is none hanging around in the bottom of the hopper.

Tipp Man

mf690 wrote: »

Reseeded 9 acre feld last year cut hay ledge in september . Fertilised this year hopeing cut hay in june/ July .got good growth but have more clover than grass! Should I chain Harrow and spin out more grass seed to try and over come the clover?

Why on earth would you want to do that??

Clover is your friend.

49801

Tipp Man wrote: »

Why on earth would you want to do that??

Clover is your friend.

have heard that too much clover in silage ground is a bad job before.

caseman

sheafield wrote: »

HI all,
Have about 4 acres to reseed this weekend. Have spent the past week running a grass harrow over it and looking well now! Only problem is gettting my hands on a grass seed barrow is proving impossible. All either broken or missing from every agri shop near me. I have a small spinner type fetilzer spreader and just wondering has anyone used this type for spreading seed and what setting, speed etc will be required etc. Never reseeded before and after all the time and cost involved don't want to mess up the most important part!
Thanks in advance

seafield thinking of reseeding my self did you spray before you harrowed seems like a handy way no stone picking have you seen it done before what is the sucess rate of new grass

sheafield

hi caseman,
Yea, sprayed off with roundup a few weeks before and grazed then a few days later. harrowed like mad and it came up well but was worried about the clumps of dead grass in places. Mixed seed and fert and so far so good. Just hit that dry spell so slow to germinate but field almost green again now. Need another week to see if totally a sucess but happy so far. Would try it again after silage is cut, spray off a week before cutting and then harrow, prob avid the grass clumps this way too!!

mf690

Granted clover is good but I seem to be growing clover rather than grass.