Are you considering some late-summer seedings to improve your forage, hay or pasture operation? Now is the time to gather the details and lay the groundwork to maximize your chances of success.
In many pastures, what you see is what you get unless you make the effort of adjusting management choices.
The plants you see today are those plants that are adapted to your local environment and current management practices. If you are truly attempting to improve a pasture, you will need to adjust your management choices to suit those species you desire, or in a few years, you will be staring at the same pasture you have today.
Plan ahead
Right now is the time to soil test so you have time to apply fertilizer before a mid-August seeding date. Typically, results of a soil test can be in your hand within 7-14 days of submitting those samples to a lab.
Pay attention to the pH, phosphorous, potassium, and lime recommendations. Nitrogen is typically determined based on the crop and not on a soil test. In a forage setting, 30 pounds of nitrogen per acre is considered a maximum rate for a pure grass stand.
There is a wealth of information available from state university Extension resources on soil fertility. Micronutrients are typically neither needed nor adequately represented by soil tests.
Adequate nutrition targeted toward the desired species in your pasture will give you a leg up over plants you want to keep out of your pasture. Do you see conflicting information from multiple resources on what your fertilizer rates should be?
Find some research
Look for sound research relevant to your region, then choose a program and follow it. Evaluate any weeds in the pasture before you act. Some weeds are best managed before planting; otherwise, they will persist throughout the life of the forage.
Included in that list are perennials such as dandelion, curly dock, Canada thistle and quackgrass, and biennials such as musk thistle, wild carrot and burdock.
Consider the time and money spent at or before planting on weed control as an investment that will be returned for the life of the stand.
Here are a few more tips to keep in mind: 1) Weeds that emerge with the crop are generally more destructive, 2) maintain the forage relatively weed-free for the first 60 days, and, 3) winter annual weed competition in early spring is most damaging to forages.
Think about what you need to create a clean seedbed and what you need to maintain that seedbed and planting in the early stages. Weeds are much more difficult to control after they are established. In addition to establishing a clean and level seedbed, one reason to consider tillage is to make significant fertilizer or lime amendments based on a soil test.
Condition soils
Apply lime and fertilizer before any final seedbed preparations to allow the fertilizer to mix in and make soil contact. We often refer to seed-to-soil contact as one of the keys to high germination rates and the same applies to efficient nutrient management: fertilizer-to-soil contact matters, too.
Follow recommendations for seeding rates. Undercutting seeding rates is a high-risk scenario that is likely to result in spending more money down the road either by replanting or through weed issues. Finally, keep those animals off the field until the pasture is well established. There are more questions than I have answered in this article.
Know the details
What should seeding rates be? What are the ideal planting dates? What herbicide products can I use?
Keep some reliable resources on hand, but more importantly plan and act now to get a stand established before it is too late in the fall. The Ohio Agronomy Guide, 15th Edition includes a chapter on Forage Production and more details on seeding rates and fertility management.
The Ohio Weed Control Guide provides the information needed to get started on weed control decisions. Both are available from the Ohio State University Extension, or your local state Extension will have similar products.
