Sowing grass in dry conditions

Qprmeath

Any grassmen out there? Have land ready to sow in grass. Should I wait til there is rain forecast before sowing it? Ground is bone dry. Birds will have a field day if I sow tomorrow, thinking of leaving it til Monday as low pressure forecast for middle of next week.

Sam Kade

The birds will hardly eat grass seed, sow away you'll have it in for the rain. I sowed grass seed one September and it didn't get rain for a month best field of grass I have now.

Username John

By no means a grass man...

See pic of field I sowed last May...

Didn't get rain for 3 weeks after sowing...

It wasn't ploughed nor harrowed before sowing, just cleared by a digger... the seed was broadcast with fertiliser and was neither rolled nor harrowed in afterwards...

Tis a small bit patchy, there are patches of foxgloves coming up that I need to spray...

But for the amount of care and attention it got, it's doing very well...

pedigree 6

Username John wrote: »

By no means a grass man...

See pic of field I sowed last May...

Didn't get rain for 3 weeks after sowing...

It wasn't ploughed nor harrowed before sowing, just cleared by a digger... the seed was broadcast with fertiliser and was neither rolled nor harrowed in afterwards...

Tis a small bit patchy, there are patches of foxgloves coming up that I need to spray...

But for the amount of care and attention it got, it's doing very well...

That's a great drain you have in the middle of the field.
Why did you go so deep though?

Dwag

Qprmeath wrote: »

Any grassmen out there? Have land ready to sow in grass. Should I wait til there is rain forecast before sowing it? Ground is bone dry. Birds will have a field day if I sow tomorrow, thinking of leaving it til Monday as low pressure forecast for middle of next week.

Plant away.
Crows/corvids will only be cleaning up any slugs and leatherjackets.
Roll well.


Edit. Keep an eye on frit fly.

pedigree 6

Dwag wrote: »

Plant away.
Crows/corvids will only be cleaning up any slugs and leatherjackets.
Roll well.

Maybe drill instead of broadcast though??

Edit: if we do get low pressure next week it looks like a strong high is coming back after that.

Dwag

pedigree 6 wrote: »

Maybe drill instead of broadcast though??

It's Ireland. It will rain.

pedigree 6

Dwag wrote: »

It's Ireland. It will rain.

Thanks could do with a bit.:)

Dwag

pedigree 6 wrote: »

Thanks could do with a bit.:)

It's probably the wind that's messing with growth...
Plenty moisture deep down.

Username John

pedigree 6 wrote: »

That's a great drain you have in the middle of the field.
Why did you go so deep though?

Never know when you might get a great great torrent of water...
And who'll be prepared then...

In hindsight, it might have nearly been a bit too high to reclaim... still, no good saying that after spending $$$ on it

pedigree 6

Dwag wrote: »

It's probably the wind that's messing with growth...
Plenty moisture deep down.

It's 40mm of a soil deficit already though.
40!

Ah I'm not bad compared to you but if we don't get major rain in the next month, I can see wells going dry.

Only for that bit of rain on Sunday I'd have to get the silage back in.
It also shows the importance of getting a heap of nitrogen on early in play.
You can't get nitrogen in to the plant without a bit of cover to hold the moisture in the ground and then for quicker regrowth.

I fecked that up this year though.

Timmaay

pedigree 6 wrote: »

It's 40mm of a soil deficit already though.
40!

Ah I'm not bad compared to you but if we don't get major rain in the next month, I can see wells going dry.

Only for that bit of rain on Sunday I'd have to get the silage back in.
It also shows the importance of getting a heap of nitrogen on early in play.
You can't get nitrogen in to the plant without a bit of cover to hold the moisture in the ground and then for quicker regrowth.

I fecked that up this year though.

Same ugh.

Dwag

pedigree 6 wrote: »

It's 40mm of a soil deficit already though.
40!

Ah I'm not bad compared to you but if we don't get major rain in the next month, I can see wells going dry.

Only for that bit of rain on Sunday I'd have to get the silage back in.
It also shows the importance of getting a heap of nitrogen on early in play.
You can't get nitrogen in to the plant without a bit of cover to hold the moisture in the ground and then for quicker regrowth.

I fecked that up this year though.

Sulphur and magnesium early in the dry...


We had 80mm smd mid winter...

davidk1394

Was going to set grass seed this weekend but I can't even get the harrow in the ground to till up 2 inches after the turnips