When reseeding forages, one of the most common mistakes made by producers is… wait for it… timing.
That’s according to Tim Schnakenberg, University of Missouri southwest region agronomy specialist at the Stone County office in Galena, Mo. “I’d much rather be too early than too late,” Schnakenberg told Ozarks Farm & Neighbor. “It’s common for us to take longer than we planned to get around to it, or the weather doesn’t cooperate, and we haven’t pre-planned far enough in advance to get it all done.”
For example, Schnakenberg said cool-season grasses like fescue, orchardgrass and bromegrass should be planted in early September. “If you start getting much later – if you go into October, for example – you may not get as much of an opportunity to get the root to develop well enough going into the winter,” he said. If you’re unable to sow cool-season grass in the fall, Schnackenberg said the next best time would be late February or early March. “As you get much later than that, weed competition becomes a real issue,” he said.
A second common mistake is the failure to achieve critical seed to soil contact. Schnakenberg said that can be the result of having too much residue on the surface, not having the drill set right, or using colters that are dull or not set correctly. He said, “These drills will wear out, particularly in our rocks, and having the drill set correctly where it can no-till into the ground and get the seed where it needs to be without hairpinning residue as you go into the ground with it, and you can get the seed-soil contact, is very critical.”
Planting depth is also very important. Schnakenberg said in most cases, both cool- and warm-season forages should be sown no more than 1/4” deep. A good drill will sometimes deposit the seed as much as 1/2” deep, and that causes problems. He added with really small seeds like native warm-season grasses, the producer is better off having a few on top than having them so deep that none are visible.
Dr. John Jennings, University of Arkansas Extension professor and forage specialist, also recommends producers assess the fertility levels in their fields. “Soil tests for all pastures will be extremely helpful,” Jennings told OFN. He also advised against planting clover where fertility is too low, or planting cheap seed or unadapted varieties.
Jennings said producers should assess the stand first to see if it can be managed for recovery without replanting. Competition should be reduced; he said, “Simply spreading a little seed over a weedy field hoping something good will happen has a high chance of failure.” And another cause of failure is overgrazing new seedlings before they are well established. “Overgrazing weakens plants, causing them to develop shortened root systems,” Jennings said.
Sometimes, of course, the producer does everything right but Mother Nature intervenes. According to Schnakenberg, if the seed is planted on time into dry ground and receives just enough rain to germinate it, subsequent rains will be needed to prevent the seedlings from dying out. “A quarter-inch rain will sometimes be just enough for a seed that’s set 1/8-1/4” down to germinate it, but if no rainfall events follow that quarter-inch you’re looking at a potential loss of seedlings,” he said. “That’s something that we can’t predict; we can’t ‘not plant,’ because timing is important.”
How do you know if it took? “If you’re drilling it, the drill rows make it a little bit easier to tell, because there should be some healthy, well-defined drill rows going into the winter,” he said. “You just have to walk the entire field and see what you’ve got; watch for large skips, and large areas that are not covered.”
