Seed planting

kaylark · Post by **kaylark** » Sat Dec 01, 2007 11:45 am

Hi All,

I have been slowly getting through back from the brink and have been following the NSF theories for a while with great interest.

We renting a farm house on my parents farm and have 2 small paddocks (a couple of acres) which we run 1 horse and 2 cows on.

The paddock is blossoming with thistles which is great, however the main grass which is taking over due the fertility improving is setaria. The problem we have here is that this isn't so good for the horse and future horses we are planning to have.

Obviously plouging the paddock and planting seed is not an option due to the problems it will create with the soil.

Our local Co-op has a bag of "Horse Mixture" including Rhodes, Gatton Panic, Lucenre and some other goodies. Now at $180 /bag, I don't really want to grab some, throw it on the ground and hope for the best. The soil is fairly soft already with the thistles so they should drop into the ground.

The other option I was thinking was to plant them in mulch - as explained in the book.

This is where I am stuck, and not sure how to do it? Is it a matter of laying the seeds in the mulch... this is where I am not sure.

I understand, without seeing the paddock its hard to get a grasp of the idea in your head. The paddock is also opn a slight slope - only a couple of degrees.

So in short, if I sprinkle seeds will they have a chance of taking of the setaria. I don't want to poison or plough due to the other consequences involved.

thanks

-Mark

duane · Post by **duane** » Sat Dec 01, 2007 11:56 am

Hi Mark

You could try direct drilling...ie., leave your paddocks unploughed and simply seed the mix directly. Col Seis of Conservation Farmers uses the same principle in Pasture Cropping planting annual crops amongst perennial natives.

kaylark · Post by **kaylark** » Sun Dec 02, 2007 11:19 am

By Seed the mix directly do you mean push a few handfuls of the seed into the ground? Or spinkle it over the top?

Or dig small whole and put in the seeds....

thanks
for the reply

duane · Post by **duane** » Tue Dec 04, 2007 2:02 pm

I am not a farmer but I suggest if you had access to a direct drilling machine I think this would be your best bet. This way is is minimum till whilst still leaving all your ground cover....and you could slash all your thistles etc and leave them as mulch on the ground ready for when the seed germinates.

Ian from WA might have some suggestions as well.

Dan · Post by **Dan** » Wed Dec 05, 2007 6:01 am

Kaylark

I have done quite a bit of direct drilling of pasture on our property and it can be very successful. We use a modified single disc seeder with presswheels, the presswheels are important to improve the seeds contact with the soil and improve germination. If you can't get a seeder with presswheels you can drag a gate or similar object behind the seeder to get a light covering. Tyne seeders can also give good results but the create greater disturbance and you get more moisture loss. We usually graze the paddack before seeding to leave a residual pasture of 1 - 2 cm, if tall weeds are left slash them before sowing. The seed mix you described contains very small seed shallow sowing is essential to get good germination i'd suggest no deeper then 1 cm preferably 0.5 cm (Rhodes grass and Gatton panic have the really small seed). Sowing time is also important you should probably talk to a local agronomist about sowing time. There is another method of sowing but i'm not sure how well it would work, it involves spreading the seed over the ground then mowing the existing pasture to provide a light covering of cut grass, its commonly used on the south coast for planting barley and oats into kikuyu pasture.

Wish you success in pasture renovation.