Excessive moss growth in pasture

ep71

Hi All, have done a bit of topping with the good weather and have found a lot of the more marginal land is absolutely covered in moss, preventing grass growth. Pretty wet / hilly land west mayo.... ould fella reccomends applying slag but it's all new to me, any advice?

davidk1394

You need lime. Moss on the ground is a sign of low pH. Do a basic soil test on the ground. It's small money and you'll know exactly what you need.

B Rabbit

Have the same issue myself!

Bass Reeves

It could also be a lack of P. That is why slag was so popular on this type of land 50 years go. Slag is an alkaline similar to hydrated lime but also is high in P as well as.otherbtrace elements.

Get a soil test done and see then

Dinzee Conlee

Bass Reeves wrote: »

It could also be a lack of P. That is why slag was so popular on this type of land 50 years go. Slag is an alkaline similar to hydrated lime but also is high in P as well as.otherbtrace elements.

Get a soil test done and see then

I didnt know moss favourded land low in P?

I have noticed we are getting a good bit of moss - on reasonably dry land, and the ph isnt too bad, but the P is low all right...

Hard Knocks

davidk1394 wrote: »

You need lime. Moss on the ground is a sign of low pH. Do a basic soil test on the ground. It's small money and you'll know exactly what you need.

Would you need to Harrow before spreading lime

Bass Reeves

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

I didnt know moss favourded land low in P?

I have noticed we are getting a good bit of moss - on reasonably dry land, and the ph isnt too bad, but the P is low all right...

Wet ground leeches N&P out of the ground, it leeches lime out as well. Lads spreading large amounts of ground lime on heavy/wet ground are often wasting there time. As well as softening the ground the lime is removed from the ground by the water.

carrollsno1

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Wet ground leeches N&P out of the ground, it leeches lime out as well. Lads spreading large amounts of ground lime on heavy/wet ground are often wasting there time. As well as softening the ground the lime is removed from the ground by the water.

Is there not a reaction in the soil between the positive and negative ions when lime is applied which creates a better soil structure and then improves the drainage? The word cappillary comes to mind for some reason on this topic,i remember learning about it in leaving cert ag science but not in ag college.

carrollsno1

Cappillary action is what i was thinking about.

orchard farm

Can slag be got anymore?

Hard Knocks

orchard farm wrote: »

Can slag be got anymore?

Got granulated stuff of co-op 2 years ago
It’s good for building P, but won’t raise the PH

ep71

Ok lads, what's the story with soil testing, do you just buy a kit or need to get someone in to do it?

Hard Knocks

ep71 wrote: »

Ok lads, what's the story with soil testing, do you just buy a kit or need to get someone in to do it?

You can do it yourself
I use FBA labs

A sampler like this is handy
https://www.donedeal.ie/view/24433942

Just take 20 cores/samples from the area put in a bag & send off

ep71

So, attacked the moss yesterday, used chain harrow to break it up, got a tonne of granulated slag from the local providers, was advised it was the best stuff for it.
Also shook a bit of grass seed and rolled it as per advice from the ould lad, will see how it goes!

Hard Knocks

ep71 wrote: »

So, attacked the moss yesterday, used chain harrow to break it up, got a tonne of granulated slag from the local providers, was advised it was the best stuff for it.
Also shook a bit of grass seed and rolled it as per advice from the ould lad, will see how it goes!

Well done
Did you take any pics, it good to look back on progress

mengele

ep71 wrote: »

So, attacked the moss yesterday, used chain harrow to break it up, got a tonne of granulated slag from the local providers, was advised it was the best stuff for it.
Also shook a bit of grass seed and rolled it as per advice from the ould lad, will see how it goes!

how much is a tonne of slag costing?

davidk1394

Hard Knocks wrote: »

You can do it yourself
I use FBA labs

A sampler like this is handy
https://www.donedeal.ie/view/24433942

Just take 20 cores/samples from the area put in a bag & send off

I use this company also and i couldn't fault them.

White Clover

ep71 wrote: »

So, attacked the moss yesterday, used chain harrow to break it up, got a tonne of granulated slag from the local providers, was advised it was the best stuff for it.
Also shook a bit of grass seed and rolled it as per advice from the ould lad, will see how it goes!

Would you have a breakdown of what's in the slag? And where can it be got?
I remember the father spreading it years ago on some coarse ground, it made a right job of it.

Hard Knocks

White Clover wrote: »

Would you have a breakdown of what's in the slag? And where can it be got?
I remember the father spreading it years ago on some coarse ground, it made a right job of it.

Think it’s 0-16-0
Ask if you’re local co-op can get it in small bags

White Clover

Hard Knocks wrote: »

Think it’s 0-16-0
Ask if you’re local co-op can get it in small bags

I don't think that's it. The old slag was high in phosphates alright but had several other beneficial elements too. It was what was left after steel making as far as I know.

Hard Knocks

White Clover wrote: »

I don't think that's it. The old slag was high in phosphates alright but had several other beneficial elements too. It was what was left after steel making as far as I know.

You’re right
Found an label

ep71

It's granulated slag from Gouldings actually, I did a bit of research on it and could find very little info other than some lad in kildare that delivers lorry loads so had totally abandoned the idea until the lad in the local topline recommended it.
It was €20 per 50kg bag so €400 for the tonne.

I took a few pics so will show before and after. It was in right bad nick, all the fields around it were green but ours was just a yellow / brown. I think definitely a product of overgrazing with sheep and bad land means the moss is getting the better of it.

Dinzee Conlee

ep71 wrote: »

It's granulated slag from Gouldings actually, I did a bit of research on it and could find very little info other than some lad in kildare that delivers lorry loads so had totally abandoned the idea until the lad in the local topline recommended it.
It was €20 per 50kg bag so €400 for the tonne.

I took a few pics so will show before and after. It was in right bad nick, all the fields around it were green but ours was just a yellow / brown. I think definitely a product of overgrazing with sheep and bad land means the moss is getting the better of it.

Interesting...

I had a quick look online, and I didnt see slag mentioned on the gouldings website
https://www.gouldings.ie/our-products/fertiliser/product-range/

Do you have a pic of the label or anything like that?

Hard Knocks

Dinzee Conlee wrote: »

Interesting...

I had a quick look online, and I didnt see slag mentioned on the gouldings website
https://www.gouldings.ie/our-products/fertiliser/product-range/

Do you have a pic of the label or anything like that?

The Goulding bags are Basik
I’ve attached a label above

Dinzee Conlee

Hard Knocks wrote: »

The Goulding bags are Basik
I’ve attached a label above

I saw that all right, but am surprised thats being called Slag...

As another poster said, I thoght slag was a by product of steel manufacturing, and wasnt so much a combination of NPK as a standard fertilser product...

Bass Reeves

That is not slag it a P/K fertlizer and higher in K than P. It has no calcium in it or minor minerals such as magnesium or selenium.

10-10-20 is probably cheaper and would be s better fertlizer

_Brian

I’m not sure actual real slag is available here any more. Slag is a byproduct of the foundry industry of which we have little or none left.

ep71

Pic attached, Gouldings Basik.

I had assumed that it was just a granulated synthetic copy of what would have been in traditional steel works slag.

Will see how it goes anyway.

Hard Knocks

ep71 wrote: »

Pic attached, Gouldings Basik.

I had assumed that it was just a granulated synthetic copy of what would have been in traditional steel works slag.

Will see how it goes anyway.

Should work

I soil tested some rough grazing in 2016
PH 5.1 P2 K4
Got 1 b/ac Basik & 1 bag/ac 18.6.12 in 2016
Nothing in 2017
1 bag 18.6.12 in 2018 & 2019
With 1 bag granline/ac in 2019
Soil tested this year
PH 5.0 P4 K4

Robson99

Maybe there is something in the Basik but as Bass said you would imagine 10.10.20 would be better value.
Often use Muriate of Potash here at 1 bag / acre to bring up K levels

mengele

Hard Knocks wrote: »

Should work

I soil tested some rough grazing in 2016
PH 5.1 P2 K4
Got 1 b/ac Basik & 1 bag/ac 18.6.12 in 2016
Nothing in 2017
1 bag 18.6.12 in 2018 & 2019
With 1 bag granline/ac in 2019
Soil tested this year
PH 5.0 P4 K4

Is that just grazing ground? I presume you don't cut silage off it? Is it growing a lot more since?

Hard Knocks

mengele wrote: »

Is that just grazing ground? I presume you don't cut silage off it? Is it growing a lot more since?

Yes just grazing, LIPP
Starting to change from sprat to leafy grass