No Till Disc Drill

[Intrepid1]

I have some hay fields that need rejuvenation. Considering just using roundup and then a No Till drill rather than cultivation. Anyone have any suggestion on makes, types of equipment or techniques

 

[Angus Cowman]

what type of grasses are you planning on planting and what type are you trying to kill out with the roundup

 

[SRBeef]

I have some hay fields that need rejuvenation. Considering just using roundup and then a No Till drill rather than cultivation. Anyone have any suggestion on makes, types of equipment or techniques

Why use roundup? Why kill whats there? You are on the right track with the no-till drill. What I have done and would recommend is to mow or graze whatever is there down and then no till drill into the existing sod with a John Deere 750 or 1560 family type single disc drill with the small seed attachment for the clover seed.

you can often rent a drill like this from the local soil and water conservation district. Check with your county agent. Or hire someone to drill it for you.

The Roundup does not work very well on large broadleaves and woody plants (the ones you would like to kill) and works best on grasses - exactly the plants you probably WANT to grow there and would like NOT to kill. You could add a tank mix of 2,4-d etc but why? Just mow it. And after the interseeded grasses and clovers get a start, mow it again to prevent the old plants from shading out the new ones. Give it another month or so then mow it again.

At that point once it reaches 8-10" tall start grazing it down, mowing it after each rotation to even it up and build the sod. jmho.

In WI I would do this in early spring. Good luck. Jim

 

[Intrepid1]

I live in SW Alberta and am at a high elavation with strong winds so soil conservation is important. The last couple years have been hard on the hayland with a drought and late frost last year, then a hot dry winter (chinook winds) the deep snow and frost until mid June. The field I am looking at is a grass mixture with mostly orchard grass. But these grasses seem worst hit by the weather. In much of the field the regrowth is below 25% - a cutoff for just giving it a rest. There are lots of volunteer weedsappearing and some quack grass is re-appearing. I plan on seeding alfalfa, meadow brome and pubescent wheatgrass which are more hardy.
So is it necessary to remove the existing-encroaching varieties or will the new varieties be competitive? I have thought about renting a unit but the only ones available are a long ways away and have long waiting lists so seeding at the right time is vary hard.

 

[SRBeef]

I live in SW Alberta and am at a high elevation with strong winds so soil conservation is important. The last couple years have been hard on the hayland with a drought and late frost last year, then a hot dry winter (chinook winds) the deep snow and frost until mid June. The field I am looking at is a grass mixture with mostly orchard grass. But these grasses seem worst hit by the weather. In much of the field the regrowth is below 25% - a cutoff for just giving it a rest. There are lots of volunteer weedsappearing and some quack grass is re-appearing. I plan on seeding alfalfa, meadow brome and pubescent wheatgrass which are more hardy.
So is it necessary to remove the existing-encroaching varieties or will the new varieties be competitive? I have thought about renting a unit but the only ones available are a long ways away and have long waiting lists so seeding at the right time is vary hard.

My comments are for a very different climate, SW WI. In Alberta however there are quire a few of the disc-type air seeders used for wheat. These would also work for many grass mixtures so maybe a neighbor nearby could seed it for you. Seems like especially on fragile ground like that I would leave what ever is hardy enough to be there and alive - let it live. Seed the new with minimal soil disturbance, and hopefully minimum erosion. I would talk with some one in Alberta Ag about specifics of what to plant and when to plant it in that area. almost always though it is a good idea to do soil testing first to spread lime, fertilizer or whatever else is needed to get a good stand. Maybe getting the soil fertility and pH correct will make it hardier in those conditions. Best of Luck. Jim

 

[hayray]

I use no till all the time if the field does not require leveling. For alfalfa for sure you need to eliminate competition with herbicide, has no competitiveness for interseeding like Jim is suggesting. I have used the John Deere and Tye drills in my area, both are good units. The big thing with the no till to look out for is seed placement. This requires you to get off the tractor several times and really look to make sure you are actually getting the seed in through the sod and then of course that it is not getting pushed into too deep. The first time I used the Deere 1570 I had a lot of issues with this. The small Tye drill basically is more simple and adjusted simply by how deep you lower the drill and requires a set of weights that you add and remove, so the Deere in the long run is probably better but requires more adjusting with the openers, closers, and so forth. I also had a real hard time getting the Deer to put down enough un-coated pure live seed. I don't know if there was a gearing issue or not but the most I could get out of it the last time I used it was 10 lbs. per acre, I had to plant twice.

 

[fargus]

I wouldn't worry about the herbicide. I know that alfalfa isn't that competitive early on, but OG and Quackgrass are pretty good to have around. (Our extension people curse Quackgrass.... I love it. Good feed quality, can't kill it by overgrazing and it yields much better than most other sod-forming grasses.)

If you are trying to get coarse seed established I would lean towards a Tye or Great Plains drill. The coulter will slice open the existing sod and leave a narrow band of "worked" ground. They also have finger harrows behind them and will help shallowly incorporate your grass seed. The deere is fine, but you need to be careful you aren't putting your seed in too deep.

 

[Intrepid1]

I appreciate the help. I have problems with moles and would like to find a drill that could be used for grain to grow greenfeed then to seed grass with after the moles have been starved out for a while.

 

[BC]

I appreciate the help. I have problems with moles and would like to find a drill that could be used for grain to grow greenfeed then to seed grass with after the moles have been starved out for a while.

Moles don't eat grain, they eat insects

 

[Intrepid1]

I guess what are commonly referred to as mole hils are pocket gophers and they eat plants