Reseeding

Karolmc100

Well-Known Member
I am ploughing a plot of land.It needs to be drained in a number of places.I am being told I should put the shores in before ploughing .I am unsure about this.I estimate that the shores will cost around €10 a meter when stone and contractor costs are taken into account .The shores planned are ones stoned to the surface with no drainage pipe.My issue is putting a shore in at this price and then pulling plough through part of it is a bit of a waste.My question is would it be possible to plough first and then put in your shores before harrowing between the shores
 
So plough and cultivate then drain? Shouldn't be a huge issue i don't think?
Then level out spoin with a digger and a few runs of levelling board before seeding? Minimal disturbance to drains?
 
My thoughts for what they are worth, if the field needs drainage it will be far easier do the job before ploughing as you will have the existing sod to travel on, if you don't want to disturb them you will have to plough between them, to be honest ploughing through them wont make a huge difference as you are only turning over the stone as opposed to moving it away, a small bit of clay mixed through might be no harm as it will give grass or whatever crop a chance to grow, if you leave lines of stone right to the top cattle will root it out, in dry weather you will just have a burnt strip even if it grasses over and if cutting for forage the stone will get raked into the row with obvious damage to the following harvester.
 
Tbh. I never did see the point of stoning to the top in a lot of places. Unless your after catching flowing water.
We expect the water to drain from meters away sideways. Should easilly drain downwards a foot. Save a lot of stone in the process. And no burnt strips.
 
Done it before and the shores worked perfectly.It is common practice not to use pipes now.Makes sense in a way as the water drains through the stone to the ditchHowever in certain sold I understand pipes are a must
 
If you plough it beforehand it's going to be very hard to get the whole field dry enough to till again.

If I was the OP I'd drain first and then plough, Arthur is spot on with his post above. Plus by ploughing afterwards it will allow you to level the field somewhat post draining too.
 
Drain first then plough , the ploughing will also help water run to the shores and as Arthur says a little clay mixed through the stones will help grass to grow , you could plough straight across or at a slight angle to the shores it won't disturb the stones to much .
 
Drains first, without a shadow of doubt. You'll have an awful time travelling across ploughed ground with machinery and then trying to level it afterwards. Plus the digger driver will curse you every time a sod falls down in to the open shore.
Shores without pipe will work fine once you have a fall in the field, you don't travel a long distance and you're not going to be catching a large volume of water. Have some here working away just fine.
 
Ground we drained a couple of years ago, planted with kale and then reseeded. It was very rough and wet with furze, stones and humps and hollows. Not top quality, but some improvement on what it was and no water lying on it today.
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After a bit of debating over the weekend, I've kind of decided that I want to reseed the place at home. The place is in the same grass for the last 25 odd years also the land is a bit rough in spots (old tracks that were never levelled). Hoping to do all I can myself to save a few quid. We have 2 old ploughs, a cultivator (some sort of oldtine harrow, haven't looked at it in a few years) and a wagtail spreader. Basically, I want to know is, can I do it myself (I know I'll need a roller too but will try and get the loan of one) and what exactly should I be doing? (Would have no experience as such at this type of work but I'd like to try my arm at it, especially since I have some of the gear that I think I'll need) I'm planning on trying to do it next summer after the silage is cut and do a small bit at a time, as not to have the whole place made a sh*te of if I do go wrong or struggle. Any advice appreciated! :Thumbp2:
 
After a bit of debating over the weekend, I've kind of decided that I want to reseed the place at home. The place is in the same grass for the last 25 odd years also the land is a bit rough in spots (old tracks that were never levelled). Hoping to do all I can myself to save a few quid. We have 2 old ploughs, a cultivator (some sort of oldtine harrow, haven't looked at it in a few years) and a wagtail spreader. Basically, I want to know is, can I do it myself (I know I'll need a roller too but will try and get the loan of one) and what exactly should I be doing? (Would have no experience as such at this type of work but I'd like to try my arm at it, especially since I have some of the gear that I think I'll need) I'm planning on trying to do it next summer after the silage is cut and do a small bit at a time, as not to have the whole place made a sh*te of if I do go wrong or struggle. Any advice appreciated! :Thumbp2:
I would spray it off before you cut the silage off it
 
Probably better wait until after cutting silage let it green up a bit and spray off then. Weeds will be softer and more exposed very hard for spray to reach the bottom of the sward in a heavy crop of grass. Your silage will probably be better as well.
Thats true and you also get the bother of when do you spray before as you could get a month of shite weather after it.
Only benifit is you can get on it straight away after the silage is gone rather than having to wait for it to green and die.
 
Finally got a chance(should have been Atleast 2 weeks ago but not had weather to do it) to spray the 2 bits we did in early august this afternoon, first one was after winter barley, ploughed, rolled, power harrowed, rolled and sowed with one pass and rolled again.
Second was direct grass-grass 2 runs of heavy disc 2 runs of ph rolled one pass and rolled again.
Both got around 3bags of 10:10:20 and the same of bag lime before sowing.

After the winter barley
IMG_0476.JPG
IMG_0478.JPG
the grass-grass
IMG_0479.JPG

Fair bit of chickweed in the direct but would have expected it too really did need the spray a bit sooner just couldn't get at it:no:

Not sure why pics ended up sideways
 
After a bit of debating over the weekend, I've kind of decided that I want to reseed the place at home. The place is in the same grass for the last 25 odd years also the land is a bit rough in spots (old tracks that were never levelled). Hoping to do all I can myself to save a few quid. We have 2 old ploughs, a cultivator (some sort of oldtine harrow, haven't looked at it in a few years) and a wagtail spreader. Basically, I want to know is, can I do it myself (I know I'll need a roller too but will try and get the loan of one) and what exactly should I be doing? (Would have no experience as such at this type of work but I'd like to try my arm at it, especially since I have some of the gear that I think I'll need) I'm planning on trying to do it next summer after the silage is cut and do a small bit at a time, as not to have the whole place made a sh*te of if I do go wrong or struggle. Any advice appreciated! :Thumbp2:
There was a similar discussion in this thread :Thumbp2:

http://www.forum4farming.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-hard-is-it-to-plough.15127/
 
Thanks @Tippcon, had a read through that alright. I should've been a bit clearer, The ploughing isn't so much what's worrying me (have a few small bits done, moreso just practise wanted there), I'm more interested in what exactly I should be doing as I've never been involved in reseeding (apart from neighbours looking for stone pickers! :curse::ban:)

For example, if I plough it, pull the cultivator over it a few times should I just be able to broadcast the seed and fertiliser and roll it? Job done? Or will I be looking for a land leveller? Or would I be better off looking at getting a disc or power harrow? Etc.? I know I'll have to pick stones along the way but just looking at for a bit of guidance on the whole process. I got soil samples tested earlier on this year so pH is ok and can adjust the fertiliser a bit to sort out the rest (surprisingly doesn't need much).
 
Thanks @Tippcon, had a read through that alright. I should've been a bit clearer, The ploughing isn't so much what's worrying me (have a few small bits done, moreso just practise wanted there), I'm more interested in what exactly I should be doing as I've never been involved in reseeding (apart from neighbours looking for stone pickers! :curse::ban:)

For example, if I plough it, pull the cultivator over it a few times should I just be able to broadcast the seed and fertiliser and roll it? Job done? Or will I be looking for a land leveller? Or would I be better off looking at getting a disc or power harrow? Etc.? I know I'll have to pick stones along the way but just looking at for a bit of guidance on the whole process. I got soil samples tested earlier on this year so pH is ok and can adjust the fertiliser a bit to sort out the rest (surprisingly doesn't need much).
Cut your silage, let it green up, spray it off. The better you plough it the less levelling you'll have to do. Roll the ploughing before you attempt to till it to close the furrows, it will leave it easier to till and you'll drag up fewer sods. If you use a spring-tined cultivator then you will have lots of stones to pick. If it's ploughed reasonably well then a couple of runs of a disc harrow at an angle across the ploughing might level it enough. Use a land leveller as a last resort. Broadcast your seed and fertiliser, chain harrow and roll again.
 
Thanks @Tippcon, had a read through that alright. I should've been a bit clearer, The ploughing isn't so much what's worrying me (have a few small bits done, moreso just practise wanted there), I'm more interested in what exactly I should be doing as I've never been involved in reseeding (apart from neighbours looking for stone pickers! :curse::ban:)

For example, if I plough it, pull the cultivator over it a few times should I just be able to broadcast the seed and fertiliser and roll it? Job done? Or will I be looking for a land leveller? Or would I be better off looking at getting a disc or power harrow? Etc.? I know I'll have to pick stones along the way but just looking at for a bit of guidance on the whole process. I got soil samples tested earlier on this year so pH is ok and can adjust the fertiliser a bit to sort out the rest (surprisingly doesn't need much).

I would think the ploughing would be the hardest bit to get right but if you done some in the past that's half the battle, what kind of cultivator have you got, is it tines only, it might pull up a lot of sods, a run of a power harrow would be best or even a rotovator, all reseeds here get a run with the land leveler, you can sow the grass seed with the wagtail and I have attached a thread on the settings for the wagtail
http://www.forum4farming.com/forum/index.php?threads/vicon-settings-for-grass-seed.12353/
 
Cut your silage, let it green up, spray it off. The better you plough it the less levelling you'll have to do. Roll the ploughing before you attempt to till it to close the furrows, it will leave it easier to till and you'll drag up fewer sods. If you use a spring-tined cultivator then you will have lots of stones to pick. If it's ploughed reasonably well then a couple of runs of a disc harrow at an angle across the ploughing might level it enough. Use a land leveller as a last resort. Broadcast your seed and fertiliser, chain harrow and roll again.
I would think the ploughing would be the hardest bit to get right but if you done some in the past that's half the battle, what kind of cultivator have you got, is it tines only, it might pull up a lot of sods, a run of a power harrow would be best or even a rotovator, all reseeds here get a run with the land leveler, you can sow the grass seed with the wagtail and I have attached a thread on the settings for the wagtail
http://www.forum4farming.com/forum/index.php?threads/vicon-settings-for-grass-seed.12353/
Thanks lads. :Thumbp2: I'll try and get a photo of the cultivator if I think if it when I'm home the weekend. I'd be inclined to call it a spring tine harrow but may be wrong. I've never seen one quite like it before.
Would something like an old Vicon power harrow be worth considering buying? (Seem to be going at fairly handy money) Or am I wasting my time with one? A neighbour has a disc harrow that I might be able get if needs be also. There's 4 younger than me at home so plenty of help about for picking stones! :rolleyes2:
Sorry for all the silly questions!
 
I wouldn't worry too much about stones unless obviously the land is extramarital stoney.
I'd be guessing you wont be using a very big plough so should be easy enough to plough it shallow
 
I wouldn't worry too much about stones unless obviously the land is extramarital stoney.
I'd be guessing you wont be using a very big plough so should be easy enough to plough it shallow
Is that some kind of Kerry version of the phrase "Get your rocks off".........:scratchhead:
 
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