Autumn Grass

With another dry summer, grass swards have been left brown and looking unproductive. Below we look at the reasons behind overseeding, or a full reseed. Both have their place, and we go through when to use each one.

Using deep rooting species such as chicory or plantain can also have other benefits:

  • Increased drought tolerance

  • Mineral content

  • Increased protein content

  • Diverse rooting structures

  • Reduces internal parasite risk

    Considerations before reseeding

  • Farming system

  • Do you need the winter grazing or can you take the fields out of production

  • Grazing/cutting cycle

  • Optimum timing

  • If including clover, the soil temperature needs to be above 8 degrees

  • Method of seeding

  • Direct drilling, broadcasting, check seeding rates depending on method used.

    Why autumn?

  • Generally better conditions, less likely to drought

  • Rest period from livestock/machinery over winter

  • Opportunity to add in clover

    Soil condition before reseeding

  • Check for compaction – this may affect the method of establishment  

  • pH – testing the soil prior to reseeding, to ensure the desired pH to give the new ley the best chance

    Species to use

  • Tetraploid varieties of PRG

    Larger seed, quicker growth

  • Hybrids

  • Clovers can be overseeded

  • Plantain & Chicory

  • Festuloliums

  • Timothy

  • Cocksfoot

      Mixture options

  • Renovation mix – designed specifically to be used as an overseeding mix

  • Any mixes with larger amounts of tetraploid are good to overseed with

  • Look at what you want from the mix

  • Duration

  • Cutting/grazing/dual purpose

  • Desired species – consideration of clover if weed burden is high

    Multi species option      

  • Adds diversity

 

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