I was successful at spreading the seeds.
Amazon beat all expectations and delivered the seeder early.
I had to learn the quirks of the equipment.
I followed Lucky Pitman's advice and used Timothy seed as an extender to bulk-up the expensive White Clover seeds*. Timothy seed is not only the same size as the White Clover seeds, but they are the same shape; round. The only real complication is that no seeds came out at "1" the lowest setting and it poured out like water at "2". I could not walk fast enough to spread it thinly enough that the amount of seed that I had would cover the entire three acres.
This is not my first rodeo. My plan was to mix the seed in four "lots" of three gallons each. Those lots would be markers to calibrate how thickly/thinly I would spread the seeds.
The fix was to add some fluffy Festulolium grass seeds. One gallon of the fluffy seeds added to the three gallons of ball-bearings slowed how quickly the seed poured through the feed slot at the second setting.
YEAH!!!
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| Lots of trash on the surface courtesy of the brush-hog. I tripped several times. |
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| A close-up of a shoe-print to show the tiny seeds. Only 1/6th of those seeds are clover. Most of the seed was swallowed up by the rough surface. |
Time elapsed by the clock was six hours. One hour was run off the clock going to the grain elevator to buy seed. Another 90 minutes involved eating lunch and watching Quicksilver while Mrs ERJ had an errand that could not be rescheduled.
*In addition to the White Clover and Timothy seeds, I added some Medium Red Clover seed and some Birdsfoot Trefoil seeds. The Red Clover because I had it "in stock" and the Birdsfoot Trefoil because it grows well in damp places...like in ditches.
Sounds like you seeded what used to be called "pasture mix."
ReplyDeleteI had a TPH spreader on my tractor to do the same to my hay fields, but I diluted the seed with granular fertilizer, and dragged a set of chain harrows behind to give the seeds a chance to get worked in to the ground.
If you had cattle and pasture you put the hard seed in the mineral and it passes through the cattle beast and lands in a pre fertilized plop in the field
ReplyDeleteCattle and sheep are very effective at moving clover and birdsfoot seeds that are produced IN the pasture once the plants are established. That is why I am not anal about making sure every square foot gets seeded. Mother Nature will take care of the places I miss.
DeleteSounds like a great mix. In a grazing sward, 'diversity' IS good! I always wanted to try some birdsfoot trefoil in a couple of 'wet' paddocks, but never got around to trying it.
ReplyDelete30 years ago, converting corn/soybean ground back to pasture, we drilled in a festulolium (fescue X ryegrass hybrid). Got a great stand, and terrific production for the first year or two, but lacking an endophyte, it did not persist under adverse grazing practices (my fault) and a devastating drought.