I'm going reseeding 6 acres of heavy ground which has a mix of grey marle and peat .
What grass seed would I use?
It's going to be ploughed .
Thanks
Something with an even mix of tetraploid and diploid. Agritech No 4A is a fairly good mix I find
Would that be ok for wettish ground ? It's gets pretty wet in the winter.
I Second Agritech 4A, have used it on similar type ground, very happy with it.
I didn't plough it though, I'd be afraid id turn up too much Marle.
Would there be too much rye grass in that mix, would MSS be better?
Don't think that would be suitable for the type of ground the OP is talking about. Those mixes would grow too much in the shoulders when grazing would be difficult on heavy ground. Those grass varieties won't survive without proper grazing and nutrients. I'm not sure what the right type of grass seed would be though, how about some type of meadow grass with more summer growth?
Not too impressed with MSS here. Not much grazing in it.
Well that type of ground is common in the midlands and its what is mostly sown around these parts
Including my own ground
On heavy ground u want ground cover …so diploid grasses mostly and I’ve heard somewhere that Timothy is good to have in a mix for ground like that
Yep - Fescues good too and Marsh Foxtail, all deep rooting and resistant to waterlogging
Agreed, also a ryegrass reseed in ground like that will look good for 1 or 2 years but after that it will yellow and die out quickly.
Cocksfoot, Timothy and meadow fescue should probably make up 60-70% of the mix. Ryegrass for the rest, unless you were going to do a big drainage job and horse out the fert.
Has DLF got a mix like that?
what method do you find best? Disc?
Why are you ploughing it? Surely the most fertile soil is on top? Agree with above posts about Timothy and fescues, they will last longer than ryegrass on peat.
But definitely not cocksfoot, I hate that old variety
No idea. Probably need to get a custom mix made up as a rep will probably just want to pawn off a standard mix.
Alsike clover should be included also and smaller leafed varieties of white clover would be better to the larger leafed varieties for persistence
I'm a great believer in ploughing. If it's an old field ploughing will loosen up the ground and you'll have 6-8" of ground that will soak water better. I had a field here last Yr that hadn't been ploughed in almost 50yrs. Very wet in places. Ploughed up the pan only had about 4"of sod in places grey white clay and stones. I had visions of it being a total disaster. We took a chance growing fodder beet on it and it grew a fine crop. Ploughed it up again and Reseeded it late April and its growing grass fine. Will be cut for bales for while.
That second plough to break all up & bring best back up is supposed to be ideal
Yeah the man on the plough this spring went down as deep as the man last year. You'd see the rotten sod coming up again. I was advised to roll it with a Cambridge type roller as opposed to a smooth roller as if it got wet and dried again it'd go like concrete.
My own thinking is the marl/hard white pan holds the water and slows the leaching of nutrients hence the great response . A run of a subsoiler or mole plough would probably of benefit as well.
Sorry to bring up this old thread but am getting ready to plough up 4.5acres of heavy peaty soil that has being ploughed for bird cover over the last 7years and now it's time to go back to grass? Anyone any ideas on what type of grass seed to go with? was thinking maybe Tipperary grass 4 or 4A. Don't think I'd like to go with cocksfoot and Timothy as I don't think production in these grasses about be good enough.
Soil test first. Your soil could be goosed from the 7 years
Have it being tested this week but I'm gonna plough on anyway as the results could take a month, will be liming and 3bags 10-10-20 hopefully should be ok. I wish I had some FYM for it to plough down would be great for it
Drummond do a mix for difficult soils
Would it be great to plough it down or would it be a waste? I'm going ploughing 5 acres here too and I have some FYM. Great stuff on bad ground but does ploughing it down just bury it too deep for grass roots?
Once you plough shallow you should be OK. If it's well rotten then it wouldn't interfere with a disc harrow either
