Brandon Sears
Extension Agent for Agriculture and Natural Resources
RICHMOND — It is time for reseeding pastures for 2010. The following contains useful information to consider before you head to the fields this spring.
Establishing grass-legume mixtures. Legumes are more competitive than grasses in the seedling stages because they emerge faster, have a taproot-type root system that penetrates deeper and faster, and develop leaf area more quickly.
When seeding a grass-legume mixture, choose the seeding date, rate and method that give the maximum advantage to the species that you need the most. Spring seedings favor legumes, and fall seedings favor grasses. If a good grass base is desired as fast as possible, plant in the fall and consider reducing the amount of legume seed in the mix or seeding the grass alone. More legumes can be added by a frost seeding the following January to February or by no-till drill in March to early April.
Renovate with legumes. Adding legumes to existing grass pastures increases forage quality, adds nitrogen to the system and is desirable in pastures. Begin by suppressing existing sod by grazing or very close mowing. White or red clover may be either broadcast in late winter (January to February) or drilled in early spring (March to April).
For broadcast seedings, make sure that the sod is short enough for some seed to fall on bare ground. It may be necessary to drag or lightly disk the pasture to open up the sod and expose some bare ground.
On-farm weed control meeting
We will be having a hands-on weed control meeting on March 23 at the farm of Francis and Peggy Leake at 265 West Rice Lane, Richmond. We will demonstrate the use of a weed wiper and talk about the effectiveness of these devices, discuss herbicides for timely weed control this spring and take a pasture walk to identify weeds and how to control them. Make plans to attend this timely meeting and call 623-4072 if you would like to attend. More information to come next week.
Phase I Board meeting
The Madison County Phase I Board will meet on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. at the Madison County Extension Office. This meeting is open to the public.
