harrow vs. packing/rolling after broadcast sedding

[spruce Deere]

Thinking of warmer thoughts and not having enough snow yet to plow Got a pasture/field job this coming spring that the client needs/wants total rehabilitation. Client himself has sprayed a mixture of gly and curtail early fall for weed kill. I pulled a soil sample P and K are good, its call'n for 26 lbs. per acre of N for a projected 1 1/2 ton to 2 ton per acre grass production. After all the dust from workn' the dirt to to an even surface has settled, going to broadcast a pasture grass seed mix onto it. Im leaning toward packing/rolling after seeding for the looks and subsoil moister retention. Interested in what other tbn'ers would do or have done. Surface finish is not really an issue, just as long as the horses aren't busting there ankles and the thing is turning green.

 

[RickB]

Don't use any kind of harrow after applying grass seed. It will be buried too deep to germinate. Rolling is far better. If the soil is very loose & fluffy, rolling before and after seeding can work very well.

 

[Barry Bowen]

If the soil is tilled up, do not waste your clients money broadcasting seed. Use a drill or a no-till drill. It is well worth the expense in terms of increasing your germination rate. I use an old 1940's IH drill on rubber in tilled ground, and I have also used a 750 JD no-till in the same situation. The no-till gave me a better stand. You can pack it behind a conventional drill, but no need behind the no-till. More importantly put down lots of seed, if orchard, put down 30-35 lbs to the acre. Do it in two passes with the drill, one say north-south, and the other east-west. Do not try to lay that much seed in one pass. Tell you client this is a plant nursery and the horses must stay off of it for one to two years if he wants the stand to take. Much less time then that and you will be back to do the job again. Also keep the horses off when the pasture is soft right after a rain, or when surface is thawing, but frozen is just below it. Cut it for hay in the mean time.

 

[jenkinsph]

SpruceDeer

If you are doing just a few acres, I would till or disc it up then run a landplane to smooth everything out. If you find bare scraped areas after planing smooth I would disc or till a second time then smooth with the plane again. I would then broadcast the seed with passes perpendicular for good coverage. Next roll the seed in with same perpendicular passes. Water it with sprinklers if at all possible.

While drills and no till seeders are very nice they are way too costly for a small job. Unless you are doing this all the time and feel the need to drop $10,000 to $75,000.

The advice to keep the horses off the first two years is sound. Make hay instead.

 

[spruce Deere]

Thanks for the ideas and input. Few more tid bits I should have mentioned, I did instructed the client when we were discussing treatment for the field/pasture cant just turn horses out soon as work was completed... not just a few months neither, at least a full year before hooves touched there investment. As for hay, client has another 11 acres of grass/alfalfa for the main hay supply. Client first priority for this 5 acre piece is pasture for two horses for now, hay later. I told the client that's fine, but still needs clipped after while for weeds that do make it and fertilized accordingly and harrowed.... still have to manage it for good, healthy pasture grass or hay later. The client wishes they would have talked to me years ago before they had someone seed it. "that guy that seeded it didn't do noth'n like what you are describing... no soil sample done or nothn', he left town years ago Been lookn at over$eeder$ brillion, woods.... have found a few old IH, deere grain drills and found an old 10 foot barber engineering drop spreader. But broadcast speader I have ready access too. There is a winter storm warning for tonight.... plow'n tomorrow mabe Thanks and keep the ideas coming.