johndeerefarmer
Well-known member
Has anyone tried discing in coastal tops instead of planting sprigs? If so, how successful were you?
Planting coastal tops?
- Thread starter johndeerefarmer
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LaneFarms
Well-known member
Planting tops is the only way I have ever planted Coastal. Two key points the greener the tops the better and the more you put out the faster it will cover.
johndeerefarmer
Well-known member
How do you spread them?
we've never planted coastal tops but have planted Jiggs & Tifton85 tops. really good stands of Jiggs, but not nearly as good with the Tifton.
to spread, we cut the tops early in the morning (usually in the dark) when there's still plenty of moisture in the air & load them on a low-boy trailer. we then walk behind & on the sides of the trailer (some jr-high or high school boys work well for this) & just scatter them out. disk them under as soon as possible.
you can also use a manure spreader to spread 'em out.
to spread, we cut the tops early in the morning (usually in the dark) when there's still plenty of moisture in the air & load them on a low-boy trailer. we then walk behind & on the sides of the trailer (some jr-high or high school boys work well for this) & just scatter them out. disk them under as soon as possible.
you can also use a manure spreader to spread 'em out.
johndeerefarmer
Well-known member
Thanks for the info.
TXCOWBOY
Well-known member
I planted Tifton 85 tops 2 weeks ago into a 50% chance of rain the next day that never materialized. I disked and rolled the field. Any idea how long the tops can last or is it a loss already? Rain is in the forecast for this weekend I hope. It will be two weeks without significant rainfall, but lots of fog and dew the last few weeks.
TXCOWBOY":1p6ylxaq said:
how much moisture was in the ground before you planted? have you scratched around to find any of the tops to see if they're still green or if they've already dried up? in our experience the Tifton85 is fairly temperamental when trying to get it established, and because of this, i'd probably say you're s.o.l., but there's always hope. keep us posted.
Caustic Burno
Well-known member
Txag I thought you like the poor mans coastal Bahia ? ;-) Heck it will grow anywhere.
TXCOWBOY
Well-known member
txag,
To be honest, I probably should have waited longer in the spring for greener stems, but I would say each bale had about 1/3 green stems and each had at least 6 nodes. Soil was moist, but not ideal. Really thought the rain was coming. Planted 12 bales per acre. Grass man suggested 6 bales per acre. Just hard to say at this point....everything looks brown. Hoping for words of encouragement I guess and to not feel like I pi$$ed a bunch of $$$ away.
To be honest, I probably should have waited longer in the spring for greener stems, but I would say each bale had about 1/3 green stems and each had at least 6 nodes. Soil was moist, but not ideal. Really thought the rain was coming. Planted 12 bales per acre. Grass man suggested 6 bales per acre. Just hard to say at this point....everything looks brown. Hoping for words of encouragement I guess and to not feel like I pi$$ed a bunch of $$$ away.
