Pasture Grass

[ducks4you]

Don't know how. How would recommend this?

 

[ducks4you]

Btw, here's my photobucket album, with pictures, last to first:
http://s611.photobucket.com/albums/...orse Photos/Hay Work/Pasture Replant Project/

 

[Smiles Jr.]

seedcorn offers an excellent suggestion, ducks. I have used the freeze/thaw cycle to plant many times and it works for me very well. Just wait until February and sew new seed right on the surface of the soil. When the temperature fluctuates and the soil freezes and thaws the soil will "swallow" the seeds and set them at the proper depth for perfect germination when the surface temperature rises in the spring. If I were you I would do it even though you planted this fall.

 

[bobm]

Location plays a big role in the frost seeding concept. On my 20 acres in central Cal., if I was to surface seed , in late fall/ winter the hordes of blackbirds will have consumed the seeds as soon as they hit the ground. Then too, we do not have the hard frost that would cause any surface heaving for the seed to be covered by soil. When these blackbird flocks desend onto the ground, there are litterally a blackbird on every square foot of ground the size of a football field. To combat the birds, I have to first disc the ground right after the first rains in Nov. ( soil surface is hard as a brick from lack of rain from April - Nov., seeds start to germinate right after the first rains) then overseed 3-4 times the amount of seed that is needed with my bellywhomper seeder, ( my version of a bird feeder) immediatly followed by a helper who harrows the ground with a 20' diameter circular piece with many 3" spikes to dig into the soil surface, pulled by a small tractor right behind my footsteps to work the seed just below the surface. The blackbirds follow and still manage to consume most of the seeds. All grain crops in our area are planted with drill planting equipment and are always followed by hordes of blackbirds and crows. One year, I picked up about 2 1/2 tons of unsold wheat seed from a seed company for FREE and sowed them onto my 5 disced acres, harrowed the seeds in, however, most of seeds were consumed by the blackbirds over several days. Whatever seeds were left germinated into a solid green field in about a week. Again the blackdirds invaded and quite a bit of the sprouting greens were consumed leaving me with a mostly sparse wheat field.

 

[baymule]

Location plays a big role in the frost seeding concept. On my 20 acres in central Cal., if I was to surface seed , in late fall/ winter the hordes of blackbirds will have consumed the seeds as soon as they hit the ground. Then too, we do not have the hard frost that would cause any surface heaving for the seed to be covered by soil. When these blackbird flocks desend onto the ground, there are litterally a blackbird on every square foot of ground the size of a football field. To combat the birds, I have to first disc the ground right after the first rains in Nov. ( soil surface is hard as a brick from lack of rain from April - Nov., seeds start to germinate right after the first rains) then overseed 3-4 times the amount of seed that is needed with my bellywhomper seeder, ( my version of a bird feeder) immediatly followed by a helper who harrows the ground with a 20' diameter circular piece with many 3" spikes to dig into the soil surface, pulled by a small tractor right behind my footsteps to work the seed just below the surface. The blackbirds follow and still manage to consume most of the seeds. All grain crops in our area are planted with drill planting equipment and are always followed by hordes of blackbirds and crows. One year, I picked up about 2 1/2 tons of unsold wheat seed from a seed company for FREE and sowed them onto my 5 disced acres, harrowed the seeds in, however, most of seeds were consumed by the blackbirds over several days. Whatever seeds were left germinated into a solid green field in about a week. Again the blackdirds invaded and quite a bit of the sprouting greens were consumed leaving me with a mostly sparse wheat field.

Bobm, ya' wanna borrow my Great Pyrenees?? She HATES birds-all birds. My chickens are in high security prison lockdown because she really hates them. She would have a wonderful time chasing off your blackbirds! If they are that many, she could probably catch some!!

 

[seedcorn]

with that many birds attacking seeds and seedlings, you are in trouble.

 

[bobm]

Baymule, thank you for your offer ... There are a dozen 100'+ tall , about 300 year old Valley Oak trees on and right next door to my property. Those blackbirds roost on them and all of the branches are solid black. Have you seen some of the documentary shows where there are thausands of small fish swimming back and forth and in swooshing circles being chased by predators ? Come dusk, these blackbirds fly like this for about an hour before finally setting down to roost. There is an 300 acre orange orchard about a mile away. When the blackbirds roost in several dozens of those trees, the green leaves are obscured to a dull grey by their black feathers. Also, the 3 power lines along the roads will have blackbirds roosting wing to wing for about a mile. Your dog would be a total basket case come spring. Seedcorn ... yup ! The tumbleweeds, bull thistle, star thistle, Johsongrass, stinging nettles and many other pesky weed seeds hitch a ride in the blackbird droppings and cause havac to pastures, orchards, vinyards, alfalfa fields and row crops . Since burning is banned here and 6"- 10" annual rainfall in the winter/spring only, chemical warfare plus annual discing on these weeds and annual reseading of my pasture grasses is the only alternative in the spring. This scenario isn't only limited to my neighborhood , but for many square miles. Such is farming life in the breadbasket of the arrid Big Valley.

 

[baymule]

Sounds like Alfred Hitchcock's "The Birds" Maybe get you some feist dogs that love to chase birds and keep them in the pasture??

 

[catjac1975]

We had our seed harrowed in when we planted. (I think that is the term.) It pushes the seed down and covers it over.

 

[ducks4you]

Worth a try.