Friday 5 March 2010

Drilling 5th March






So here we go, early start , on the frost, cover crop sprayed off yesterday afternoon with 2 lha of glyphosate and sparkler.
Seed is Xi19 dressed with Redigo twin and Manganese , we wanted zinc but it wasnt available from supplier.Rate 170 kg/ha
Fertilizer is DAP,rate 55 kg/ha.
After a couple of trial runs it was decided to drill on frost as waiting for it to thaw just made the depth wheels clog up .
The soil conditions are perfect,the combination of frost mold and the oats have left a very friable tilth.
Depth is set at approx 25mm for seed and 90mm for fertilizer.
I was suprised at how well the ground travelled the only problem being penetration where the sprayer had run yesterday .
Many thanks to Vaderstad UK for the loan of the seed drill and PATurney for sorting it all out .
For the tractor fans its a NH7070 auto command.

Checked post drilling this afternoon , its amazing how much the soil has dried out,most of the oats have been cultivated out but i think as things settle we will see more still there .Glad we put the glyphos on, it will clear all itinerant black grass and weeds.

The joys of early morning drilling perfect