How to overseed new pasture - work seed in or not?

[ovrszd]

My offerings are based on my location, Northern Missouri.

I would not have disced the field. I would have pulled the no-till drill over the crop stubble. Would have drilled 2 bushels of wheat per acre. In the small seed box on the drill I would have put my pasture mixture. The drill is designed to drop the small seed at the rear end of the machine with the only thing following is the row packer wheels. One pass would have done everything. The wheat would have gave you ground cover. As the wheat matured this Spring it would have provided shade protection for the grass seedlings to get started. When the wheat matured early Summer the pasture mix would have been established and became the pasture you desire. So maybe for next time that method might be considered.

The local Soil Conservation Office is there at your service. They have Agronomists on staff that can offer you guidance and educational material to help you achieve your goal.

With all that said, Mother Nature does not disc, harrow, roll or cultipack it's crop. The seed is dropped on the ground in late Fall/early Winter. It lays on the ground and gets worked into the soil surface by rain, snow, freeze, thaw. It's common here for Cattle Rancher's to overseed thin pasture in early Winter for that very reason. Ford850's suggestion was on the mark.

I guess were it me I would broadcast my pasture mix and hope for the best. Letting the existing rye offer some protection for the new seedlings.

In Missouri, seeding in the Fall is best because it allows the seedlings to get themselves established and have an early start in the Spring so they can survive the hot/dry Summer to come.

Good luck with your venture!!!

 

[dieselscout80]

Broadcast it and then mow the rye to let the clippings cover the new seeds and if you can run a cultipacker over it afterwards.

 

[ovrszd]

Broadcast it and then mow the rye to let the clippings cover the new seeds and if you can run a cultipacker over it afterwards.

That might work. The biggest concern is burying the small grass seed too deep. Agronomists say a seed should be no deeper than 1.5 times it's diameter. That's pretty shallow.

 

[searcyfarms]

i wouldnt waste time with teh drill, its too big for your tractor, i would overseed it with teh broadcaster, its far too wet here to do ANY kind of soil work so just letting it go would be best until you can get out and drive on it if you want with vehicles, 4 wheelers, tractors, anything to press the seed in a lil like these guys are saying, if you disked it that much last fall, its going to be soft regardless of teh rye on it should squish in nicely let mother nature do the rest as these guys say

my input if from NW MO and central MO experience and soils

 

[gsganzer]

I'd hit it with a disc harrow set on the least aggressive angle. Broadcast the seed and then pull your drag harrow to incorporate the seed. Your rye should bounce back in a week or so.

 

[Hiptfarms]

I'd just broadcast the seed then drag over it with an old chain link gate or something similar. Or, if you have access to a spike harrow, run that over it. The no-till is too big for your tractor.

 

[Deereho]

I planted a lot of grass seed on our for years and years
Plant winter wheat in September
And in spring the earlier the better germination would be
Like in mid March here western NY
I have driven through snow drifts had great germination was hard to believe
All we every did was broad cast the seed
That’s it
In the dry Summer one or two times we used no till drill which put seed down inch in dirt where the moisture was
But earlyspring was best and just board casting seed

 

[MHarryE]

I’m in Northern MN. I have winter rue planted and when the snow melts (we still have about a foot snow cover), I will be broadcast seeding grass seed and a bit later adding urea. This has worked well for us in the past. Our drills basically drop grass seed on top of the soil between the rows. If it was sod I would do it different but as you have already worked up the field and Mother Nature has done its thing this winter, broadcast should work fine - it has for me but I do have a different soil type. Mine is defined as loamy clay with 45% clay, 44% loam, and 9% sand.