# Broadcasting Teff



## Wcbr1025 (May 1, 2015)

Hey guys, 
Has anyone had any luck broadcasting Teff seed with a 3pt spinner spreader?
I have about 15 acres in cereal rye I plan on cutting for straw (hopefully) and I was planning on working the land with a disc to bury the residue/stubble then cultipack it till its firm. Then I was going to broadcast the seed with the spreader and cultipack again.
I figure I'll have to increase the seed rate a bit to compensate for the broadcasting method but I believe the grain drill cannot be set low enough to get the desired rate.

Any tips or suggestions would be greatly appreciated as my background is in tobacco/row crops and this is my first experience with teff and pre-cut rye.

Thanks,
WCBR


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## Hawk40 (Jun 28, 2015)

I broadcast everything, don't own a drill.
But I've done it for years spreading cover crops that weren't ever intended to harvest. So I've seen most of what can go wrong.
Doing 40ac teff here when it warms up in May or June.
Your on the right track with the cultipacker, just pick a calm day and don't get in a hurry.
Be able to see the seed on the ground and adjust your passes accordingly. Make your best guess as to the setting and keep checking your rate as you begin to cover known amount of ac. It's easy to screw up but if you pay close attention to your spacing on passes and how much your putting out, you'll be fine.


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## swmnhay (Jun 13, 2008)

I recommend a brillion seeder but it sounds like what you are doing should work.The main thing is to make sure the ground is packed and the seed doesn't get to deep.So you don't want a lot of lumps before you seed or the seed will fall between the lumps and get to deep.


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## VA Haymaker (Jul 1, 2014)

Wcbr1025 said:


> Hey guys,
> Has anyone had any luck broadcasting Teff seed with a 3pt spinner spreader?
> I have about 15 acres in cereal rye I plan on cutting for straw (hopefully) and I was planning on working the land with a disc to bury the residue/stubble then cultipack it till its firm. Then I was going to broadcast the seed with the spreader and cultipack again.
> I figure I'll have to increase the seed rate a bit to compensate for the broadcasting method but I believe the grain drill cannot be set low enough to get the desired rate.
> ...


I'm going to find out for myself this spring. I've got a couple of fields I'm reclaming and will be broadcasting Teff.

I rented a drill late last summer and planted Timothy and while it did a good job, I don't like the rows (it's just me.... ) of timothy coming in the field. One field I criss-crossed and have a checkerboard pattern of timothy coming. Hopefully it will fill-in as it comes in this spring.

However, I had some timothy seed left over - maybe a gallon jug full after cleaning out the drill. I used a cheapo hand held spreader and broadcast the Timothy seed around a few spots - just for kicks. Broadcast over sod that had been hit with round-up and a light discing - enough to scuff the ground. No cultipacking - just walking around and spreading the seed. I wish all of my drilled fields looked as good at the broadcasted seed.

In addition, it was a genuine hassle getting the drill from the rental. Not only was there a line, but that drill looked like it had been abused by everyone that touched it. It worked, but I felt it was expensive and after seeing my broadcasting results - I'm done with a rental drill - for now.

I plan on hitting the fields with round-up, roughing up the ground with a disc, broadcasting the Teff and cultipacking. If it works - great, if not, I'll re-evaluate.

YMMV

Good luck,

Bill


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## Farmerbrown2 (Sep 25, 2018)

I planted the moxie coated seed with my old IH 510 drill went by the alfalfa setting then cut back a little bit if that helps any .


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## Wcbr1025 (May 1, 2015)

Thanks for the input guys, looks like I'll be OK as long as I can get the seed spread evenly. Maybe I'll have some beginners luck.


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## Swv.farmer (Jan 2, 2016)

Can you seed teff to thick??


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## prairie (Jun 20, 2008)

Swv.farmer said:


> Can you seed teff to thick??


No, based on the research that I did a few years ago, personal experience, and feed back from seed customers.

In carefully and perfectly controlled small plot research seedings, 2-3 lbs per acre of raw seed was enough. For on farm, real world conditions, raw/uncoated seed at 5-7 lbs per acre, and 1/3 coated seed at 8-10 lbs is plenty. More seed has little if any effect on yield or quality, just more costly.

Seed size is about 1.3-1.4 million seeds per lb. One lb of teff seed per acre equals about 31 seeds per square foot.


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## danzig (Jul 30, 2015)

I have not heard of Teff hay until recently. This year I plan to try 5 acres and see how it goes. I worked up old hayfields last year,so I will be short on hay this fall. I purchased a older Brillion seeder last year and hope to use it to seed Teff if I can figure out the correct settings for such a fine seed. If Teff is planted in the same field for a few years,would this help eliminate some of the weed problem if the soil was worked up shallow after last cutting? Seems like a very interesting product. Any info would be appreciated. Dan


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