When to aierate

[rowdyred]

When is the best time to aierate(spelling?) pasture?

 

[Brute 23]

What type of equipment would you be using to aerate?

 

[greybeard]

What type of equipment would you be using to aerate?

And make sure you really do have soil compaction and not just soil that seems compacted just because it is dry.

http://msucares.com/crops/forages/newsletters/11/1.pdf

 

[gabby]

Save yourself the time and fuel. I have a Hay King aerator and it doesn't make my pastures better.

I only use it to prep pastures for fall overseeding by loosening up the sod so the winter ryegrass can grow better.

 

[shaz]

Save yourself the time and fuel. I have a Hay King aerator and it doesn't make my pastures better.

I only use it to prep pastures for fall overseeding by loosening up the sod so the winter ryegrass can grow better.

You don't feel like it helps water infiltration at all?

 

[1982vett]

Save yourself the time and fuel. I have a Hay King aerator and it doesn't make my pastures better.

I only use it to prep pastures for fall overseeding by loosening up the sod so the winter ryegrass can grow better.

You don't feel like it helps water infiltration at all?

Just how much more aeration than this does one need......

 

[greybeard]

That ain't aeration--that's a baby sinkhole just waitin to swallow your house..

 

[Brute 23]

Im not an expert by any means but I look at it opposite of most people. Its not when your in a drought that you need to aereate really. As you can see in that pic the cracks are doing it for you. Its actually in wet years when that same ground swells that you need to break it up to get the deep moisture. Ground that will crack like that will also swell and seal off with enough moisture.

Thats just the way it was explained to me and the theory I operate from.

 

[hog987]

I go over all my hay land in the spring and than spread fertilizer. If we get a timily rain than it does help soak the fertilizer in the ground quicker. Also if we have a cold spring if seems to help warm the ground faster and gets the hay growing faster. Last spring you could really tell the difference between my hay land and anyother hay or pasture in the area.

 

[gabby]

Save yourself the time and fuel. I have a Hay King aerator and it doesn't make my pastures better.

I only use it to prep pastures for fall overseeding by loosening up the sod so the winter ryegrass can grow better.

You don't feel like it helps water infiltration at all?

I have made random passes across fields in the spring to test if I could see results compared to the rest of the field and I couldn't see any. I have also done entire fields with no noticeable results, except when I did it during dry weather I had dead grass streaks where the knives disturbed the grass roots which later died.
:2cents:

 

[hawkeye78]

You need to apply some humate which is humic acid and it will help break the chemical bonds in the soil and loosen it up so it will hold more water and more efficiently use the water in dry years. This will also help in untieing the p and k in the soil. You can apply 2qt-2 gallon per acre and it costs about $15 per gallon delivered to you