What fertiliser ?

kk.man

I have a few fields of old pasture that was grazed off by sheep last November and it hasn't really came back. I want it for cattle turn out in March. I have no soil tests done. I was thinking of 0-7-30 or would I be better going with 18-6-12?

Was hoping to make a start shortly weather permitting.

hopeso

I'd say 0-7-30 won't give you any grass, as there's no nitrogen in it. Yes, it will boost the soil and give the grass colour, but if you want some growth you'll need nitrogen.

Mooooo

If no slurry 0.7.30 and a 35 units of urea would help

Micheal H

If it's old pasture it probably wants some lime more than anything. You won't get the full value out of your fertiliser if the soil pH isn't right.

Say my name

I'll be awkward. And say if the soil is anything like here I wouldn't consider urea.
I have improved it by bringing the pH and p and k's up with touches of s. But in the bad old days here urea wouldn't work.
It'd only work where dung or thick slurry was spread or else you'd have to go to the full bag of urea per acre to get any effect and even that wouldn't be great.

My own thoughts with an old sward that you know nothing of the soil indicies would be go down the 2 bags of 10.10.20 or bag and half of 18.6.12 route.

I transformed an old sward very briefly with diluted seawater. But that was in the summer and I never repeated that.
Any 'organic' amendments are always better at building up long term fertility and soil life than the npk out of the bag though. But npk from the bag is sometimes needed to raise the p and k in the organic amendment.

kk.man

Say my name wrote: »

I'll be awkward. And say if the soil is anything like here I wouldn't consider urea.
I have improved it by bringing the pH and p and k's up with touches of s. But in the bad old days here urea wouldn't work.
It'd only work where dung or thick slurry was spread or else you'd have to go to the full bag of urea per acre to get any effect and even that wouldn't be great.

My own thoughts with an old sward that you know nothing of the soil indicies would be go down the 2 bags of 10.10.20 or bag and half of 18.6.12 route.

I transformed an old sward very briefly with diluted seawater. But that was in the summer and I never repeated that.
Any 'organic' amendments are always better at building up long term fertility and soil life than the npk out of the bag though. But npk from the bag is sometimes needed to raise the p and k in the organic amendment.

I forgot about 10.10.20. I have to be careful with some of the fields as they are in GLAS.

Say my name

kk.man wrote: »

I forgot about 10.10.20. I have to be careful with some of the fields as they are in GLAS.

There's a mountain of bark mulch at the ferry bridge near new Ross. Go in and offer to take it off their hands. :pac:

Hard Knocks

Say my name wrote: »

There's a mountain of bark mulch at the ferry bridge near new Ross. Go in and offer to take it off their hands. :pac:

How long would that need to rot?

Say my name

Hard Knocks wrote: »

How long would that need to rot?

Bark mulch wouldn't take very long.
A few months?

valtra2

Say my name wrote: »

There's a mountain of bark mulch at the ferry bridge near new Ross. Go in and offer to take it off their hands. :pac:

Ha ha let me know what he says, not known for his soft side.

uck51js9zml2yt

Say my name wrote: »

There's a mountain of bark mulch at the ferry bridge near new Ross. Go in and offer to take it off their hands. :pac:

Typical that it's on the far side of the country!!

Bass Reeves

Part of the reason they will be slow to recover us that the sheep will have grazed the regrowths this really sets back recovery. IMO I would soil test at present. A single bulk sample will cost less than 30 euro and that is nothing in regard to fertilizer costs.

18-6-12 can be got for 350/ton I would spread a bag to the acre as soon as the weather permits and again in early March. If you suspect PH is very low a bag of gran line to the acre would not go astray. There is another type of bagged lime that is burnt lime based and that is stronger and works well in low pH ground

Sugarbowl

What fertiliser is best for silage ground that won’t get slurry before first cut? 18-6-12?

Bass Reeves

Sugarbowl wrote: »

What fertiliser is best for silage ground that won’t get slurry before first cut? 18-6-12?

If you are looking for s single fertilizer then 18-6-13 is the best option. 5bags/ acre gives 90N/30P/60K.

GrasstoMilk

Bass Reeves wrote: »

If you are looking for s single fertilizer then 18-6-13 is the best option. 5bags/ acre gives 90N/30P/60K.

Far too much p and not enough k.
3 bags of 0 7 30 and either urea or can. Put the N on in 2 splits.

hopeso

Sugarbowl wrote: »

What fertiliser is best for silage ground that won’t get slurry before first cut? 18-6-12?

You'd be fine using 24-2.5-10 so long as the ground got slurry afterwards

50HX

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Far too much p and not enough k.
3 bags of 0 7 30 and either urea or can. Put the N on in 2 splits.

If no soil test done in would assume you couldn't have enough p and k

What's the down side to excess p?

GrasstoMilk

50HX wrote: »

If no soil test done in would assume you couldn't have enough p and k

What's the doway side to excess p?

You're right you couldnt assume high p if no soil test but it's not ideal going with that much in one go. Better to drip feed it. Itll all get locked up in the soil if weather isnt right for it

Sugarbowl

What are ye’re thoughts on mixing fertilizer? Say putting 18:6:12 and something else with it with higher N like 24:2.5.10? Would you get a better balance of the 3?

Bass Reeves

Sugarbowl wrote: »

What are ye’re thoughts on mixing fertilizer? Say putting 18:6:12 and something else with it with higher N like 24:2.5.10? Would you get a better balance of the 3?

If you have no slurry you need plenty of P&K. Fertilizers like Silage Sward are designed to be used with slurry. If you have no slurry you need plenty of P &K to get a crop and to stop grass heading out too fast

hopeso

Sugarbowl wrote: »

What are ye’re thoughts on mixing fertilizer? Say putting 18:6:12 and something else with it with higher N like 24:2.5.10? Would you get a better balance of the 3?

If you were going to use two, I'd say 24-2.5-10 and 0-7-30 would be the best option. Nothing to stop you using the two you mentioned either. Everything you put into the soil will help.....

50HX

What would lads recommend for the following silage ground


2 good cuts and a light 3rd cut at back end of the year

Reseeded 4 years ago, building p & k back up, lime applied again last year

No slurry on this ground

Cut sward with 18/6/12 & Can split on applications?

hopeso

50HX wrote: »

What would lads recommend for the following silage ground


2 good cuts and a light 3rd cut at back end of the year

Reseeded 4 years ago, building p & k back up, lime applied again last year

No slurry on this ground

Cut sward with 18/6/12 & Can split on applications?

Do you know what P and K levels are like? Three cuts of silage would require a lot of K generally. I'd be inclined to give it at least one shake of 0-7-30 annually.....

50HX

hopeso wrote: »

Do you know what P and K levels are like? Three cuts of silage would require a lot of K generally. I'd be inclined to give it at least one shake of 0-7-30 annually.....

Soil tests say please is at 33mg/like and k at 2.8mg/l

What that is units per acre??

farmer2018

What are people spreading the last few days? Is it too cold for CAN?

Bass Reeves

farmer2018 wrote: »

What are people spreading the last few days? Is it too cold for CAN?

Urea should be the fertilizer of choice unless you are need P&K. Unless you have heavy covers 35-40 units of N/s re if no fertlizer spread already. CAN is a more expensive formn of N than urea

tanko

Is it too dry for Urea??:pac:

Bass Reeves

tanko wrote: »

Is it too dry for Urea??:pac:

Go out tomorrow morning at dawn and kneel down to say you prayers for the Cronavirus to go away if you knees are dry getting up do not spread Urea

tanko

If i go out and kneel down in my fields there's a good chance i'd have to ring someone to come with a winch to rescue me.

GrasstoMilk

50HX wrote: »

Soil tests say please is at 33mg/like and k at 2.8mg/l

What that is units per acre??

Have you those figures correct?
Thats index 4 for p and bottom of index 1 for k? Be unusual to see such a contrast Imo

50HX

GrasstoMilk wrote: »

Have you those figures correct?
Thats index 4 for p and bottom of index 1 for k? Be unusual to see such a contrast Imo

It's calling for 32 units per p acre and 68 of k.....didn't see that page

18/6/12 the best bang for buck here then?

Grueller

50HX wrote: »

It's calling for 32 units per p acre and 68 of k.....didn't see that page

18/6/12 the best bang for buck here then?

Cheapest way I think would be 3 and 1/2 of 10-10-20 then follow it with 2 bags of CAN to bring nitrogen up to 89 units. I am assuming that this is silage ground?

At the prices I paid that would be €63 per acre for the 10-10-20 and €22 for the CAN so €85 per acre.
6 bags 18-6-12 would be €99 per acre but granted would have 19 more units if nitrogen that you probably don't need.

Sugarbowl

What’s the best way to split fertiliser when spreading on silage ground? Would ye go 50/50? Also, how many weeks would ye leave between applications? Thanks

Bass Reeves

Sugarbowl wrote: »

What’s the best way to split fertiliser when spreading on silage ground? Would ye go 50/50? Also, how many weeks would ye leave between applications? Thanks

Never split it I put Slurry out first generally and Urea follow a week later

Dunedin

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Never split it I put Slurry out first generally and Urea follow a week later

No slurry out on silage ground here yet. Just too wet to even think about it. And one field is a reseed with a good cut of grass on it that would need to be grazed off but walked it today and still too wet even for light stock.

Getting late now to graze, slurry and fert. Same thing happened a few years ago and ended up skipping the slurry and put on more bagged P &K.

Bass Reeves

Dunedin wrote: »

No slurry out on silage ground here yet. Just too wet to even think about it. And one field is a reseed with a good cut of grass on it that would need to be grazed off but walked it today and still too wet even for light stock.

Getting late now to graze, slurry and fert. Same thing happened a few years ago and ended up skipping the slurry and put on more bagged P &K.

Got first of the cattle out today. I will get the rest out over the weekend. Grazing some of the silage fields off first. Using a dribble bar to spread slurry so fields do not have to completely bare.

50HX

Grueller wrote: »

Cheapest way I think would be 3 and 1/2 of 10-10-20 then follow it with 2 bags of CAN to bring nitrogen up to 89 units. I am assuming that this is silage ground?

At the prices I paid that would be €63 per acre for the 10-10-20 and €22 for the CAN so €85 per acre.
6 bags 18-6-12 would be €99 per acre but granted would have 19 more units if nitrogen that you probably don't need.

Yeah its silage ground, usually 3 cuts a year albeit the last cut is very light

Thanks for that

Dunedin

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Got first of the cattle out today. I will get the rest out over the weekend. Grazing some of the silage fields off first. Using a dribble bar to spread slurry so fields do not have to completely bare.

Would you use the dripple bar on grazing ground

Bass Reeves

Dunedin wrote: »

Would you use the dripple bar on grazing ground

Virtually all the slurry goes on silage ground. I get contractor in first week in April. Any bare paddocks get 1500 gallons/acre rest is spread on silage ground at 3-4k gallons per are. I have LESS in GLAS

Rest of the slurry is spread after first cut

Reggie.

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Virtually all the slurry goes on silage ground. I get contractor in first week in April. Any bare paddocks get 1500 gallons/acre rest is spread on silage ground at 3-4k gallons per are. I have LESS in GLAS

Rest of the slurry is spread after first cut

Utilising the slurry. Nice

Bass Reeves

Reggie. wrote: »

Utilising the slurry. Nice

A lot of people have no value in slurry. They see it as a cost. Spread it the cheapest and handiest way possible. Spread it after silage is cut on good sunny days.

I look at it as a fertlizer it is break even with bagged fertilizer on general maybe not this year but normally it is.

I buy 4.5 T of Urea, 2T of Can and 3-4T of 18-6-12 annually. Have it landed in the yard in January. After that I may have to buy a bit of extra N in some form or other.

Reggie.

Bass Reeves wrote: »

A lot of people have no value in slurry. They see it as a cost. Spread it the cheapest and handiest way possible. Spread it after silage is cut on good sunny days.

I look at it as a fertlizer it is break even with bagged fertilizer on general maybe not this year but normally it is.

I buy 4.5 T of Urea, 2T of Can and 3-4T of 18-6-12 annually. Have it landed in the yard in January. After that I may have to buy a bit of extra N in some form or other.

Couldn't agree more. I see too much of the "Dumping" of slurry at times. Just want the tanks emptied. Understandable if under pressure but many beef lads around here just practically dump it out asap

BENDYBINN

Bass Reeves wrote: »

A lot of people have no value in slurry. They see it as a cost. Spread it the cheapest and handiest way possible. Spread it after silage is cut on good sunny days.

I look at it as a fertlizer it is break even with bagged fertilizer on general maybe not this year but normally it is.

I buy 4.5 T of Urea, 2T of Can and 3-4T of 18-6-12 annually. Have it landed in the yard in January. After that I may have to buy a bit of extra N in some form or other.

Why good sunny days?

hopeso

BENDYBINN wrote: »

Why good sunny days?

It dries into a crust on the ground instead of absorbing into the soil. There's probably a higher evaporation rate too.....

kk.man

Started spreading today... Spring has arrived... I love spreading at this time of year

Bass Reeves

BENDYBINN wrote: »

Why good sunny days?

Slurry that forms a crust is more likely to hinder grass growth. If you ever notice a smell after slurry it ammonia this is N evaporating into the air.

Slurry spread in the spring on average has twice the N absorbed into the ground as slurry spread in summer. Slurry spread with LESS equipment has about twice that of slurry spread without it

farmer2018

What prices are people paying for Urea and 18-6-12?

Is there anyone putting out 18-6-12 these days?

Reggie.

farmer2018 wrote: »

What prices are people paying for Urea and 18-6-12?

Is there anyone putting out 18-6-12 these days?

BIL doing second round with 18-6-12

farmer2018

What will have a quicker response this time of the year urea or 18-6-12?

TooOldBoots

farmer2018 wrote: »

What will have a quicker response this time of the year urea or 18-6-12?

Depends on the land, but in general Urea in march and April gives the biggest bang for buck provided the land isn't poor or lacking. Ideally I'd be slurrying first followed by Urea 10 days latter

farmer2018

I got soil sample results back recently from an old pasture pH 5.3, P index 1 and K index 2, the lime requirement is 4.6 tonnes to the acre, What is the max amount of lime would you put out this year, would the 4.6t be too much? What fertiliser would you go with for the time being until I get lime out (no slurry)?