reseeding problem........

coolio kidddd

well lads. about 10 acres burned off with a few weeks and its time to plough when the wheather gets better. its all good apart from two of the fields. problem is they both have drains!

FEILD 1= small two acre paddock. drains done this time last year with 4-inch stone 3 of them along the width of the field.

FIELD 2= five acre meadow five drains along the width of it. this is just a wet part at the bottom but a sizeable part all the same. drains were done probably nine or ten years ago with a mixture of fine gravel and beach stones and are neary all netted over with a very light cover of grass (they become quite visible after silage is cut).

so what should i do, some lads have said they just plough through the drains but that sounds like it would severly disrupt the drains??????.........or should i plough in bewteen the drains with their direction so to speak......or should i just power-harrrow the lot, bearing in mind i would prefer the ground to be ploughed if possible or should i lift the plough over the drains. drains are roughly 25 - 30 feet apart in both fields, i took a few photos to give ye some perspective. The reason i ask this question is im hoping to have my on own plough.
looking forward to yere input.
thanks.
p.s pic no.545 is of field 2 and pic no.542 is of field 1

X1R

Power Harrow !!! Unless you have years of experience with a plough there is a danger that you can turn up dead unfertile soil. If this happens you will spend a fortune correcting this. By power harrowing you are churning up fertile top soil AND creating a seed bed. Unless the ground hasa been used for tillage repeatedly there is no need to plough. IMHO.

Big_Evil

Yup - powerharrow. Ploughing only turns down the best of the soil.

Have to ask about the drain on the second pic - stone all the way to the surface ? All ours stop approx 5 inches below the surface.

Why is the stone laid so high ?

bob charles

why do you want to plough. I would say direct drill.

vanderbadger

coolio kidddd wrote: »

well lads. about 10 acres burned off with a few weeks and its time to plough when the wheather gets better. its all good apart from two of the fields. problem is they both have drains!

FEILD 1= small two acre paddock. drains done this time last year with 4-inch stone 3 of them along the width of the field.

FIELD 2= five acre meadow five drains along the width of it. this is just a wet part at the bottom but a sizeable part all the same. drains were done probably nine or ten years ago with a mixture of fine gravel and beach stones and are neary all netted over with a very light cover of grass (they become quite visible after silage is cut).

so what should i do, some lads have said they just plough through the drains but that sounds like it would severly disrupt the drains??????.........or should i plough in bewteen the drains with their direction so to speak......or should i just power-harrrow the lot, bearing in mind i would prefer the ground to be ploughed if possible or should i lift the plough over the drains. drains are roughly 25 - 30 feet apart in both fields, i took a few photos to give ye some perspective. The reason i ask this question is im hoping to have my on own plough.
looking forward to yere input.
thanks.
p.s pic no.545 is of field 2 and pic no.542 is of field 1

dont know what part of Clare you are in Coolio but if your land is like mine I would stay away from plough, if you plough you might have to spend a week picking stones..go with the power harrow, 2 runs and you will be good to go

funny man

While i have limited experience working with wet land, i disagree with the power harrow option, if the field is drained correctly and then ploughed through the drains this will help get water off the field fast and therefor leave a dryer field. putting the plough through these drains will do no harm but ploughing along them will just slow the drainage of the field. i would like to hear the views of guys on wet land as they would have better knowledge than me, all i can tell ya is i plough wet land and till dry land.

blue5000

Was going to say power harrow until I saw the pics, way too much trash there, put in something to graze that off first. I'd say don't plough it. I'd suggest two or three runs of a disc, then sow grass with a one pass and roll it.

coolio kidddd

Big_Evil wrote: »

Yup - powerharrow. Ploughing only turns down the best of the soil.

Have to ask about the drain on the second pic - stone all the way to the surface ? All ours stop approx 5 inches below the surface.

Why is the stone laid so high ?

i allways fill to the top i beleive it has better drainage usually i track over the drains with the track machine and they flatten level with the surface but i didnt with them because i knew i was goin reseeding..........i can see what you mean by laying it 5 inches from the top theres great fareplay after for resseding etc.

coolio kidddd

thanks very much for the replies lads much appreciated, the only real reason that i would want to plough is that it improoves drainage but then again theres plenty of drains there so i suppose i will power harrow.

coolio kidddd

thanks very much for the replies lads much appreciated, the only real reason that i would want to plough is that it improoves drainage but then again theres plenty of drains there so i suppose i will power harrow.

Tora Bora

blue5000 wrote: »

Was going to say power harrow until I saw the pics, way too much trash there, put in something to graze that off first. I'd say don't plough it. I'd suggest two or three runs of a disc, then sow grass with a one pass and roll it.

Not alone graze off, but cut afterwards to get rid of the uneaten docks, etc and gather them up and remove, before power harrowing.

Nobbies

funny man wrote: »

While i have limited experience working with wet land, i disagree with the power harrow option, if the field is drained correctly and then ploughed through the drains this will help get water off the field fast and therefor leave a dryer field. putting the plough through these drains will do no harm but ploughing along them will just slow the drainage of the field. i would like to hear the views of guys on wet land as they would have better knowledge than me, all i can tell ya is i plough wet land and till dry land.

i totally agree.put the plough on and get cracking,i sumhow doubt ur ground is very stoney as usay its on the wet side and stoney ground does,nt tend to be that wet?for me there,s no better machine than the plough for drainage on wet land.power harrows are great but i know sum who still believe in the old disc because of it,s cutting effect on the clay.anyways i suppose thats another debate.but as also said earlier bad ploughing is,nt wat any one wants either,so maybe seek out sum advice or guideance first.

funny man

coolio kidddd wrote: »

thanks very much for the replies lads much appreciated, the only real reason that i would want to plough is that it improoves drainage but then again theres plenty of drains there so i suppose i will power harrow.

Yea it deffinetly improves drainage by letting the water away to the drains, suprised guys on wet land hasn't commented on this thread, i think you could undo your good work by not ploughing straight through your drains.

Figerty

I have heavy soil land,,, all land is wet at the moment!

I reseeded last year. Only 4-6 inches of good soil in most places so powerharrowed ( good stone burier also). Blue mud below this, and it needs to stay there.

Reseeded, Rolled and manured lightly after, picked stones also. Got grand silage.

I put in drains also and all the way to the top with 'pea' gravel on good advice from a pitch specialist. Grass growing on the drains now but they do catch the surface water better as there is no soakage in the ground below the topsoil.

The guy powerharrowed perfectly beside the drains and made a grand seed bed. I saw no point filling drains to the top and then powerharrowing them to oblivion after.

Lovely field this year, makes my careless neighbours look awful:)

Use your head, you know your ground best.

PureClaas

Me personally id go with a rotovator especially being such small acerage rather than a power harrow unless its cracking dry ground.

Power harrow tines into direct ground can smear the ground at the tips and create a pan destroying your drainage

Muckit

PureClaas wrote: »

Power harrow tines into direct ground can smear the ground at the tips and create a pan destroying your drainage

I thought this to be more true of the rotavator than the powerharrow?

Muckit

coolio kidddd wrote: »

well lads. about 10 acres burned off with a few weeks and its time to plough when the wheather gets better. its all good apart from two of the fields. problem is they both have drains!

so what should i

Well what did you do in the end? I know from experience that a lad that doesn't know what he'd doing will leave disasterous results in ley with a plough.

We got in a contractor some years back to plough for a reseed. We have only a couple of inches of topsoil. He set the plough too low and yes you've guessed turned down the topsoil and covered it with subsoil! It took a good few years of dosing it with slurry to bring it back, but it's fine now.

Ploughing will yield good results, just be careful to do it right!

PureClaas

Muckit wrote: »

I thought this to be more true of the rotavator than the powerharrow?

Depends on the type of cutting blade you got really, but your rite in the fact that you cant beat the plough.

Thing about ploughing is as stated before you are turning down the good soil on top, so ideally ya might sow winter wheat or maybe maize or some arable or that year 1.

Then turn the good soil back over and put your grass down then but many lads dont want that hassel.

Farmer beside me burned off and taking a cut of grass and he got a guy in with a Guttler Green master. It was a pretty good job.

I ploughed and reseeded 23acres after been in tillage for 5years and my grass was way ahead so i guess the best advice i can give is doctors differ and patients die