Cultipacker with dormant seeding - Necessary or No?

[noobfarmer]

This year I'm trying a dormant seeding of alfalfa and orchard grass (i.e. seeding after it's too cold to germinate, seed sits over Winter and comes up in Spring). I disked everything, spread my seed, and dragged to cover the seed with dirt. Normally I'd finish with the cultipacker to firm everything up. However, I'm wondering if I can skip cultipacking and just let the Winter freeze/thaw cycle firm everything up. Will this be as effective as using the cultipacker? Thanks!

 

[super55]

You can likely skip the cultipacking. Especially if you receive any measurable amount of snowfall there. Even good old fashioned gravity should make the seed bed firm enough for germination by the time the seeds are ready to sprout.

 

[noobfarmer]

Yes, we do receive several large snow storms each year. Makes sense that that would help compact things. I'll just let it sit then. Thanks!

 

[DJ54]

You're pretty much doing "frost seeding" (Google it) a few months early. We normally do that here the last 2 weeks of Feb, through the first two weeks of March. With the freeze/thaw cycles, the top surface will honeycomb when it freezes, then smooth out when it thaws, pulling the seed into the dirt. Basically mimicking Mother Nature, in the way she reseeds.

Anymore, that's the way I reseed my small pastures & hay field, unless I start some Timothy in Sept. The freeze thaw cycles also help break the hard shell of the Alfalfa, and Clover seeds. Many times here, I've seen farmers seed clover on top of snow, to take it into the ground.

I've always had great stands, after using the Frost Seeding method. Here is a picture of where I frost seeded a small pasture this past Feb., using my Super C Farmall, and Seed Easy spreader.