Moss

Sami23

Looking for some advice on how to reduce or preferably get rid of the moss that seems to be getting worse in a couple of my fields. Baring in mind I'm in AEOS so can't reseed them which I presume would be the best option.

Just wondering is there some sort of fertilizer plan I could put in place to help. The ground is black peaty soil but quite dry. Thanks

bbam

We applied lime a few years ago and it helped. Roughed it up with the harrow after. Was granulated lime.

But I've read there is a fertilizer with sulphur added that helps cut it out. No experience of it.

Sami23

bbam wrote: »

We applied lime a few years ago and it helped. Roughed it up with the harrow after. Was granulated lime.

But I've read there is a fertilizer with sulphur added that helps cut it out. No experience of it.

Yeah think I heard that about lime before but the pH is already on the high side in these fields so lime not really an option.

Conmaicne Mara

Doesn't sulphur bring PH down?

ganmo

Conmaicne Mara wrote: »

Doesn't sulphur bring PH down?

He's talking about the lime

Conmaicne Mara

ganmo wrote: »

He's talking about the lime

The lime wasn't an option as the PH is high. Moss also AFAIK doesn't like sulphur, which I believe brings PH down so could be an option.

Toplink

Dragging up an old topic here but anyway...

I inherited a bit of ground that has been badly grazed over the past 10 years or so. This has let to a thick covering of oldish grass and moss which is prevalent.

Its light enough soil so I would be reluctant to do too much rooting here.

There is 40 acres in total in one big open area. I am currently breaking this up into 4 x 10 acres to allow for more effective grazing. The plan is to buy 30/40 weanling in Feb and sell the following Feb.

By breaking it up I am hoping that they will give it a 'better eating' but I dont think that alone will solve the issue.

Should I spray 10 acres and give it a light harrow maybe and see how that goes?

Username John

Toplink wrote: »

Dragging up an old topic here but anyway...

I inherited a bit of ground that has been badly grazed over the past 10 years or so. This has let to a thick covering of oldish grass and moss which is prevalent.

Its light enough soil so I would be reluctant to do too much rooting here.

There is 40 acres in total in one big open area. I am currently breaking this up into 4 x 10 acres to allow for more effective grazing. The plan is to buy 30/40 weanling in Feb and sell the following Feb.

By breaking it up I am hoping that they will give it a 'better eating' but I dont think that alone will solve the issue.

Should I spray 10 acres and give it a light harrow maybe and see how that goes?

When you say spray it - do you mean spray and reseed?

Not sure how pushed you are for time, so maybe the below approach is a but too lengthy, but it would be cheaper...

If twas me, I'd...
Soil test - see how its fixed for Ph, P and K. Maybe look to fix these in the medium term.
Graze it as hard as you can for the summer, and into the autumn - and see how you get on.
You could go with fertiliser + sulphur as the lads above suggest, and lime as well. As you say its light soil, so even if you were to reseed, you wouldn't be ploughing, so you wouldn't be losing the lime so to speak...

I had a few fields like that, with heavy 'thatch' on them. I found hard grazing (with sheep) seemed to do a good enough job. But it took a bit of time. And it was really when the sheep were outwintered in the fields (and forced to really graze them hard) that it made a good job of em...

One field I sold a crop of silage, which helped clean it up a lot (the lad had his own gear). The silage wasn't super of course... if you're paying for making bales, I dunno if you'd want to pay to make not-great silage...

I think I read somewhere that moss doesn't like sunlight? Which would make sense, if its grazed hard, then more sunlight into the ground... But not sure where I read this (or if I dreamt it)

Toplink

Username John wrote: »

When you say spray it - do you mean spray and reseed?

Not sure how pushed you are for time, so maybe the below approach is a but too lengthy, but it would be cheaper...

If twas me, I'd...
Soil test - see how its fixed for Ph, P and K. Maybe look to fix these in the medium term.
Graze it as hard as you can for the summer, and into the autumn - and see how you get on.
You could go with fertiliser + sulphur as the lads above suggest, and lime as well. As you say its light soil, so even if you were to reseed, you wouldn't be ploughing, so you wouldn't be losing the lime so to speak...

I had a few fields like that, with heavy 'thatch' on them. I found hard grazing (with sheep) seemed to do a good enough job. But it took a bit of time. And it was really when the sheep were outwintered in the fields (and forced to really graze them hard) that it made a good job of em...

One field I sold a crop of silage, which helped clean it up a lot (the lad had his own gear). The silage wasn't super of course... if you're paying for making bales, I dunno if you'd want to pay to make not-great silage...

I think I read somewhere that moss doesn't like sunlight? Which would make sense, if its grazed hard, then more sunlight into the ground... But not sure where I read this (or if I dreamt it)

Thanks lad, some great info there.

Yes, spray and reseed...

You are right about moss and sunlight. Its the thatch thats causing the moss to flourish I reckon. Sheep could be an option but I know the c*%ts would break my heart breaking out and the fencing wouldn't be the best as yet.

I live close to the Burren so lime levels should be fine.

I'll do a soil sample and see what happens sure.

There is no major panic on this. I dont have enough stock to graze it heavily in 2014 enough to be honest.

Food for thought.

onyerbikepat

I soil tested all the farm this year and I noticed that the fields with moss were particuly low in P (phosporus). Whether this is the cause or not I'm not sure. PH was low too, but other feilds that were even lower in PH had no moss. P & K in these were at Index 3 in each.

Username John

onyerbikepat wrote: »

I soil tested all the farm this year and I noticed that the fields with moss were particuly low in P (phosporus). Whether this is the cause or not I'm not sure. PH was low too, but other feilds that were even lower in PH had no moss. P & K in these were at Index 3 in each.

Ah - I tested a few fields as well (not the ones with the thatch in em now)

But all samples came back as low in P - so that would correspond with what you're seeing.

Be interesting if you found the same Toplink.
EDIT : Altho its not as 3 makes a reliable sample, just be interesting to see if there was a trend.

onyerbikepat

We'll go one step further in the theory. Phosphorus is highly soluble in water and the last few years washed a lot of it outta the land. Ideal conditions for moss to thrive.:cool: