Surface seeding to repair damaged fields

FOLLOWING second cut silage there is an opportunity to repair swards that have been damaged by rainfall and poaching during the past year.

Any sward damage that has occurred will reduce grass production over the coming seasons unless repaired.

Grassland with low levels of ryegrass will produce less grass yields.

These swards will respond poorly to fertiliser and are relatively more expensive to fertilise as nutrients are taken up by less productive weed grasses that may be dominating the sward.

Full reseeds are not financially viable in these situations as a complete reseed will take the field out of the rotation for 2-3 months and would cost €300-€400/acre.

Surface seeding offers a short term and cheap alternative to this.

Surface seeding can be done anytime from May to September. All that’s required is adequate soil moisture and direct contact between the soil and the grass seed. The more open the pasture the more grass seeds will germinate which fits into the current period for using the method following silage harvesting.

For surface seeding ensure the weather is dry and that the grass is grazed off very tightly or cut for silage. Harrow the field with a light chain/grass harrow. Spread the seeds @ 6 – 8 kgs/acre with a fertiliser spreader or a seed barrow. Tetraploid seeds should be used as they are bigger and more vigorous to grow than diploids.

Recommended varieties include Abergain, Solas and Seagoe.

For fertiliser 18:16:12 or 10:10:20 should be applied at two bags per acre and the surface rolled with a light roller.

Slurry can also be applied at 1500 gls/acre. The field can be grazed every 1826 days for the remainder of the year.

However do not expect instant results as it may be several months before the new seeds are established. A post emergence weed spray may be required if weeds are a problem.

Surface seeding has a number of advantages - the farmer can carry out all the work himself and it does not interfere with the normal rotation.

It is also relatively cheap –bag grass seed/ acre and the method is successful if carried out in moist conditions. Surface seeding with Italian ryegrass is also successful in Italian ryegrass silage fields.