Improving grass cover.

john mayo 10

Hi. I have land rented off a neighbour of mine for silage ground. There is a fair bit of weed in it so want to get rid of it and improve grass cover. Should I put some store lambs on it over the winter and then spray the land to kill of the weed ?. Also I heard that if you put a a few bags of grass seed in the slatted tank before you agitate it and spread in on land it will improve grass cover?

wrangler

john mayo 10 wrote: »

Hi. I have land rented off a neighbour of mine for silage ground. There is a fair bit of weed in it so want to get rid of it and improve grass cover. Should I put some store lambs on it over the winter and then spray the land to kill of the weed ?. Also I heard that if you put a a few bags of grass seed in the slatted tank before you agitate it and spread in on land it will improve grass cover?

Weeds are a sign of poor fertility, cutting silage off it wll make it worse if you don't pile on plenty of Phosphorous and Potash.
A cut of silage could remove the equivalent of 3 bags 0 7 30 toteh acre.
Modern grasses wont survive poor fertility that's why weeds take over

BENDYBINN

Never heard of grass seed in the slurry tank......anyone ever try it?

_Brian

BENDYBINN wrote: »

Never heard of grass seed in the slurry tank......anyone ever try it?

I’d say there’s too much stacked against seed striking and surviving. Would slurry even be a good medium to grow seed from ?

_Brian

john mayo 10 wrote: »

Hi. I have land rented off a neighbour of mine for silage ground. There is a fair bit of weed in it so want to get rid of it and improve grass cover. Should I put some store lambs on it over the winter and then spray the land to kill of the weed ?. Also I heard that if you put a a few bags of grass seed in the slatted tank before you agitate it and spread in on land it will improve grass cover?

Obviously you’d have to check that the owner was happy with spraying.

Bass Reeves

If you know you are having it next year then top it with a disc mower as paddock/ fields are graze out over next few weeks. Spray with a broad spectrum weedkiller. If you have taken sage off it in last few weeks you can also spray them.

Go to a good spray advisor and he will recommend a good mix depending on weeds involved. Over the winter soil test and decide from this what you need. If PH is low spread 50-75kgs of granlime or 50 kgs of grolime/ acre in the spring. Make sure ground is bare when you spread.

Use fertlizer to match nutrients requirement. Do not aim to improve nutrients/pH of the land unless you have it for a 5-8 year lease.

It's a waste expecting seeds to take in silage ground unless it's put in straight after silage harvest and then it depends on weather and keeping grass grazed down. You are better off in working with what is there

Hard Knocks

Bass Reeves wrote: »

If you know you are having it next year then top it with a disc mower as paddock/ fields are graze out over next few weeks. Spray with a broad spectrum weedkiller. If you have taken sage off it in last few weeks you can also spray them.

Go to a good spray advisor and he will recommend a good mix depending on weeds involved. Over the winter soil test and decide from this what you need. If PH is low spread 50-75kgs of granlime or 50 kgs of grolime/ acre in the spring. Make sure ground is bare when you spread.

Use fertlizer to match nutrients requirement. Do not aim to improve nutrients/pH of the land unless you have it for a 5-8 year lease.

It's a waste expecting seeds to take in silage ground unless it's put in straight after silage harvest and then it depends on weather and keeping grass grazed down. You are better off in working with what is there

If I want to improve grass quality in an older meadow, after we cut, if we spread hay seed before spreading cattle slurry
Would we get good results?

Bass Reeves

Hard Knocks wrote: »

If I want to improve grass quality in an older meadow, after we cut, if we spread hay seed before spreading cattle slurry
Would we get good results?

Unless your sward was very thin I cannot see any advantage. actually old swards tend to be very dense. IMO before reseeding, spraying, ph and soil fertility give the most reward in that order.

Often old pasture can have 30%+ weed cover with docks being very prevalent on silage and hay ground, especially on silage ground. By spraying often costing only 15-20 euro/acre(if you have access to a sprayer) you can increase production of grass by 25+ percent. It may require this over 1-3 years to really wipe out weeds and the existing seed bank buy pay back is straight away.

PH is next no matter which you use where its bulk or bagged lime the return again is instantaneous in better reaction to existing fertlizer applications whether its slurry or artificial.

Finally you have soil fertility by soil testing and targeting of fertlizer to where it is required you have the ability to maximise grass production in the existing sward. Grass is the cheapest cattle feed we have and nothing compares to it for value

john mayo 10

Thanks for the replies. Think I will graze it tight over the winter with sheep, spray and then go with lime /potash to improve growth

Cavanjack

BENDYBINN wrote: »

Never heard of grass seed in the slurry tank......anyone ever try it?

Yeah heard of a few lads doing it on silage ground straight after cutting and believe it works well as long as it’s damp and warm afterwards.

older by the day

I don't grass measure but I think grass growth is after slowing down a lot this week down here near skibbereen. The weather is gone very hard. Silage ground is slow greening up. Any one think the same

wrangler

john mayo 10 wrote: »

Thanks for the replies. Think I will graze it tight over the winter with sheep, spray and then go with lime /potash to improve growth

You should soil test and be ready to spread what it needs by september, for two reasons
1. Grass suffers badly over the winter if soil is deficient in Potash and Phosphorous and,
2. Lime takes sixmths to be aabsorbed into the soil, so if you put in on in teh spring it won't be available 'til next september

Bass Reeves

wrangler wrote: »

You should soil test and be ready to spread what it needs by september, for two reasons
1. Grass suffers badly over the winter if soil is deficient in Potash and Phosphorous and,
2. Lime takes sixmths to be aabsorbed into the soil, so if you put in on in teh spring it won't be available 'til next september

Problem with spreading lime in the Autumn is you get losses due to water. It's the finer material that is lost which is the most valuable

Phosphorus is similar it's not recommended to spread in Autumn. Potash is ok and if spreading by itself you MOP it the cheapest form available

Jb1989

Bass Reeves wrote: »

Problem with spreading lime in the Autumn is you get losses due to water. It's the finer material that is lost which is the most valuable

Phosphorus is similar it's not recommended to spread in Autumn. Potash is ok and if spreading by itself you MOP it the cheapest form available

So, does the best of the lime only last from spring to autumn, then need a top up yearly, if being lost.?

wrangler

Jb1989 wrote: »

So, does the best of the lime only last from spring to autumn, then need a top up yearly, if being lost.?

It's not lost, only if you put it out in wet followed by heavy rain and even then losses will be minute.
Land short of phosphorous is prone to winter grass kill, this land sounds very poor, if your index was over one even it might be alright . but this land which seems to be only growing weeds, has to be poverty stricken.
The growth in september would be ample to stop any losses

wrangler

Jb1989 wrote: »

So, does the best of the lime only last from spring to autumn, then need a top up yearly, if being lost.?

Lime needs six mths to work fully

Jb1989

wrangler wrote: »

Lime needs six mths to work fully

Do you agree with bass point on the small particles being lost?

Or is it that, if you spread it early in the year, them particles will get binding to the soil over the summer period, and stay longer in the ground, than if had been spread close to winter.?

Bass Reeves

Jb1989 wrote: »

Do you agree with bass point on the small particles being lost?

Or is it that, if you spread it early in the year, them particles will get binding to the soil over the summer period, and stay longer in the ground, than if had been spread close to winter.?

This is a teagasc article giving the figures
https://www.teagasc.ie/media/website/publications/2017/Segment-013-of-TodaysFarm-Jan-Feb-2017.pdf

Transferring losses into acres its 100-250kgs/year. Losses will be on the higher side if spread in autumn and its the smaller more neutralizing parts that leach easier.

wrangler

Jb1989 wrote: »

Do you agree with bass point on the small particles being lost?

Or is it that, if you spread it early in the year, them particles will get binding to the soil over the summer period, and stay longer in the ground, than if had been spread close to winter.?

Depends on whether you want it for next years growing season or not.
Since water is required for lime to react with the soil, effects of a lime application will be slower in a dry soil as it will be in spring.Even if lime is incorporated by tilling in it takes six weeks to affect the PH It often takes a year or more before a response can be measured even under perfect conditions. However, a response may be observed within weeks of the application when soil pH is extremely low. It is important to apply lime immediately after the growing season or crop removal to allow lime to react, correcting soil pH before the next growing season.

green daries

BENDYBINN wrote: »

Never heard of grass seed in the slurry tank......anyone ever try it?

Ya big thing on shallow ground in parts of the country works ok

148multi

BENDYBINN wrote: »

Never heard of grass seed in the slurry tank......anyone ever try it?

Heard of lads upgrading rvp this way

wrangler

148multi wrote: »

Heard of lads upgrading rvp this way

RVP would grow anywhere, I often spread it here to thicken exsting RVP but it's a sow to manage and wouldn't use it on permanant pasture.
If you had rvp ready to cut and got a wet week or any delay it'd turn to something like straw