Who sells cover crop seed in ireland? wouldn't mind trying a bit what kind of price per acre?
I am interested in doing some cover crops . What is Redstart and are you allowed to spray it with a Graminicide to control volunteers .
We supply certain cover crops to the trade. Mustard, Phacelia etc. Mostly imported to order.
I looked at costs before. At recommended sowing rates, Phacelia and Mustard were in the region of €30/ac i think. Not cheap!!
Other cheaper options are oats, forage rape etc.
In what situation or why are you thinking of using them?
i'm thinking winter barley cover crop, graze, then spring barley. 30euro sounds a bit steep. what kind of cost are fodder rape, stubble turnips etc? or can mixes be bought?
I know peddlers on the farming forum sells mixes for £20-30ha
Teagasc trials have shown no yield benefit to following crop (I believe them).
Yea i kinda agree. We have sown mustard for the last 4 years and not seeing anything noticable in the crops of barley. Only sowing it as part of an aeos scheme. Once we out of that I won't be sowing it no more
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I'm wanting to look into this aswell, wanting to sow it on heavy ground and looking something deep rooting and plenty of foliage to plough in. I'm looking to get some OM back in and any NPK would be a bonus.
Any suggestions what to go for?
Thanks
I also think that as many different types of plants in a mix as possible. different rooting profiles and depth holding the ground open to stop slumping and run off. scavenging excess nutrients. I think there are far to many benefits to not do it.
Sow your cover and spread dung slurry etc.
People wouldn't want to forget the pitfalls associated with creating green bridges......
Slugs, leatherjackets, encouraging the build up of soil borne nasties like Clubroot, oat mosaic etc etc........
I do like the nice pictures of cover crops as they make the fields look pretty but I'm not overly convinced about them myself from a cost vs benefit point of view.
This is coming from someone who sells seed.....
People wouldn't want to forget the pitfalls associated with creating green bridges......
Slugs, leatherjackets, encouraging the build up of soil borne nasties like Clubroot, oat mosaic etc etc........
I do like the nice pictures of cover crops as they make the fields look pretty but I'm not overly convinced about them myself from a cost vs benefit point of view.
This is coming from someone who sells seed.....
I think their mostly to stop erosion and leaching so unlikely to really see any other benefits
Before we had expensive ways of growing cereals we relied on Cover crops green manuring and legumes as well as well rotted farm yard manure . I remember when we were doing land reclamation about two acres of good land was uncropped for a year because of deep ditches and grew lambsquarters . The beet in that two acres next year was twice the size of the rest of the field .There is more forgotten than we learn .
Anyone sowed barley after cover crops this year. I have S barley one field after cover crop and one without the barley with the cover crop has slightly more dieseae but a lot less weeds