The Reseeding/Stitching Discussion Thread.

farisfat wrote: »

Dose the time harrow form good enough seed bed in a full reseed.
What rate do u sow clover when over seeding.
And cost per acre.

A seed bed just has to be soild and the ground exposed. If you till the ground like mad All you are left with at times is powdery soil which is poached easily when wet.

Most of my work is repairing patchy reseeds or reseeds after the first winter. Poweharrows leave the ground very vulnerable to holding water unless very well rolled numerous times. All the seed needs is soil contact and that's where the roller comes in.

Clover is usually sown at 2kg an acre. The clover itself is expensive compared to grass seed so not sure about that but seeding run of harrow is €25 and any preparation runs are €10

Reggie. wrote: »

A seed bed just has to be soild and the ground exposed. If you till the ground like mad All you are left with at times is powdery soil which is poached easily when wet.

Most of my work is repairing patchy reseeds or reseeds after the first winter. Poweharrows leave the ground very vulnerable to holding water unless very well rolled numerous times. All the seed needs is soil contact and that's where the roller comes in.

Clover is usually sown at 2kg an acre. The clover itself is expensive compared to grass seed so not sure about that but seeding run of harrow is €25 and any preparation runs are €10

Have you many full reseed jobs done.....and how did they turn out compared to power harrow or guttler.
What's output like on good level ground.
Sorry for all the questions.

so the Rakeman 3000 is selling at €2,950 inc. 23 per cent Vat only 3m wide,

its very tempting but 1 question I have is my ground is muddy, are the tines strong enough for heavier ground?
I think they look a better job than the chain harrow but you can buy a wider chain harrow so cover the ground faster which is important for the part time person

farisfat wrote: »

Have you many full reseed jobs done.....and how did they turn out compared to power harrow or guttler.
What's output like on good level ground.
Sorry for all the questions.

No hassle. Only small amounts of full reseeds done last year as not much time but supposed to be large bits this year.

Difference in tine harrow to guttler is that the tine harrow has 180 tines exposing the ground where a guttler has about 26 (I think) per run. The guttlers tines are also straight tines so when they wear they might not have the same depth in the ground. After that the only difference is the roller at the rear. Only think about the roller is that it Sometimes can gather up the seed again if the rollers get damp.

With the powerharrow you get the ground well prepared but it has a habit of leaving the ground very tender. For instance we reseeded 5 acres in April one year. Went into the field in Oct with teleporter to lift a tree and sank the machine but the teleporter had no trouble in any other field only the reseeded one. I csme to the conculsion that it was powerharrowed too deeply and the soil wasn't compacted and allowing moisture to be stored between the layers. Never got a power harrow back since.

Was told after that you shouldn't powerharrow any deeper than an inch or two but at that rate you might as well be using a tine harrow and you don't be messing up the soil structure.

**all opinions above are my own and from my personnel experience. I'm aware people may have different thoughts on systems.

Tomjim wrote:

what other options are available that would not be too expensive

I've seeded most ways except overfeeding and stitching the chain harrow system does work

Reggie. wrote:

Which would you prefer lab? Or is it farm dependant

Well have a lot of mud here in west clare so it's best not to churn it up so all I do now is spray off seed roll light lime fert leave alone then but I do most of the seeding in sept or early October it works here as yer not disturbing the ground and light weanlings can graze it off if it's dry,
First time I went seeding I ploughed disked powerharrowed i told the guy powerharrowing to go light as in 2 inches max but let it down to the last I was gone to work when he was at it I couldn't go into the field for 3 yrs after as you'd just sink a pure disaster that was 9 yrs ago no powerharrow let in here since either

Reggie. wrote: »

2017 must have been a year for the chickweed as a neighbour has the same issue. He says it's popped up everywhere in a reseed.

If the grass doesn't smother it you could try to harrow it out after that. Hopefully the double hit might knock it back. Other than that then spray might be your only option.

As well as the chickweed it's fairly patchy in areas as you can see from the pic. If I broadcast some more seed with a wagtail and roll would it be worth it. Don't have access to chain harrow and would probably tear up a lot of what's already sown as only 7 months

foxirl wrote: »

Great info Reggie. Any advice for mouse eared chickweed. Reseed from last September is full of it and the sheep don't seem to eat it. Thinking of saving hay on some of it and was wondering once the grass gets long will is smother it out.

Grazing tight normally sorts the chickweed with cows anyway. If closing it for silage or hay give it a spray after it's grazed most herbicides would sort chickweed

Reggie. wrote: »

I'd give it time to tiller out first. If still that bad in autumn I'd consider another bit of overseeding. Don't forget it was a hard winter

Thanks Reggie

foxirl wrote: »

Might hold off on cutting as was advised that wouldn't help with tillering. Will spray in autumn if it comes to it but trying to avoid killing clover. Will come back in another month with a pic of progress.
Thanks

Don't forget clover can always be added after you have the seed under control

I says wrote: »

Best way to repair rut marks left by tractor around gateways and wet areas?

If very bad a landleveller or tripe k harrow. Tine harrow if marks aren't too deep

foxirl wrote: »

Might hold off on cutting as was advised that wouldn't help with tillering. Will spray in autumn if it comes to it but trying to avoid killing clover. Will come back in another month with a pic of progress.
Thanks

You can cut it once you don't go leaving it grow for 10 weeks, if it was growing for 4 or 5 it would be fine i find anyway. Also with reseed the grass would need regular fert this would help it get on top of weeds and get established. Reseeding and not fertilizing is a bit of false economy as the sward will just revert back to weed grasses etc as new grass needs to be fed

oxjkqg wrote: »

Has any1 tried the DLF ProNitro seed, nitrogen coated seed..

Coated or treated

If people can remember back to when I stitched my paddocks last year in late sept to not so great conditions. This is them today

What rate would you need to seed at for stitching in some seem to say 14kg acre and others 12 will be grazing a field off in the next few days have seed ordered but might have enough