Overseed a hay field

:Tom: Forget about the overseeding for a while and make DAMN sure your fertility is right up there. Otherwise whatever you do is a waste of time and money. How long has your field been down what kind of soil, what kind of plants are there and at what population. If you,ve got a weed problem, spray them. If you,ve got the plants there that you want and they have been down for less than five years, then throw the fertilizer at them. Unless you,ve got a premium livestock market or need a certain type of hay that you don't have, fertilize it before you tear it up. If you have an old stand of alfalfa (more than three years) you MUST kill it, spray or till before new legume seeds will germinate. There is an autotoxicity factor at work that will derail new legumes. If you seed new legumes, put on double or triple the amount of bacteria inoculant required. It's cheap, an excess hurts nothing and it's one more factor in favour of a new seeding. If I sound emphatic, I'm a seed salesman and I've seen too many people blow a ton of money on seed they don't need or they take short cuts in laying down a new stand. If you go short on anything, make it tillage. These seeds aren't that delicate, but they must have moisture fertility and minimized competition. Good luck. Tom

: :Tom: Forget about the overseeding for a while and make DAMN sure your fertility is right up there. Otherwise whatever you do is a waste of time and money. How long has your field been down what kind of soil, what kind of plants are there and at what population. If you,ve got a weed problem, spray them. If you,ve got the plants there that you want and they have been down for less than five years, then throw the fertilizer at them. Unless you,ve got a premium livestock market or need a certain type of hay that you don't have, fertilize it before you tear it up. If you have an old stand of alfalfa (more than three years) you MUST kill it, spray or till before new legume seeds will germinate. There is an autotoxicity factor at work that will derail new legumes. If you seed new legumes, put on double or triple the amount of bacteria inoculant required. It's cheap, an excess hurts nothing and it's one more factor in favour of a new seeding. If I sound emphatic, I'm a seed salesman and I've seen too many people blow a ton of money on seed they don't need or they take short cuts in laying down a new stand. If you go short on anything, make it tillage. These seeds aren't that delicate, but they must have moisture fertility and minimized competition. Good luck. Tom

Hello Tom: Tom from Ontario is right about fertility is ! You can do this by getting with your local County Extection office or a good local co/op get a soil sample have that tested for what you are planting and they will help you, With out this you'll be spinning your wheels trying to get something to grow,I put in 6 acres of horse hay in mid Oct. I needed 1000 lbs per acre of lime pellets & 600 lbs per acre of 19-19-19 it was a little expensive I planted seed at 18lbs per acre, but I have a excellent stand of hay at 6 weeks for next year Good Luck Mike Huber

: :Tom: Forget about the overseeding for a while and make DAMN sure your fertility is right up there. Otherwise whatever you do is a waste of time and money. How long has your field been down what kind of soil, what kind of plants are there and at what population. If you,ve got a weed problem, spray them. If you,ve got the plants there that you want and they have been down for less than five years, then throw the fertilizer at them. Unless you,ve got a premium livestock market or need a certain type of hay that you don't have, fertilize it before you tear it up. If you have an old stand of alfalfa (more than three years) you MUST kill it, spray or till before new legume seeds will germinate. There is an autotoxicity factor at work that will derail new legumes. If you seed new legumes, put on double or triple the amount of bacteria inoculant required. It's cheap, an excess hurts nothing and it's one more factor in favour of a new seeding. If I sound emphatic, I'm a seed salesman and I've seen too many people blow a ton of money on seed they don't need or they take short cuts in laying down a new stand. If you go short on anything, make it tillage. These seeds aren't that delicate, but they must have moisture fertility and minimized competition. Good luck. Tom : Tom. Exceptional advice, thank you.

I wanted to do the same thing earlier this year, but was told planting alfalfa in with older alfalfa wouldn't work. Something about the old stand would stunt the new growth. Anybody else ever heard this?. BWH

Tom :

We were in the same boat this August, and asked around (including having our local Extension Agent out to look things over). You can use a no-till interseeder, but they are expensive and need too much tractor for me (30 hp Jubilee). The consensus was that you can broadcast legumes (like alfalfa), but for a good grass seeding you really need to completely work the field - plow & disc, etc. We were told that for our field that if we couldn't get it ready by the last planting date (August 15 for us, central MI), we were better off waiting until spring to work the field. We will be doing an A/B, as I was able to set up and plant about 3 acres before the deadline. Another field we are going to frost seed with alfalfa next March.

However, Tim(nj)'s method sounds really neat, and I would like to try it some time ...

Wait untill spring to seed alfalfa The ground may have to be lightly tilled and the seed depth should not exceed 1/2 3/4 inches

I've done it like this with horse pastures: Mow it real short, then pull a spring tooth harrow across the field to open it up a little. Broadcast your seed, then roll it with a cultipacker (that's the roller w/o teeth)BTW, october is too late to plant alfalfa. You'd be better off waiting until spring for the alfalfa seed. The grass can be put in now though. Good Luck