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Post by Beerwiser on Mar 3, 2021 21:37:19 GMT -6
I picked up a beeline grass seeder, same as a valmar from what I can tell. Anyhow, there is enough for 38' from what the guy told me as it came off a cultivator. Question is what is the best to mount it on? I have the choice of 45ish' of diamond harrows, 24' of ih6200 press drill or 20' fo cultivator. I don't really want it on the cultivator, but if there is a good reason to put it on there I am all ears. Last hay field I did, I borrowed a guys hoe drill with the grass seed attachment and ran the diamonds over it. I think it would be a good idea to put it on the front of the drill as the packers will give some good soil contact and then followed by the diamonds. Problem is it will be a pain in the ass to mount on the drill. On the other hand mounting on the diamonds will be easy, but I would need a few deflectors. Not a big deal and the beeline does have enough extra runs. I guess a guy could run over first with the diamonds dropping the grass seed and follow with the press drill and cover crop. Looking for suggestions or ideas. Thanks.
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Post by snapper22 on Mar 3, 2021 22:09:44 GMT -6
Put it on the harrows. If you’re seeding with an air drill with pair rows or something like that, go seed your cover crop with it first then spread and harrow in the grass. Guy told me to do that and it worked good last year. There’s enough dirt kicked up with the air drill to get grass nested. Other thing is if you want to apply edge or seed canola in wet conditions that rig would be a lifesaver.
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Post by Albertabuck on Mar 3, 2021 22:19:23 GMT -6
A friend who has passed that was also the local Brett Young agent, used to have a Brandt heavy harrow with Valmar mounted on it he rented out, that rig seeded tens of thousands of acres in the area of both canola and hay. I used it once for canola myself, and pulled it seeding hay for others. Worked good, but IMO you need to follow with either a roller or some kind of packer harrow arrangement. It gives you better germination, less drying out and also helps press in rock if you have it. Personally I most often seed my grass with my Brillions, have a ten and 12 footers. They aren't as quick, but well they call them "sure stand" for a reason. They work. Deadly accurate in both depth and metering. Travel speed too fast in rock can lead to broken packer wheels though, but its a one pass machine. Attachments:
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Post by Beerwiser on Mar 3, 2021 22:38:58 GMT -6
Yeah, I was trying to find a brillion. A few came up at RB some time ago, but they were not in the best of shape for what they went for. Looks like they all came from a lease reclamation company.
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Post by farmercook on Mar 3, 2021 23:32:22 GMT -6
I would agree the harrows would be the way to go. I always roll after seeding grass and usually use either a Valmar on harrows or just get the fert company to float it on with some fertilizer and harrrow and roll after. Makes the field much smoother and pushes the rocks down, helps with soil contact with grass seed too!
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Post by Beerwiser on Mar 3, 2021 23:41:28 GMT -6
Ok, now I have another question. I don't have a ton of rocks, but since rollers came up is it worth it? Reason I am asking is I like the idea of ridges to try and capture moisture and prevent the ground from crusting over which is my biggest concern. The field I want to do is a bit on the gumbo side.
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Post by meskie on Mar 4, 2021 7:21:53 GMT -6
We always just blow the grass seed on with our air drill then go back and seed barley into it like we would regularly. After we harrow it to level it out and cover up grass. We haven’t used a roller after that I can remember.
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Post by Albertabuck on Mar 4, 2021 10:40:27 GMT -6
I hear you on the crusting issue, always a high concern with my Brillions. With Dave's harrows and that Valmar, I always followed it with my harrow packer bar with P40 coils most times, in loose ground it does a decent job of knocking in the rocks and does leave surface less prone to crusting. In one experience in seeding grass for a guy, he wanted it rolled afterwards, and when I got into some areas where the ground was very loose, the soil began piling up in front of the roller, amazingly didn't seem to effect germination of the grass, but left some ridges where the soil sluffed off the ends of the roller drums. Personally I think using a packer setup afterwards when seeding and then roll it the next spring to completely push in rocks is best, but sometimes beggars can't be choosy lol
Honestly I picked up a 160 Valmar myself years ago that was intended to get mounted on a Westward srping tooth harrow bar I have, another one of them projects that just never got done. I like the accuracy and more of the Brillions, but blowing it on with a harrow bar is a lot quicker and does eliminate a lot of concern over crusting.
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Post by snapper22 on Mar 4, 2021 11:10:36 GMT -6
I try to roll after I seed grass. Too many rocks here not to.
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Post by garyfunk on Mar 5, 2021 9:09:51 GMT -6
I don't think you would regret it if you put it on the harrows. We've totally quit the "nurse crop" when we are seeding perennial forages. We just prep the land the end of May/early June and broadcast the seed/fertilizer blend followed by a harrow/pack and, because we have too many small stones to pick them all, we roll it. Because there's no nurse crop and the seeds are pretty much at the surface, there's no crusting issues and the seeds if not in moisture will eventually germinate sometime with the June rains. Our last seeding (2019) yielded around 5000lbs/acre (mostly volunteers) that year and around 8000lbs in 2020. I took this pic the middle of August 2020.  |
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jvdl
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Post by jvdl on Mar 5, 2021 10:46:46 GMT -6
I don't think you would regret it if you put it on the harrows. We've totally quit the "nurse crop" when we are seeding perennial forages. We just prep the land the end of May/early June and broadcast the seed/fertilizer blend followed by a harrow/pack and, because we have too many small stones to pick them all, we roll it. Because there's no nurse crop and the seeds are pretty much at the surface, there's no crusting issues and the seeds if not in moisture will eventually germinate sometime with the June rains. Our last seeding (2019) yielded around 5000lbs/acre (mostly volunteers) that year and around 8000lbs in 2020. I took this pic the middle of August 2020. View AttachmentYup quit with the cover crop but we will have the ground ready and seed in late October when ground is cold. It germinates in the spring and then we will spread fert on in June. Had several sub par stands from dry ground when seeding in spring. There always seems to be enough moisture to germinate when the snow leaves. Also think the cover crop seems to hurt the stand more than help it. |
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Post by meskie on Mar 5, 2021 11:16:42 GMT -6
We always seed cover crop but cut it for silage. Has a chance to grow for a couple months before freeze up. Seems to work for us in this area.
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Post by Albertabuck on Mar 5, 2021 13:26:27 GMT -6
Always do a cover crop as well, usually back off on population and no fertilizer either. Like Meskie take for silage or greenfeed most often, though depends on weather, gets combined at times as well. I think its something dependent on soil types and terrian IMO, what works in one area not necessarily in all, like a big reason I like a cover crop, is it helps prevent washing somewhat during heavy rains and also helps with crusting issues. Having the ground somewhat protected also helps protect the grass seedlings during extreme heat as well. In all cases, always cut stubble high enough not to actually cut much more than the tops off the alfalfa, and that long stubble helps hold snow, and such and never ever try to cut or pasture the hay late in fall. My priority is establishing a good stand.
I also like fields I can shoot a marble across even on sidehills, but then I do a lot of small squares weather permitting.
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