Seeding grass

[Rancher3!]

What is the preferred method out there? We have great moisture here and plan on converting more farm land. We have used a small press drill before, has anyone tried a rotary harrow. how about a cover crop? Any imput is appreciated!

 

[Big Muddy rancher]

I have used a double rotary Harrow. It is fast but it sure starts lots of weeds.

 

[Denny]

I just seeded 25 acres down we put on 317#s of product per acre a mixture of oats,grass seed, fertilizer and pell lime. This year we had the ag company blow it on with a rogator. Last year I did it with a fertilizer spreader set it at 1/2 rate and went over it twice. I rolled both pieces with a land roller twice after spreading seed.I went 2 buschels of oats per acre and 15#s of grass seed.I'd go with a cover crop but we get quite a bit of rain so that may not work as well in other climates..

 

[burnt]

Well I use the neighbors seed drill which puts on fertilizer, whatever seed grain mix you want for cover crop and sprinkles grass seed on top behind the seed/fertilizer discs. Pulling a Bear Cat sprocket packer behind the seed drill gives the grass seed about the right amount of cover. A good seed bed gives the best germination of your (pricey!) grass seed.

Last year we were very happy with our cover crop of a triple mix of oats, barley and peas at about 125 lb. /acre. The nice thing about that mix or any forage type mix is that you usually cut it early enough to get some really good growth out of your grass seed for the rest of the summer. But even though we cut and wrapped it at the dough stage last summer, it was so dry that the grass/alfalfa mix didn't get uniformly tall enough to take a "second cut".

The triple mix yields well too. Ours put up 10 1000 lb. (+/-) bales per acre. Wet weight, of course.

This spring that field looks fantastic. Think and very vigorous. So it works for us.

We put on about 18 lbs. of an 80/20 grass seed mix (alfalfa timothy) and I think every seed grew!

 

[Liveoak]

I would think it depends on the seed. I have about 40 lbs of WW B Dahl to plant but it is real lightweight and has tiny little hairs on the seed that make it difficult to use a common drop seeder (clogs up). It will get mixed 5 lbs of seed to 100 lbs of fertilizer into a broadcast spreader. This seed only needs to be in the ground 1/4" while other seeds may need to go deeper.

 

[Rancher3!]

thanks for the imput. Conditions and seed vary so much area to area it is interesting to see what people do. I think i am going to seed oats first then roll the field then drill in the grass alhp. mix. hope it works!

 

[Northern Rancher]

I used to just broadcast it with the fertilizer and harrow it in.

 

[TXTibbs]

Use a Brillion Seeder....it packs, seeds then packs again....in that order. One of the best seeders for planting grass....

 

[cowsense]

Rancher3......quite an assortment of management ideas.....looks like it costs a lot to seed in the high rainfall areas but they do have production! I think you are on the right track to roll the field, the firmer the better! If possible seed your nurse crop in a different direction than the grass....less competition. Ya can do everything right but luck is still part of the equation.