# No-till Timothy/Orchard grass



## majacoby2003 (Aug 2, 2008)

I planted Teff in the spring and plan to put Timothy/Orchard grass in this late summer for next years crop.

Has anyone had good success with no-tilling a Timothy/Orchard grass crop.

Does anyone have a preference on the type of no-till drill used for this?

Thanks, Mark Jacoby
Spring Grove, Pennsylvania


----------



## Guest (Aug 14, 2008)

Here is a pic early spring of 08' of a field I no-tilled in May of 07' using oats as a cover crop. Drought followed seeding and although it didn't look good last summer it looked great this spring.

I no-tilled into soybean stuble using a John Deere 750 drill.

HHH


----------



## Guest (Aug 14, 2008)

Here is the field that I no-tilled last year. Raked and ready to bale first cut. I just baled third cut tonight.







great lookin field.

HHH


----------



## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

Hoiser hay man,did you mix every thing together in large seed box or use alf seed box?Was every thing run into opener or was alfalfa dribled on top?


----------



## majacoby2003 (Aug 2, 2008)

Hoiser hay man or anyone else no-tilling,

The stand looks good!

What depth did you seed?

Like swmnhay said, did you use the grass box for the Timothy and the main box for the orchard grass?

Where the drop tubes in the normal drilling position or outside dropping on top before the press wheels?

Thanks, Mark


----------



## Guest (Aug 14, 2008)

I put the alfalfa in the grass box and the oats and orchard grass mixed in the big box. I set the depth to the bare min.

I had excellent seed germination. I planted just out of our areas window for seeding alfalfa. It was middle of May. We were too wet early and we then had the late freeze last year and then it got dry. We like to get in late March to late April to take advantage of early moisture and get a jump on the weeds. I did spray Roundup before seeding. I drilled at the start of the dry spell last spring and summer. I cut the oats late June.

It looked terrible for a while and it had many bare spots that began to fill in with weeds. The seed laid there very patiently though and we began to get rain late summer and it all came up. It was amazing as most of the ground was clay. It made weedy hay last cut last year, but this spring it looked fantastic and has produced pretty good. No weeds.









I have some no-tilled into sod next to this field. I burned it down this past spring with Roundup before drilling. I just cut it again and there is more alfalfa than I thought there was. Many weeds again. I have a crab grass problem. The alfalfa is comiin through it though. I am going to interseed later this month. I may no-till again or tear up the weak spots and broadcast it. Not sure yet.

HHH


----------



## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

Are you saying that you want to plant an orchardgrass and timothy mixture? When that scenario happens here (OG in the timothy), it's time to think about replacing that field..... BUT, I have done just what you ask - notilled timothy into teff stubble. I used a krause 5215 drill, ran the timothy through the grass seeder, planted the seeds at a very shallow depth, and it really looked nice this year. We took the 2nd cut teff off, and then I planted - the teff hung on for a few weeks (till the frost got it)...... The timothy looked like it wasn't going to be anything in the one field that idid, but it perked right up in spring, and did it's thing. If you made sure to do the ground work good enough in spring for the teff, then you should have a nice surface to work with this fall..... I have no preference for the drill, the krause is just the one we have - bought it cheap to notill wheat and rye into old hay fields, but have started to use the grass seeder on it...... If you have uneven fields, then something that follows the contour would be best - like a JD..... the krause is rigid, but this land is by no means flat, so I think you should do just fine with almost anything.....

Rodney


----------



## majacoby2003 (Aug 2, 2008)

Hoosier Hay Man and Rodney R,
Thanks for the no-till info.
I did work my ground to seed the teff. 
Mark


----------



## haypete (Sep 6, 2008)

Rodney R said:


> Are you saying that you want to plant an orchardgrass and timothy mixture? When that scenario happens here (OG in the timothy), it's time to think about replacing that field..... BUT, I have done just what you ask - notilled timothy into teff stubble. I used a krause 5215 drill, ran the timothy through the grass seeder, planted the seeds at a very shallow depth, and it really looked nice this year. We took the 2nd cut teff off, and then I planted - the teff hung on for a few weeks (till the frost got it)...... The timothy looked like it wasn't going to be anything in the one field that idid, but it perked right up in spring, and did it's thing. If you made sure to do the ground work good enough in spring for the teff, then you should have a nice surface to work with this fall..... I have no preference for the drill, the krause is just the one we have - bought it cheap to notill wheat and rye into old hay fields, but have started to use the grass seeder on it...... If you have uneven fields, then something that follows the contour would be best - like a JD..... the krause is rigid, but this land is by no means flat, so I think you should do just fine with almost anything.....
> 
> Rodney


When notilling rye into old hay that is 10-12 inches tall, after spraying with roundup does the trash need to be taken off the field.


----------



## OhioHay (Jun 4, 2008)

We notill fall oats in early August into either wheat or oats stubble that is 10 inches tall or so and then make the oats into baleage in November. We don't remove the stubble and it doesn't seem to affect the baleage quality. We sell it into the beef and dairy heifer market, plus feed our brood cows.


----------



## majacoby2003 (Aug 2, 2008)

Has anyone had problems sowing orchard grass in a no-till drill?
I heard the it does not flow well in some drills.

Mark


----------



## greenacres (Jun 5, 2008)

I use a case IH 5100 soybean special, double disc openers and no agitation, I run straight orchard grass and have no trouble whether you use 1# or 10#


----------



## Rodney R (Jun 11, 2008)

Hay pete-
A 'clean' field is best, BUT for something that is planted in fall and taken off in late spring, then I'd leave the 10-12 inch growth on there. Till the r-up gets done with it, and it dries up, there won't be much left of it. Of course I'm sorta speaking towards alfalfa that's been killed..... grass hay would have been baled if it was 10-12 inches high.... We've got some foxtail in one field that I wanna put some rye into, and I'm not certain If we should just kill it, or chop it down. I think I may just plant right through it, cause the more 'stuff' that is on the ground (like weeds that have been chopped), the more 'stuff' the drill has to go through to put the seed in the ground.

I was planting O-grass with the Krause today, and it reminded me of a field that I planted with the JD8300 years ago...... I was running the O-G in the small seed box, and the trouble I had was that the seeds would clog up the downspout gizmo - not the hose/tube, but the plastic thing that attaches to the bottom of the box, and is used to couple the seed hose..... I had been planting some alfalfa with it, and O-G at a smaller rate, and I didn't have trouble till I went to a higher rate for a 100% O-G field...... So I downshifted a gear, and then all was well - I think there was too much seed trying to go into the tube at one time???? I would have left it drible on the ground, but this was no-till, and the hoses were too long, and without hoses, the seed landed on the drill frame, and not on the ground.....

Rodney


----------



## majacoby2003 (Aug 2, 2008)

I want to thank everyone that gave feedbacks on this no-till thread.

Very usefull information.

Mark


----------

