Dear
Jeff,
When you sow winter wheat or rye at your farm and want to
convert to red clover or other Trifolium pasture after the
wheat or rye is off, when is the clover seeded into the grain?
Thanks,
Bill Cook
Hi, Bill,
Late winter is the perfect time to sow clover, alfalfa, or
grass (rye, orchard, etc.) into wheat. This is when we seed
all of our hay ground. Pick a morning when the ground is lightly
frozen and spread the seed. We use a small electric seeder,
but you can do it by hand. The thawing of the surface and
then refreezing at night will actually pull the seed into
the ground and plant the seed. We then harvest the grain when
it is mature, bale the straw and have the hay coming up through
the stubble.
Hope that helps,
Jeff
Dear Jeff,
That helps a lot. What I was particularly interested in
is sowing both in the fall at grain sowing time, or perhaps
that sort of thing is only done in the South. I wonder if
both can be sown at the same time, or must the grain be at
a certain height so as to avoid competition?
Thanks,
Bill
Dear Bill,
If you are planning on planting wheat in the fall and seeding
the hay with it at that time, you may have some difficulty.
Hay crops like timothy like fall planting (seeded with the
wheat), but clover and alfalfa will germinate, then freeze
out in the spring. That’s why we sow them in early spring
as a frost seeding to give them a chance to be well rooted
before the next winter. You could also plant the hay with
oats as a spring seeding; however for me it seems these fields
have a tendency to become weedier. Being perennial crops,
they (the alfalfas and clovers) are slower to take root and
grow than the wheat will be. If you can sow them in mid-August,
they have a much better chance as well.
Good luck and keep me posted,
Jeff
Dear Jeff,
Thanks so much. It’s great to have someone with practical
experience to write to. There are academics galore who have
never seen the crops they are “experts” on.
Best again,
Bill Cook
Have some questions to Ask Jeff? E-mail
him directly at jeff.moyer@rodaleinst.org.
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